Mithril
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In Fellowship,
"Journey in the Dark", Gandalf tells the Fellowship about mithril as
they go through Moria.
"The wealth of
Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron,
their servant."
The dwarves could pick up gold, jewels, and iron in
traffic, but they had to dig for mithril.
"For here alone in
the world was found Moria-silver or true-silver as some have called it:
mithril is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name which they do not
tell."
When the mines were working, mithril was worth ten
times the price of gold. After the mine was taken over by Orcs, it
became beyond price. "For little is
left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The
lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down to darkness."
Mithril was the foundation of the wealth of the Dwarves, but their
greed caused their destruction as they delved too deeply and woke what
they had fled before, Durin's Bane, the Balrog, and it brought about
their demise once again. Of what the Dwarves had dug, the Orcs gathered
nearly all and gave it "in tribute to
Sauron, who covets it".
Mithril could be beaten like copper, polished like
glass. It had the beauty of silver, but did not tarnish or dim.
The Dwarves could work it into a metal light in
weight "yet harder than tempered
steel".
The Elves dearly loved it and had many uses for it.
One was the making of ithildin,
translated starmoon, as used on the doors of Moria.
Bilbo had a corslet of mithril rings given to him by
Thorin, which he passed on to Frodo to protect him on the journey to
save Middle-earth.
Reference: Fellowship of the
Ring: "Journey in the Dark".
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