The detailed lore is one of the most impressive parts of JRR Tolkien's work. The Lord of the Ringsand the films largely reflect this attention to detail. Every character, setting, and conflict has an in-depth history that explains everything a reader or viewer could want to know about Middle-earth. Even the objects scattered throughout the world have an essential purpose behind their inclusion and a backstory of their own.
The Elfstone is one such item. The gem, known for its emerald color and the silver metal brooch that surrounds it, plays a fairly prominent role in the original books. Yet, despite having considerable plot focus, the Elfstone was ignored in the films and replaced with another jewel. While it was disappointing to see it replaced, Peter Jackson had a good reason for removing it.
The Role of the Elfstone in The Lord of the Rings

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- In the books, Galadriel gave the Elfstone to Aragorn.
The Elfstone has always had a rather important place in Tolkien's world. The gem is a magical object, which grants its user the ability to see youth in even the oldest and most decrepit creature. It is supposed to have been created by Enerdhil, an Elven smith. Like many other magical devices, it was kept safely guarded by the elves. Enerdhil passed it to Idril, a princess of Gondolin. Fascinated by the jewel, Idril passed it to her half-elf son, Eärendil, who would then pass it on to his father Elros and the half-elf lord Elrond.
In the end, The books saw the mystical gem pass to Elrond's distant relative, Aragorn. Her path to receiving the Elfstone was complicated. Although it is not known exactly how she came to possess it, Galadriel took control of the stone and offered it to her daughter, Celebrían, who was Elrond's wife. Arwen was the next recipient, although Galadriel eventually claimed the stone. While giving gifts to the Fellowship of the Ring to honor their journey, she offered the Elfstone to Aragorn. Since the Elfstone is also called Elessar, Aragorn's people quickly began to honor him with a new title. He was named King Elessar, in honor of his stone, and this defined his reign as a unifier of men and elves.
The film replaced the Magic Stone with the Evenstar

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- In the films, Arwen gives the Evenstar to Aragorn.
- The Evenstar represented the love between Aragorn and Arwen.
While Tolkien developed a long and complicated history for the Elfstone, the films didn’t bother to adapt every detail. Instead of representing the Elfstone, Arwen offers a different token to Aragorn. To provide him with a symbol of her love, she gives him the Evenstar. The glowing white pendant represents their shared love and Arwen’s decision to set aside immortality to accept the mortality of man. Arwen’s relationship with Aragorn helped her make that final choice, and giving him the necklace is her way of communicating that choice.
Arwen's decision does not necessarily mean that she is offering Aragorn immortality, as that would be impossible for him. Instead, it is a symbol of her decision to share mortality with him. Eventually, they will share an afterlife, just like a life and a stone. The Evenstar replaced the Elvenstonealthough the meaning of both symbols was extremely different. Arwen's Evenstar is a symbol of love and mortality, while Galadriel's Elvenstone is seen as a symbol of leadership and rightful rule.
Considering how important tradition is
The Lord of the Rings
Even a small change can have huge consequences.
Of course, although he plays an important role in The The Lord of the Rings movie, The Evenstar did not exist in the same form in the books. There is a necklace that Arwen offers, but she does not offer it to Aragorn as a physical sign of their love. Instead, she offered the necklace to Frodo to mark her approval of his decision to travel west. She emphasized that he should wear the necklace “in memory of Elfstone and Evenstar“, and it was a token of his esteem for her as well as a physical memento to carry with him. He offered it to her to use.”when the memory of fear and darkness troubles you“so that it might serve as comfort to Frodo.
Jackson used the Evenstar as a way to replace the Elfstone, which did not appear in the films. Instead of offering Frodo the necklace, it became Arwen's gesture of love to Aragorn. This helped ensure that she would have some added power in their relationship, but it also caused some confusion, as it removed an important element of Tolkien's lore. Considering how important lore is to The Lord of the Ringsany small change can have huge implications. In this case, it removed an important title from Aragorn and took away a friendly gesture from Frodo.
Peter Jackson did well to cut the Magic Stone

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Lord of the Rings Movies |
Duration |
---|---|
The Fellowship of the Ring |
2 hours and 58 minutes |
The Two Towers |
2 hours and 59 minutes |
The Return of the King |
3 hours and 21 minutes |
While the replacement of the Elfstone with the Evenstar certainly created some confusion regarding Arwen's decision to accept Eru's gift of mortality, cutting away the Elfstone was the correct decision for the The Lord of the Rings film. The long history of the Elfstone provides little to the overall world of Middle-earth and has few plot implications that cannot be represented through other symbols and gestures. It serves as a symbol of Aragorn's worthy place as king, but it is nothing compared to his lineage, his good governance, his steadfast service, and the loyalty of his men. Aragorn never really needed the Elvenstone..
by Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings The films are already nine hours and 18 minutes long, while the extended version is a whopping 11 hours and 23 minutes. There’s plenty of time spent developing the world without wasting unnecessary time developing a stone. As touching as it is to see the effect the stone has on Aragorn’s titles and legitimacy, Agagorn doesn’t necessarily need to be named for his stone to become a king. While his name, King Elessar, can be explained by the Elvenstone, the films didn’t need to offer any further explanation to explain the origins of his brooch.