I see the metal Mithril mentioned in a lot of fantasy-genre stories and RPGs.
In LotR, the mines of Moria were Mithril mines. But apparently Mithril wasn’t terribly plentifu, or it was hard to work with, because Gimli describes Bilbo’s mithril shirt as a ‘kingly gift’.
World of Warcraft has many metals you can mine. In the Warcraft universe, Mithril appears to be a high-quality metal, better than steel and inferior (in World of Warcraft) to truesilver, thorium, and Arcanite.
I’ve heard some people use ‘mithril’ and ‘truesilver’ interchangably, which is confusing because in World of Warcraft they are different metals.
The original mithril is as mentioned a silver metal. If you want to compare which is more accurate (between the two sources you mentioned) Tolkien came up with it, so his version would be termed “more accurate”
What it was is as has been mentioned a metal that looked like bright polished silver, but never tarnished and was much harder and much lighter than steel.
Mithril is the best subtance there is in many RPGs, that is until you find the super-duper-more trouble than its worth-have to buy the Prima guide in order to find it-god metal.
Mithril is an invention of J.R.R. Tolkien. It is properly used and referenced only in association with his writings. If you encounter it in a setting unaffiliated with those writings, you should take its appearance as a sign that you have been encumbered with an inferior product, and seek out a competing product that reflects the actual imagination of its author.
That sounds more than a bit snarky to me. Mithril is one of these Tolkien-isms that has been adopted as an icon of fantasy in general. What exactly is ‘inferior’ about someone else using it??
One point in favor of it’s being used generally is that it’s a common reference point. If someone in a fantasy book introduces a mithril short-sword, a lot of fantasy fans will know what to expect just based on that. If the author goes and makes up his own metal (Flobotnam-ite?) he has to take the time to explain what its properties are and so on.
In the Fellowship of the Ring, it is mentioned that the coat of mithril mail that Bilbo had from Smaug’s hoard (a gift from Thorin Oakenshield) was worth more than all of the rest of the Shire put together. Land, homes, artifacts, hobbits–everything. Yes, it is a rare and valuable substance.
In reply to Chrisk - I guess Kaylasdad did verge on the snarky, but I still liked it. You have a good & interesting point though. When is an author’s creation considered to be well-known enough to be used so freely? Can anyone then use the term “hobbit” freely in a published story? How about “ent”?
You can’t use it in Dungeons & Dragons, as far as I know. That’s why the rules talk about “halflings” and “treants.” But D&D, as has been pointed out already, does include mithril, so maybe it, like “orcs”, has become an established enough fantasy convention that the Tolkien estate didn’t feel like bothering with it.
Well, I didn’t really care whether it sounded snarky, to tell you the truth. It’s the facts as I see them. I don’t want any truck with intellectual properties that (mis)appropriate Tolkien’s exclusive inventions. Those include the Elven languages he designed, references to God as Eru, Maiar, mithril, hobbits, Tom Bombadil, calling wizards istari, Morgoth, Silmarils, Ents, and the geography of Middle-Earth.
Sorry to be so dogmatic and opinionated, but IMNSHO, everything you can learn about mithril is contained within Tolkien’s writings.
Just whose intellectual property do you refer to? The varied legends of “elves” had been public domain for centuries. So had magic rings. But the Eldar, as the first-born children of Iluvatar, were definitely creations of JRRT. As was the One Ring, forged by the Maiar Sauron to subdue the Eldar.
Meanwhile, Terry Pratchett has done a nice orginal work with elves, even as he pays homage to JRRT and other classic legends. But I’d still say the idea of his elves as alien parasitic sadistic overlords with a weakness for iron is Pratchett’s “intellectual property”.
You talk about lifting ideas, read Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara. Or better yet, don’t.
As I recall from the book “Faries”, the conception of eleves before LOTR was much diffrent. WWar-like tribes of alien beings with a horrid sense of humor. See the author Mercedes Lacey for more details.
