Mithril

Mithril, also called true-silver and Moria-silver, is a rare and precious metal of Middle-earth, prized above gold for its beauty and its remarkable physical qualities. It is light as a feather yet harder than tempered steel, never tarnishing or dimming, and it can be wrought and polished to a brilliance like silver. Found in quantity only beneath the Misty Mountains in the great Dwarf-realm of Moria, mithril is among the most coveted substances in Tolkien's legendarium.

The wealth of mithril made Moria the richest and most renowned of the Dwarf-kingdoms, but the deep delving in search of it also led, in part, to the awakening of the Balrog that destroyed the realm.

Description

Mithril could be beaten like copper and polished like glass, yet remained unblemished and bright. The Elves loved it and used it in their crafts; from it they made a metal alloy called ithildin, used to trace devices visible only by moonlight or starlight, such as those on the West-gate of Moria. The Elves of Eregion also wrought with it, and it was used in the making of Nenya, one of the Three Rings.

The mithril coat

The most famous single object of mithril in The Lord of the Rings is the shirt of mail given by Bilbo Baggins to his heir Frodo Baggins. Light enough to be worn unnoticed beneath ordinary clothes, the mail proves its worth in the mines of Moria when it turns aside a spear-thrust that should have slain Frodo. Gandalf remarks that the value of the shirt is greater than the worth of the entire Shire and everything in it.

Significance

Mithril stands as a symbol of the lost greatness of the Dwarves of Moria and of the perils of unchecked delving for treasure. Its near-indestructible nature makes it the stuff of the realm's finest armor and craft, and the mithril coat that preserves the life of the Ring-bearer becomes a quietly crucial gift at a decisive moment of the quest.