# Lord of the Rings marathon on Encore **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213 "2011-11-27T03:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/21 "2011-11-30T20:35:15Z")
> [@howye](#): > > For those who just watched the marathon on Encore, you may find this amusing: [Lord of the Tweets](http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/11/27/lord-of-the-tweets/#more-16881) That’s good stuff. Scalzi is a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/22 "2011-11-30T20:40:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Mithril isn’t super light? How light should it be? Hi **Mahaloth** , I’d like to withdraw my previous and very minor quibble. According to [this source](http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/0211/byko-0211.html) the movie’s mithril vest was stainless steel. In the [Mouth clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK8KjVbHO9c) I thought it looked like plastic, but apparently it was not. [INDENT] “The Mithril vest is a big cheat,” said Richard Taylor, who directed the physical effects and costumes in The Lord of the Rings movies. “We did consider it, we did ponder it, and we were stumped by it,” Taylor said. “This is the first publication where I’ve admitted how tragically we failed to do something special. Just from a fan base, we wanted to be able to tell a neat story in the future about how cool the materials were that we investigated. We were hoping that we could somehow weave titanium twine or something like that. But it was not to be.” In the end, the Mithril was made of lightweight, stainless-steel chain mail used for butchers’ gloves. That mail was finer than the movie’s craftsmen would have been able to produce, Taylor said, and looked appropriate when sprayed with a pearlescent paint.[/INDENT] Unless they were using a nonmetallic substitute prop in that scene (unlikely I’d say) that was a substantial hunk of metal they were throwing and handling. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/23 "2011-11-30T20:52:00Z")
> [@howye](#): > > For those who just watched the marathon on Encore, you may find this amusing: [Lord of the Tweets](http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/11/27/lord-of-the-tweets/#more-16881) That’s really funny. What did he mean by this one? “We’re at the “Eowyn discovers that proximity does not trump a hot elf” scene.” ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/24 "2011-11-30T20:58:55Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > That’s really funny. What did he mean by this one? “We’re at the “Eowyn discovers that proximity does not trump a hot elf” scene.” Aragorn is with Eowyn, but is his heart remains with his far away hot elf love. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/25 "2011-11-30T21:54:40Z")
Ahhh, thanks. I remember that scene. That poor girl, so smitten. I was trying to remember whether Eowyn was in the same scene with an elf (except maybe Legolas). ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/26 "2011-12-01T07:23:59Z")
It was so cool to see the Extended Editions in HD!! And shown in the correct aspect ratio to boot! (TNT has aired the Theatrical versions in HD before, but always cropped to 16:9, a travesty for films such as these.) ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/27 "2011-12-01T07:51:08Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > Heh. I’m not going to research all the references to the properties of Mithril in the Tolkien books right now, but in my humble and marginally informed opinion Mithral should at least seem metallic. > > How about as light as magnesium? I believe Frodo took off his mithril garment on the last leg of the journey because it was weighing him down a bit. on the last leg (going to mount doom) frodo wore an orc shirt/mail and it was definitely heavy for a hobbit. he said bilbo’s mithril mail also seemed heavy at times. NB: the mithril coat was taken from him after the attack at shelob’s lair. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/28 "2011-12-01T14:11:53Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > on the last leg (going to mount doom) frodo wore an orc shirt/mail and it was definitely heavy for a hobbit. he said bilbo’s mithril mail also seemed heavy at times. NB: the mithril coat was taken from him after the attack at shelob’s lair. Some quotes courtesy of [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithril). Gandalf says: [INDENT]“Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.”[/INDENT] and… [INDENT]“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.[/INDENT] It seems that mithral looks like silver, and while “light” it is substantial enough to make a box surprisingly heavy. I’ve got no big problem with it being pearly in the movies, since it would need some visual clue to distinguish it from less noble metals. I do find myself wanting to own a butcher’s glove of finely woven stainless steel. They’re available online for $17 apiece. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213/29 "2011-12-01T14:27:29Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > …I was trying to remember whether Eowyn was in the same scene with an elf (except maybe Legolas). Legolas, definitely, and later also Elrond, Arwen and the small Elven delegation at Aragorn’s coronation in Minas Tirith. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-marathon-on-encore/604213.md?page=1)