The Lord of the Rings’ Mithril, Explained

Yttrium silver is so ductile that a wire can be stretched to a fifth again its length before it snaps. There is something about its crystal structure, not yet fully understood, that allows it a degree of plastic flow without its breaking into ragged fragments. For the literal-minded reader, it is unclear whether or not mithril is a real metal; many have thought it to be platinum or iridium, however, both are far too heavy to qualify as candidates. Other possibilities are aluminium, or magnesium; these metals are even lighter than titanium, but not as strong or as silvery and shiny. “The wealth of the Dwarves was not in gold or jewels, the silver of the Dwarves; nor in iron for it’s worth was more than that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it.”‘…

According to Wikipedia, the band is composed of Tom Morley (fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin, guitar), Andra Bohnet (Irish flute, penny whistle, fife, Celtic harp), Ben Harper (guitar, bass guitar, flute), and Sam Gaston (djembe, doumbek, percussion, melodica). One original Lord of the Rings trilogy star says he won’t be returning to Middle-earth anytime soon. Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films are widely disliked, but a decade later, it is time to reevaluate these prequels to The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies made Gimli, Merry and Pippin more two-dimensional, robbing film viewers of impactful character arcs.

It’s a portmanteau word in the language of Sindarin (a dialect of the Elvish), which directly translated means “grey” and “glitter.” It became such a valuable material in Middle-earth that its worth was counted as priceless and far greater than gold. As previously mentioned, Rings of Power is the first to tackle the origins of mithril in depth on film. Its mining becomes a strict point of contention between Durin and his father, Durin III. This places the discovery of mithril in the Second Age of Middle-earth. For reference, The Lord of the Rings takes place in the Third Age.

What is Mithril in The Lord of the Rings?

It’s also important to note that mithril, in the books, doesn’t do anything considered magical by today’s standards on its own; it is merely stronger and lighter than steel. Frodo is stabbed by an orc, not a troll, and thus his mithril chain shirt, in protecting him, is merely doing what good chainmail does — and at a much better efficiency than a weaker metal would. It is described as resembling silver, but being stronger and lighter than steel. It was used to make armour, such as the helmets of the citadel guard of Minas Tirith, and ithildin alloy, used to decorate gateways with writing visible only by starlight or moonlight. Always extremely valuable, by the end of the Third Age it was beyond price, and only a few artefacts made of it remained in use. The Dwarves had a secret word for their name of the ore, claimed by Durin to be “Grey Glitter” but the term “Mithril” comes from the equivalent words in Sindarin Elvish.

Mithril Was a Rare Metal in Middle-Earth Worth More Than Gold

These improved relations even allowed for elves such as Galadriel to pass through the mines and settle Lothlórien. Durin III went so far as to send an army of his own people to aid the elves in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The Dark Lord Sauron had a contentious relationship with the dwarves, knowing he would be hard-pressed to defeat the dwarves who dwelt so protected and strong in numbers deep within the Misty Mountains. Bilbo retrieves the shirt before setting out for the elf city of Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Next time I shall discuss, among other things, an amazing substance with a hardness that goes all the way up to 11. It would have to be some new type of material we have yet to discover or possibly one of the new carbon structures that can be computed. Other than workability, Graphene seems to match the properties. It is being actively researched for a number of applications, including electronics. I’d say its nearest real world analog is some kind of titanium alloy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim. Quench hardening does not work with metals that do not undergo the martensitic transition, but the elastic properties of metals more generally can be controlled by varying their microstructure through careful manufacture. There is, however, an intriguing alloy of nickel and titanium that undergoes the martensitic transition — and which, therefore, could be quench-hardened. The wonderful property of this alloy is that it is a ‘memory’ metal — it is light and flexible, but springs back to its original shape once bent. Mithril is just the right thing to make a tough corselet of mail rings.

1. The Elves loved it for its beauty and presumably used it for jewelry and attire rather than weapons or armour.
2. Nothing is both flexible enough to behave as seen in the movie when held up and examined, yet stiff enough to distribute impact over a wide area, which is what armor does.
3. Swordsmiths can control the properties of blades by forging them in just the right way to ensure that the edge is extremely hard and brittle, but the main body of the blade is flexible.
4. For reference, The Lord of the Rings takes place in the Third Age.
5. After returning to the Shire following the events of The Hobbit, Bilbo lends the shirt to Mathom-house.
6. In the books, it’s described as barely visible to anyone other than a ring-bearer, like Frodo.

Frodo should at is mithril real least have had broken ribs and crushed organs; squished like a bug. More likely, he’d have had a deep wound with Mithril chain mail stuffed into it. A treasured item in the kingdom of men known as the Star of Elendil or “Elendilmir” was a gemstone that was mounted on a chain of mithril.

The stone was lost in the defeat of Sauron in the Disaster of Gladden Fields. Isildur, son of Elendil, was the last known person to possess Elendilmire before it disappeared for years. He’s is largely infamous for his inability to destroy One Ring in Mount Doom when he had the chance.