What is mithril in real life? General Discussion World of Warcraft Forums

The name mithril consists of the two Sindarin words mith (“grey, light grey”) + ril (“brilliance”). The embroidered crown in the Standard of Elendil, made by Arwen for Aragorn during the War of the Ring, contained mithril. The mithril coat made by Dwarves and given to Bilbo Baggins as a gift by Thorin. King Tar-Telemmaitë of Númenor received his name, which means silver-handed, because he loved silver and always commanded his servants to search for mithril. Mithril was found in the Misty Mountains, in lodes leading north from the underground dwarven city of Moria towards Caradhras and down to darkness. It was also found on the island of Númenor and probably in Aman as well.

The Elves called this substance mithril, but the Dwarves had their own, secret name for it. It was also known as Moria-silver or true-silver and desired by all races.. Sauron supposedly craved the metal, and much of the mithril mined from Moria was collected by Orcs, who gave it to him as a tribute.

I know it was used by Tolkien in the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, however I’ve also seen it used in other fantasies like the Elder Scrolls game series and the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Mithril can also be found in the Doors of Durin in the form of an alloy called ithildin. The doors were made by cooperation between the Elven craftsman, Celebrimbor and the dwarf, Narvi.

• Once the Balrog destroyed Khazad-dûm, the kingdom of the Dwarves in Moria, the only source of new mithril ore was cut off.
• Dungeons & Dragons uses it, of course (sometimes spelled “Mithral”), as well as other properties based on it.
• R. R. Tolkien, which is present in his Middle-earth, and also appears in many other works of derivative fantasy.
• Players may carry a Picksaw which holds a pickaxe power of 210%.
• And though Elrond didn’t know the true purpose at first, the elves are in fact seeking mithril.

Mithril is supposed to be relatively easy to work , and yet extraordinarily hard and resistant to cutting. These are contradictory material properties, so no, there is no existing substance that can match. Plate armor has the problem of penetration between the plates, but a hybrid of chain-mail or woven kevlar protecting the inter-plate areas could be effective, though not exactly as light or thin as Egyptian cotton. Please consider whether you can edit the question, or guide the asker in how to edit it, to be about in-universe explanations rather than real-world science, and vote to reopen the question if appropriate. Adamantine weapons are usually harder than Mithril/Mithral ones but lack the ease of enchantment. Players may carry a Picksaw which holds a pickaxe power of 210%.

‘The Rings of Power’: What is Mithril?

Orcs were actually common usage, not something he made up. TSR tried to copyright the term and lost because of it. Like elves and fairies and goblins, all part of human myths and legends. It also varies due to not being 50/50 this or that all the time.

A material can be easy to work when heated in a forge or in some other conditions and yet be very hard in a normal environmental temperatures. So I don’t see it as necessarily being contradictory. I’m pretty sure the Soviets Navy used a titanium alloy for submarine pressure hulls once – but I guess it all is mithril real depends on the specific makeup of the alloy for the properties. I’d say its nearest real world analog is some kind of titanium alloy. 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.

Unlike its appearance in Tolkien’s works, mithril is not priceless. 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 https://cryptolisting.org/ 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 name “mithril” is used in fictional contexts influenced by Tolkien.

What Is Mithril, the Rare Dwarven Metal on RINGS OF POWER?

They guard Moria against foes with the riddle “speak, friend, and enter.” In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and his companions encounter these doors on their journey. The door stumps them briefly, but Merry Brandybuck asks Gandalf the word for friend. When Gandalf answers, “Mellon,” the doors swing open and allow the group to enter. In the video game Breath of Fire, some armors are made out of the legendary metal mithril. In the computer game ADOM, mithril is a type of metal, one of the strongest. Afterwards, Elrond recounts an apocryphal tale called The Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir.

It reflects only starlight and moonlight and marks the door at the West-gate to Khazad-Dûm. The helmets of Gondor’s guards of the citadel are also mithril. Gimli and his dwarven kin later rebuilt the gates of Minas Tirith using the precious metal.

The sole mithril-vein of the Misty Mountains made the Longbeards of Moria wealthy. Some Noldor settled in Eregion near the West-gate of Moria, because they had heard that mithril had been found and desired to use it in their crafts. Thanks to trade with the Dwarves of Moria, the Elves created objects of mithril, perhaps the most notable being Nenya, one of the Three Elven Rings of Power. The Noldor of Eregion also made an alloy out of mithril called ithildin (“star moon”), which was visible only by starlight or moonlight. This was used by the elven mastersmith Celebrimbor for the inlaid decorative designs and writings on the Doors of Durin on the West-gate of Moria.

Mythril is one of the late-game ores that can be found in The Beneath after excavating through the subsurface of the Overworld. Not as fast as Viridium or as resilient as Onyx, its magical qualities give this material very powerful set bonuses nevertheless. Greatest of all, according to legend, was the ship of Eärendil, Vingilótë, which he sailed into the sky, making the gleam of truesilver visible to the world as the Evening and Morning Star. The “Song of Eärendil”, written by Bilbo and Aragorn, contains the lines “A ship then new they built for him / of mithril and of elven-glass”.

What Does That Mean For ‘Rings of Power’?

After the Dwarves abandoned Moria and production of new mithril stopped entirely, it became priceless. Mithril in its pure form was rather soft and malleable. It could be used in various alloys to produce extremely lightweight, hard and durable armour. The Elves loved it for its beauty and presumably used it for jewelry and attire rather than weapons or armour. It also has a nice silverish gleam when polished and was in use for over a century by the time of Tolkien’s writings.

In the D&D-inspired Nodwick comic, mithril has been a very cheap metal for a long time–bottle caps have been made from it since time immemorial. In the MMORPG Lineage 2, there is a mithril armor set. In the video game Tales of Symphonia “mythril” is used to customize many late game weapons, shields, and other items to equip to characters. In the MMORPG Everquest, mithril is a metal that can make weapons, armor, and other equipment. The computer game Princess Maker 2 has a character who wears mithril armor when she fences.

The same mithril armor saved Frodo’s life in the mines of Moria when it deflected an otherwise lethal stab from the cave troll. In the MMORPG RuneScape, mithril is a dark blue metal that can be mined, made into bars, and then forged into various weapons and armor. While it is one of the weaker metals in the game , it is stronger than steel. It also appears to be lighter than other metal armors in the game, possibly as a reference to Tolkien.

The name, or close alternate spellings, has become ubiquitous with a beautiful and rare metal often used in armor. Prime VideoA new addition to the lore of Middle-earth created by The Rings of Power, resonating is the practice of singing to the stone. Disa first detects mithril and describes how to differentiate earth, ore, air, and water within the mountain. “Sing to it properly, each of those parts will reflect your song back to you,” she says. Elrond watches in amazement as rock shifts while she sings to release the trapped miners.

“This magical metal is the lightest and sturdiest of all. It is used to forge divine tools of war.” After Gimli became Lord of the Glittering Caves, he and his Dwarves forged great gates of mithril to replace the gates of Minas Tirith which were broken by the Witch-king of Angmar during the Siege of Gondor. It may be stronger per unit weight, but it has to be larger (“around 50% or so larger”). @apoorv020 – For the material to be easy to work, it would have to be very ductile. Unfortunately, very ductile materials ooze out of the way when you stab them.

Mithril

And the Dwarves are said to have a secret name for it. Middle-earth saw mithril as a sign of wealth and power. The guards of Citadel in Minas Tirith wore mithril helmets that lasted for generations as a remnant of their former glory.

The mail saved Frodo’s life when he was struck by an orc chieftain’s spear thrust during the battle in the Chamber of Mazarbul, and again when orc-arrows struck him while escaping Moria and while crossing the River Anduin. In the video game Shining in the Darkness, lumbs of mithril ore can be found and forged into some of the strongest weapons and armor available. Before the Dwarves abandoned Moria, mithril was worth ten times its own volume in gold. However, after the abandonment the excavation of mithril ore stopped entirely, it became priceless, as the presence of the Balrog prevented the Orcs in Moria from mining for it.

By the time Bilbo and his friends went on their adventure, the only way to get mithril was to inherit it or to melt down something else to reforge it. Thorin Oakenshield gifted Bilbo a small mail shirt made of mithril from the recovered treasure as a reward for his help against the dragon Smaug. The armor was forged for a young Elven prince before becoming part of the dragon’s hoard.

Some years after his adventure with Bilbo Baggins, Balin decided to resettle Khazad-dûm. His colony was successful in taking back the Eastern halls. They lasted for five years before the Orcs slaughtered them. Dwarves outside of Moria didn’t know of the loss, only that they lost contact with Balin. In the computer game ROBLOX, a game, Epic Mining 2, has mithril as its rarest mineral. It may also be smelted into Mithril Bars that cost even more money.

New Line CinemaMithril plays an important role in Tolkien’s books and in both of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogies. Bilbo describes it as “light as a feather and as hard as dragon scales.” In The Hobbit, Thorin gifts him a shirt of mithril rings that no blade can pierce. They find the treasure in Smaug’s hoard under the mountain.