LOTR: Why Did The White Gems Of Lasgalen Cause A Rift Between Thranduil & The King Under The Mountain?

gamerant.com:

There are many beautiful treasures featured in The Hobbit films, under the belly of Smaug the Dragon who has claimed his hoard, and protects it greedily under the Lonely Mountain, where the dwarven kingdom of Erebor once lay. The most well-known of these treasures is, of course, the Arkenstone.

Thror, who was Thorin Oakenshield’s grandfather, took the Arkenstone when it was discovered deep in the mines, to mean that he was King under the Mountain, and that his rule was ordained by the higher powers of the world. As is often the case with Dwarves, he became greedy, and a dragon sickness came upon him that made his miners dig too deep. This is similar to the previous dwarven settlement in Moria, which the Fellowship find to have been deserted and overrun by orcs and a Balrog, many years later.

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Thror decided that all races must pay homage to him and his kin, and he put this lust for gold above his alliances, his friendships, and indeed his own honor. He requested a personal visit with Thranduil, who has long been a great and mighty king in Mirkwood, the eleven realm, and demanded that he pay tribute to the dwarves in recognition of their greatness. The scene in the film adaptation by Peter Jackson describes it that “As the great wealth of the dwarves grew, their store of good will ran thin.”

The dwarves believe the elves refuse to pay recompense and respect, and the elves say that the dwarves stole a great treasure that belonged to them. In this, they do not refer to the Arkenstone, but to the White Gems of Lasgalen, the beautiful glittering necklace depicted in the movies. But why were these particular jewels so precious, and why did