Mithril is a fictional metal found inJ. R. R. Tolkien'sMiddle-earth writings. It is described as resemblingsilver, but being stronger and lighter thansteel. It was used to make armour, such as the helmets of the citadel guard ofMinas Tirith, andithildin alloy, used to decorate gateways with writing visible only by starlight or moonlight. Always extremely valuable, by the end of theThird Age it was beyond price, and only a few artefacts made of it remained in use.
Impenetrable armour occurs inNorse mythology inHervarar saga ok Heiðreks, a story that Tolkien certainly knew and could have used for his mithril mail-coat. Mithril is the only invented mineral in his Middle-earth writings. Chemists[who?] note mithril's remarkable properties, strong and light liketitanium, perhaps when made into alloys with elements such as titanium ornickel, and in its pure form malleable likegold.
The scholarCharles A. Huttar states that Tolkien treats mineral treasures as having the potential for both good and evil, recalling the association of mining and metalwork inJohn Milton'sParadise Lost withSatan. The scholarPaul Kocher interprets theDwarves' intense secrecy around mithril as an expression of sexual frustration, given that they have very fewdwarf-women.
The metal appears in manyderivative fantasy works by later authors.
The namemithril comes from two words in Tolkien'sSindarin language—mith, meaning "grey", andril, meaning "glitter".[T 1] The Dwarves kept their own name for the material secret.[T 1]
InThe Hobbit,Thorin Oakenshield described some Dwarven treasures as "coats of mail gilded and silvered and impenetrable" and "a coat of dwarf-linked rings the like of which had never been made before, for it was wrought of pure silver to the power and strength of triple steel."[T 2] A little later the narrator describes "a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril".[T 3][1]
InThe Fellowship of the Ring, the wizardGandalf explained mithril to the rest of the Fellowship inMoria:
Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten likecopper, and polished likeglass; and theDwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder thantempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of commonsilver, but the beauty ofmithril did not tarnish or grow dim.[T 1]
TheNoldor ofEregion, the Elvish land to the west of Moria, made an alloy from it calledithildin ("star moon"), used to decorate gateways, portals and pathways. It was visible only by starlight or moonlight. TheWest Gate of Moria bore inlaidithildin designs and runes.[T 1]
In Tolkien'sMiddle-earth, mithril is extremely rare by the end of theThird Age, as it was now found only inKhazad-dûm. Once theBalrog destroyed Khazad-dûm, the kingdom of the Dwarves in Moria, the only source of new mithril ore was cut off. Before Moria was abandoned by the Dwarves, while it was still being actively mined, mithril was worth ten times its weight in gold.[T 1] After the Dwarves abandoned Moria and production of new mithril stopped entirely, it became priceless.[T 1]
Tolkien hints that mithril was found in the lost island kingdom ofNúmenor[T 4] and the inaccessible continent ofAman.[T 5]
The principal item made of mithril in the works of Tolkien is the "small coat ofmail" thatThorin Oakenshield gave toBilbo Baggins after it had been retrieved from the hoard ofSmaug the dragon.[T 6]Gandalf stated that the value of this mithril-coat was "greater than the value of the wholeShire and everything in it".[T 1] The mail-shirt was first described inThe Hobbit in 1937,[T 6] but without any mention of mithril. Tolkien first described the shirt as being made of mithril inThe Lord of the Rings in 1954,[T 1] and it was retrospectively mentioned in the third, revised edition ofThe Hobbit in 1966.[1] In the first 1937 edition, themail shirt given toBilbo Baggins is described as being made of "silvered steel".[T 6]
Also there is this!" said Bilbo, bringing out a parcel which seemed to be rather heavy for its size. He unwound several folds of old cloth, and held up a small shirt of mail. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems.[T 1]
Bilbo wore the mithril shirt during the Battle of the Five Armies.[T 6] He donated it to the Mathom-house, a museum inMichel Delving. However he later reclaimed it, and took it with him when he left the Shire for his journey toRivendell. There, some years later, he gave the shirt toFrodo Baggins when the youngerhobbit embarked on his quest inThe Lord of the Rings. Frodo wore the mail underneath his tunic and other shirt unbeknownst to the rest ofthe fellowship. The mail saved Frodo's life when he was struck by an orc chieftain's spear thrust during the battle in theChamber of Mazarbul, and again when orc-arrows struck him while escapingMoria and while crossing the RiverAnduin.[T 1][T 7]
WhenSam Gamgee believed Frodo to be dead outsideShelob's Lair, he left the shirt with Frodo.[T 8] Frodo was taken by the orcs, who fought over the shirt. Frodo was saved, but one of the orcs escaped with the shirt.[T 9] In both Tolkien's andPeter Jackson's versions, the shirt was, along with Frodo's other possessions, shown to Frodo's allies at theBattle of the Morannon to imply falsely that he was imprisoned inBarad-dûr.[T 10][2][3] Gandalf took the shirt and other tokens, but refused any offer of parley.[T 10]
At the end of the story, Frodo wore the shirt at the celebrations and on the trip home. The shirt saved his life one last time whenSaruman, whohad taken over the Shire, tried to stab Frodo after Frodo spared his life.[T 11] When he left to sail to Elvenhome, he gave all his possessions to Sam.[T 12]
Nenya, theRing of Power wielded byGaladriel, was made of mithril.[T 12]
The guards of the citadel ofMinas Tirith wore helmets of mithril, "heirlooms from the glory of old days". They were the only soldiers in Gondor who still bore the emblems of the lost kings during the days of the stewards.[T 13]
As Aragorn's ships sailed up theAnduin to relieve the besieged Minas Tirith during theBattle of the Pelennor Fields, thestandard flying on his ship showed a crown made of mithril and gold.[T 14]
AfterGimli became lord ofAglarond, he and his Dwarves forged great gates of mithril and steel to replace the gates of Minas Tirith, which had been broken by theWitch-king of Angmar.[T 15]
TheElendilmir, the Star of Arnor, was a "white star of Elvish crystal upon afillet of mithril". It was made for Silmariën, mother ofValandil; it passed down toElendil.[T 4] It was found inOrthanc when the Ents returned the tower to KingAragorn, evidence that Saruman had found and apparently destroyedIsildur's remains.[T 4][4]
Greatest of all, according to legend, was the ship ofEärendil, Vingilótë, which he sailed into the sky, making the gleam oftruesilver visible to the world as theEvening 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".[T 5] The linguist of Elvish languagesAnthony Appleyard wrote that this machine, with "no shaven oar nor sail", was evidently of an advanced technology, "sound[ing] suspiciously like most people's image of a spaceship."[5]
Norse culture contains myths of impenetrable armour, such as the shirt made by elves and used in battle byÖrvar-Oddr (Ørvar Odd),[6] as related in theHervarar saga ok Heiðreks.[7] The saga was translated byChristopher Tolkien, with a commentary, and his father was certainly familiar with the text.[8][9]
| Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks[7] | Prose translation |
|---|---|
| Oddr svarar: "ek vil berjask við Angantýr, hann mun gefa stór högg með Tyrfingi, en ek trúi betr skyrtu minni, enn brynju þinni, til hlífðar" | Oddr answers: "I want to fightAngantýr, he will deliver a mighty blow with [his magic sword]Tyrfing, but I trust my shirt better than your armour for protection" |
The mining executive Danièle Barberis notes that Tolkien was born inBloemfontein, South Africa, ina busy mining region. She writes that it is "impossible ... not to make parallels" between Tolkien's descriptions of the deep mines of Moria and the exceptional depth of South African mines, some as much as 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) deep.[10]
The chemist Suze Kundu describes mithril as ametal, a purechemical element with "a range of amazing chemical and physical properties" not matched by any real metal, and many applications. Of those that approach it,titanium is light (has a low density) and strong, but it is notmalleable (able to be beaten into shape) like mithril. In Kundu's view the nearest material would be astainless steel alloy ofiron with enough nano-scalecarbon to make it hard.[11]
The metallurgist James Owen suggests that Mithril could be "an fcc [face-centred cubic] metal likealuminium ornickel, or possibly a bcc [body-centred cubic]" metal like titanium".[12] Owen comments that it could form "strong, stiff, tough alloys" with those elements, suitable for "light sword blades and armour", or used as the pure element, when "it would be soft and malleable" like copper or gold.[12] ThegeologistWilliam Sarjeant, however, notes that mithril crystallises out "at so high a temperature that it is only found in veins at great depths", and proposes that it may be anative alloy ofplatinum with another metal, which might bepalladium.[13]
The scholar of English literatureCharles A. Huttar writes thatmithril was the only mineral that Tolkien invented. He notes that in Tolkien's underworld, whether thecaves at Helm's Deep or the mines of Moria, "beauty and terror [were] side by side".[14] Greed formithril could unleash the terror of theBalrog, by digging too far down into the dark realm, but at the same time, he writes, the metal was prized for both its beauty and its usefulness, yielding the best armour. He compares the Dwarves' greed formithril with that of theBarrow-wights for treasure, and indeed that of thedragons inThe Hobbit andBeowulf for gold. In his view, these symbolise the evil "inherent in the mineral treasures hidden in the womb of Earth",[14] just as mining and metalwork are associated withSatan inJohn Milton'sParadise Lost (I, 670–751). Huttar sums up with a reflection on Tolkien's moral vision in the story: just as the characters at every point have to decide for good or ill, so objects have the potential to be both good and evil: "Mithril is both the greatest of treasures and a deadly bane."[14]
The Tolkien criticPaul Kocher interprets the Dwarves' intense secrecy around mithril and their devotion to artistry in metal and stone as "a sublimation of their sexual frustration", given that they have very fewdwarf-women and love beauty with a "jealous possessiveness", or (quoting Tolkien) "being engrossed in their crafts".[15]
The name "mithril" (also speltmith,mithral, ormythril) is used in multiplefictional contexts influenced by Tolkien.[16] For example, theFinal Fantasy game series, begun in 1987, involves dwarves and mithril.[17]
Sakaguchi borrowed heavily from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, especiallyThe Hobbit andLord of the Rings. His game also featured elves, dwarves, and mithril, a mythical blend of steel and silver.
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