Odds of Tre’Shaun Harrison transferring to UW?

Swaye said:

Houhusky said:

ThomasFremont said:

Mad_Son said:

I keep coming back to this thread for Silmaril hot talk and am continually let down.

Did the Arkenstone have properties similar to the Simirils that evokes strong greed?

OR

Is the gold lust unique to dwarves?

I would argue that the arkenstone in the books displays almost no magical will at all and that gold lust isn't even really a thing specifically for dwarves.

The movies obviously dive into things such as Throin's dragon sickness and the gold lust and greed of the dwarves especially when around the arkenstone but the books actually focus a lot more on the uncorruptibility of the dwarves will.

In the books Thorin's quest is much more about the recapture of his homeland and his obsession with the cultural heritage of the dwarves. Remember the only reason Biblo was even along for the ride was an a bugler, not to steal a mountains worth of gold but instead steal back a few select important items related to the kingdom and its history, the arkenstone being one. The predominate theme/trope throughout the book is the dwarves, who are basically dwarf racial supremacists, learning that they may need the help of a hobbit, wood elves, lake people to achieve their ends. This trope culminates in the final battle of the five armies.

To demonstrate this, look no futher that how incorruptible the dwarves will is even the power of the rings which struggle to enslave and control them; "The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them. But they were made from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination. Though they could be slain or broken, they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will; and for the same reason their lives were not affected by any Ring, to live either longer or shorter because of it."

So yes the rings could enflame their greed, but only on a limited scope and scale. I dont believe that the arkenstone, which is mostly described as a wonderous and fantastical artifact, nowhere nearly as magically powerful or dangerous as the rings, could have the same effect.

As a quick aside I think if the arkenstone could invoke such an evil lust on par with the rings in the dwarves Gandalf may have been much more hesitant to help with the journey in the first place as well.

In the end I think its safe to say that dwarves may naturally have a predisposition or weakness towards greed but its not a behavior overtly present by simply being around gold/wealth any more so than any other race.

Perhaps another good question for @ThomasFremont and @Mad_Son is does the dragons power come from their gold hoards itself, or more pointedly, does gold carry a Morgothian element of dark magic that is both corrupting to the races and empowering towards evil like dragons. If Dragons can become empowered by their gold horde, could the dragon-sickness experience actually be a soft/passive corruption emitting from a dragon empowered with a particularly valuable horde of gold?