Arkenstone of Thráin

Arkenstone
Background Information
Owner(s)	Thrór Thráin II Bilbo Baggins Bard (Temporarily) Thorin II Oakenshield
Made of	Crystal
Appearances
Books	The Hobbit
Films	The Hobbit films

"It was a globe with a thousand facets; it shone like silver in the firelight, like water in the sun, like snow under the stars, like rain upon the Moon!"

—Thorin Oakenshield

The Arkenstone of Thrain, also known as the Heart of the Mountain and the King's Jewel, was a wondrous gem sought by Thorin Oakenshield which had been discovered beneath the Lonely Mountain by Thorin's grandfather Thrór, and then shaped by the Dwarves. The Arkenstone had been the family heirloom of Durin's folk, but was lost when the dragon Smaug captured the mountain from the Dwarves.

Appearance

The Arkenstone shone of its own inner light, and appeared a little globe of pallid light in darkness, and yet, cut and fashioned by the Dwarves, it took all light that fell upon it and changed it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance, shot with glints of the rainbow.

History

The Arkenstone set above King Thror's throne

The Arkenstone was a gem, the object most prized by Thorin Oakenshield of all the treasures of the Lonely Mountain. Such did he consider its value that he was willing to trade 1/14th of all the gold and silver of Smaug's hoard for it. In the recent The Hobbit movie it is presented as the most valued possession of Thrór, the King under the Mountain, of the House of Durin. In these movies, when Smaug attacked the Lonely Mountain, Thrór's first action was to collect the Arkenstone. Unfortunately, as he tried to flee, he was confronted by the dragon in the gold hoard, causing him to drop the Arkenstone and lose it amongst the gold that Smaug was hoarding. Thorin stopped him from searching for it, helping him escape from the dragon instead.

Bilbo Baggins delivers the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard, by Ted Nasmith

When Bilbo Baggins found it on Smaug's golden bed deep inside the Lonely Mountain, he pocketed it, having learned how much Thorin valued it. While the Dwarves with Thorin sorted the treasure, Thorin sought only the Arkenstone, unaware that Bilbo was hiding it in his pillow. When the Dwarves refused to share any of the treasure with King Thranduil and Bard, the man who had killed Smaug the Magnificent, Bilbo crept out of the Dwarves' fort inside the Mountain, and gave them the Arkenstone; Bard, Thranduil, and Gandalf then tried to trade it for Bilbo's thirteenth share of Smaug's hoard. Then an evil army arriving from the Grey Mountains interrupted the dispute, the Battle of the Five Armies ensued, and Thorin was killed. The Arkenstone was placed upon Thorin's chest within his tomb deep under the Lonely Mountain, and so was returned to the earth at last.

Etymology

The name Arkenstone may have been related to the Gothic word aírkns ("holy").

Trivia

Arkenstone in Gene Deitch's version of The Hobbit.

• In Gene Deitch's film adaptation in 1966, the Arkenstone was a heart-shaped jewel of earth. It was later used as an arrowhead and, along with a large crossbow made of old mining machines, Bilbo and company used it to kill Smaug the Dragon.

• In the movie, it is depicted as being from the earth. It is the reason the quest is set in the films as it would have given Thorin the authority to unite the Dwarves against Smaug.

• Some say that the Arkenstone is in fact the Silmaril of Maedhros.

• It does not appear in the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit film adaptation. As a result of the Stone's omission, Thorin loses respect for Bilbo out of feeling the Hobbit will never understand honour and war.

Gallery

A caption from Gene Deitch's version

Smaug holding the Arkenstone

Bilbo and the company about to slay the Monster

Translations around the World

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Arkensteen
Arabic	حجر الأركين
Armenian	Արկեն քարը
Belarusian Cyrillic	Аркенстон
Bosnian	Arkakamen
Chinese (Hong Kong)	家傳寶鑽
Cornish	Arkenlabedha
Czech	Arcikam
Danish	Arkensten
Dutch	Arksteen
Estonian	Laegaskivi
Faroese	Arkensteinur
Finnish	Arkkikivi
French	Pierre Arcane
Georgian	არკენსტოუნი
German	Arkenstein
Greek	Κιβωτός πέτρα
Gujarati	આર્કનસ્ટોન
Hebrew	אֶבֶן-הַחֹשֶן/ארקנסטון/אֶבֶן-הַנֵזֶר
Hungarian	Arkenkő
Italian	Archepietra/Arkengemma
Japanese	アーケン石
Kannada	ಅರ್ಕೆನ್ಸ್ಟೋನ್
Korean	아르켄스톤
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Аркэнташ
Marathi	आर्कनस्टोन
Norwegian	Dyrdesteinen
Old English	Arkenstan
Polish	Arcyklejnot
Portuguese (Brazil)	Pedra Arken
Punjabi	ਆਰਕਸਨਸਟੋਨ
Romansh	Arkencrap
Russian	Аркенстон
Sinhalese	ඇකරන්ස්ටෝන්
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Piedra del Arca
Swedish	Arkensten
Tajik Cyrillic	Аркенсанг
Telugu	ఆర్కెనశిల
Turkish	Arkentaşı
Turkmen	Arkendaş
Urdu	آركين پتھر
Yiddish	אַרקענסטאָנע