Orcs were said to gather mithril to give to Sauron. This precious metal was the most sought-after material in Middle-earth but what did Sauron want with it? I share Tolkien’s brief thoughts and speculate on Sauron’s motives for hoarding mithril.
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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
1:30 – Sauron’s covetous nature
3:48 – Sauron the craftsman
5:40 – Weaponry and warfare
7:25 – Outro
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I just so happened to be making a video about mithril when a certain TV show involved it in some controversial plot. Here''s hoping it draws in some people who want to learn some things Tolkien said about mithril. This is just a short video (mostly speculation) but I always found Gandalf's comment about Sauron and mithril to be interesting. This will be the last video before September's Appendices so make sure to leave a comment you'd like me to respond to on that video. Thanks!
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Mithril is known to hold magic far better than any other metal. And Sauron does NOTHING to no purpose. He wouldn't hoard mithril for no reason. But if he has so much of it, why does he use none for his armies? But there Is purpose to it. There always is. And I think I know what it is.
The great ship Vigilot, piloted by Earendil with a Silmaril upon his brow across the sky, is made of mithril and glass.
My guess is, just as he seeks to reclaim the kingdom once claimed by his master for himself, Sauron intended to claim his master's crown jewels for himself as well.
I believe he hoarded mithril to build his OWN ship of mithril and glass, with the intent to go and sieze from Earendil the one Silmaril that was not lost, to wear upon his OWN crown.
In time perhaps, he would have turned to devising methods of searching the depths of sea and earth for the others as well.
I like the idea that Sauron was perhaps making unique weapons and armors for himself from mithril. The last time he personally took to the field of battle, his armor failed him, and so he lost the One Ring. Perhaps he saw mithril as an answer to this problem, some kind of armor set that would prevent him from ever losing the ring again?
The elves and dwarves were probably printing craptons of money too.
Typical Sauron move
In rings of power TcV series they explained it. A BAlrog fought with an elf and lighting strike a tree and mithril was born in the roots rights in the ground.
Hey did anyone notice that the three rings are kinda similar to where the Silmarils are located ?
Sauron hadn't yet taken physical form in The Lord Of The Rings. The one ring was removed after the magic sword pierced his gauntlet, amputating his power. I believe Sauron had plans to make a suit of armor which could not be penetrated once he returned. Also, to create fear amongst all races who knew mithrils meaning and power.
if you ask what has my vote (noone did) he wants a pair of gloves XD slightly finger cutty offy resistant gloves.
So the real question I think comes down to attempting to fashion plate out of the metal? Or would he stick with a bright and shiny chain underneath his regular armor? Also if he did go with trying to forge plates what would it look like? Interesting thoughts.
Mithril Armour especially on someone strong would be no joke, even if he didn't use it all imagine saruman getting a new staff made of mithril or the Ring wraiths having even a sword made of the stuff?
I wonder if Tolkien intended this to be vague to leave to the readers’ interpretation or if he hadn’t yet finished elaborating on it. I could see Sauron using it to try to prepare for the Dagor Dagorath, to either aid in his masters return from the void in some way we don’t know about and or making weapons for the last battle ahead of Morgoth’s return, I just got the impression Sauron was still subservient to Morgoth when he had the nemenoreans build an alter to Melkor, im not entirely convinced he did it solely to spite Eru or provoke the destruction of nemenor. Who knows!
As someone mentioned I think Sauron was a smith one of the greatest under Aule. Assuming he doesn't sit on his throne 24/7 plotting evil (or is not just a big flaming eye😏) its entirely possible he DOES do some Smithing for the pure pleasure of it. Equally just because he is evil does not mean he does not appreciate beautiful things. Morgoth did, so much so he stole the Silmarils and put them in a crown despite the discomfort. With Sauron he made one ring to rule them all. A ring. Not "One crown to rule them". So he may want Mithril so he can make not just weapons or armour (although I imagine he is immune to most weapons anyway ) but beautiful things even if he afterwards covetously hordes them in private.
The pattern on the doors aren't mithril, but another metal of the Dwarves known to shine by starlight and moonlight.
I know Tolkien has that letter where he says that Sauron believed that Eru had abandoned Middle Earth, but that Sauron could not be a sincere athiest and had his measure of knowledge of the Music and whatnot..Do you think Sauron on some level feared the damnation that awaited him sooner or later from his rebellion against God, or had he become so warped by evil that that he truly believed he would lord over the material world for eternity? I often wonder if the fate of his master haunted him at all. The path of Sauron seems like the sunk cost fallacy at a cosmic scale
These deep Dives into the Lore are amazing.
I missed the reference about Sauron's hoarding mithril entirely, and never gave it any thought until I saw this video's title. My first thought was very much along the lines of the "spite" theory: that he just didn't want anyone else to have it. That was, after all, waht Morgoth would have done.
My second thought was like yours: that if used to make weapons, it would explain Grond. But the "ceremonial armor" idea may make the most sense, as Sauron may not want to be vulnerable enough again in a fight to have his hand cut off. Hell, he may have even wanted to build himself a new, mithril body, since he had lost his "fair form" at Numenor!
But all along, I found myself wondering what modern humans would try to do with this stuff if we found it: what benefit would it offer to science? Mithril-alloy frames for spaceships and aircraft? Medical applications for implants or focusing lasers for microsurgery? Mithril-ion batteries with limitless power? Mithril-based inks for 3d printers? Who knows?
funny mithril can stop a cave troll powered spear but can't stop shelob's stinger maybe it isn't as strong as we were told or is shelob got some magic type powers or is it just a plot whole or was it depicted wrong in the movie it been a long time since i read the books
Probably mithril gloves😆
Absolutely love your videos. I follow another Tolkien blog who is great, but, as others have said, you delve into the lore and speculate intelligently on deeper mysteries that other blogs don't touch. Often these are mysteries I've long wondered about myself like Melkor's nature, his fear/desire/hatred for Varda and what Sauron's fixation with mithril was. I also love that you have a real appreciation for the Bad Guys in the Legendarium – I can't help myself being drawn to Melkor and Sauron despite hating their awful deeds. Even Tolkien allows hints of tragedy in their stories. Thanks for addressing the mithril mystery esp after the travesty of the Show That Must Not Be Named. I simply can't understand how they don't have the rights to get the foundation of the 1st Age and 2nd Age correct but are able to get away with making up such lore-breaking tripe…I try to let it go but the 2nd Age could have been so incredible to adapt if done well – Sauron's possible attempt to redeem himself, his connection with Celebrimbor, the War with the Elves, the Rise and Fall of Numenor & his corruption of it and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
Sigh…moving on, if you haven't done this before I'd love a video on Tolkien's 'magic system' esp with regards the Music/singing and the Rings. As a massive fantasy fan and writer, it struck me years later that I never really understood how magic worked in the Legendarium compared to say Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Brandon Sanderson talks about it as a Soft vs Hard magic system, but I think it's more complex than that. I enjoy Tolkien's writing and world so much I don't necessarily want to subject it to more modern 'power levels' and gaming style discussions of magic systems, but actually if one picks behind the scenes and cross references the lore there is something there. Briefly/simplistically I think it's something to do with song and calling on the power of things with the quality you want, along with your will and of course Grace like with Sauron vs Finrod and Luthien. I also think Sauron as both a maia of Aulé and Melkor and a ruler of Order was able to tap into the fabric of Arda (Seen and Unseen realms) and found ways to bind things and even conditions to objects which translated into Ringlore, which he taught to Celebrimbor. Would love to know your thoughts on this.
Do a video on "The straight road" between Middle Earth and Aman it's always fascinated me. I often wonder could someone find the straight road and get to Aman from here in the 7th age?
He was waiting for the market to turn in his favour 🤙 hes a smart stacker. Smaug and him should do a precious materials podcast and talk about geo politics and economics. I'd definitely subscribe.
In my opinion, Grond is almost certainly crafted of some corrupted form of mithril. It’s emphasized multiple times that the gates of Minas Tirith are special, and that Grond shattered them with relative ease. And when the dwarves upgrade it after the books, it’s specifically mentioned that they made the new and improved gates out of mithril, meaning they weren’t before. Just makes sense to me
Were the Elfin Swords on The Hobit possibly made of mithril?
It probably has something to do with the preparations for Dagoth Dagorath. If he can claim ALL of the mithril in the lands, then the weapons of the troops of the Valar would at a significant disadvantage to Morgoth's minions whose leaders and champions at least would have mithril gear…
Not something I've ever considered before tbh but I'd imagine it has superconductive properties to "magic" maybe..or, how about a body? He had already infused a lot of his innate power into the ring..think about that..that is some radical direction Sauron went in..the scope of detaching almost his essence into the ring…And now I'm thinking of the 2 statues on the road before Minas Morgul and also the Tower of Cirith Ungol..all had malevolent spirits inside them, watchers who gave alarms if passed. I am thinking of a 15 foot tall Dark Lord who's animated a Mithril Golem 🙂
stargates
I know my “voice” will be lost in the crowd, so be it!
I suspect mithril has some ability to also channel “energy” that Sauron understood (considering his background) which he could use it to enforce his “will”. Perhaps using the metal as a lens for his mental dominance as well as physical form. Maybe not only physical and mental but also a third aspect of reality (ethereal?) we are simply not aware reforming Middle Earth directly into his concept.
I think you and many others are looking at this from too narrow a perspective as a result of the limited scope of the source material with regard to Sauron, his plans and his domain. As an immortal divine being ruling over vast areas and a plethora of different peoples, surely his plans would be on a scale we as humans can hardly even fathom, even if we knew what was going on around his lands. We just have practically no clue about anything besides the most rudimentary military aspects of his reign.
Sauron could have used all the mithril ever delivered to him to build religious shrines, icons or great statues of himself to rule through a cult of personality or perhaps crafted crowns, scepters and the like to be given to his vassal kings and lords. As a divine craftsman himself, perhaps he knew other uses for it besides what are mentioned in the books. He could have used it to craft stuff for his personal use, or perhaps for his closest Black Numenorean servants. We just don't know enough to really say much. Not even how much mithril there ever was.
Maybe it’s his backup or fall backup plan? A new Mithral body in case of his defeat.
This is a question not worth asking.
I'm sure he has several good reasons to hoard it. One that also comes to mind is that he surely would want his enemies to have the strongest and best armor possible. So he doesn't only want it, he also doesn't want others to have it because it would make them slightly more powerful.
Mithril is the adamantium / vibranium of Tolkien's universe.
He was a fan of building around lava and enslaving great beasts. Mithril reinforcements sound like good uses for either. maybe he was creating a great golem to inhabit? It might take something like Mithril to contain his power.
This video is awesome! There are lots of LOTR creators on YouTube but this style is just wow! I wonder if maybe Sauron could have wanted mithril as a way to make a more powerful tool, something to compliment the ring or maybe even surpass that for power. Remember he still feared the Valar and maiar, and like Melchor before, he wanted the same power to create as well as destroy..
Or maybe he just wants to have as much as possible, to prevent others from having mithril because of his ego and hubris and stuff… The only thing that ppl with power fear is losing power.
Perhaps Mithril if corrupted provides the malice imparted into Morgul blades?
he was a creator gone bad……just like his master,…..
Armour for him and the wraiths is what i always figured he used it for 🤷♂️
Sauron definitely didn't do it because it carries the light of a silmaril which was captured by a tree that was fought over by an elf-lord and a balrog which can save the elves from the fading and waning in middle earth, or as a certain show would have you believe IMMINENT DEATH.
I would guess that Sauron wants to hoard it both simply out of spite because it is loved by the Elves in particular, but also because Mithril has a spiritual quality, reminiscent of the stars. He wants to hoard that beauty for himself, not because he appreciates it, but just to deprive the races of this small piece of joy and remnant of divinity, as one more chip away at their spirits
obviously he wanted a glove that he could put on over his one ring 🙂 thereby increasing the effectiveness of his moonwalk.
2:11 “This covetousness nature of Sauron is easy to understand, even after he failed in his rings of power project…”
OH-ho ooof. A very clever shot across the bow there! Keep making digs like that, and you might mine some mithril yourself!
Most logical thing is that he hoarded mithril to stop others from making weapons too over throw him
Sauron wants Mithril because it has the flame of Ainur within it. The flame of Ainur is derived from The Flame Imperishable. Sauron was cut off from the flame imperishable by his arrogance and greed, and he desires to create living things. He is most likely experimenting on Mithril to unlock the secrets of The Flame of Ainur so he can twist it to his own design, and eventually overthrow Eru Illuvatar. He also wants it so that he controls the last source of the light, so that people are cut off from it, and the elves have to flee.
Sauron was absorbing the energy in minthril and probably would make a new magical armor mixed with his black steel and probably creating new dark magics with the light by absorbing the energy form it
Because it is cool. I would hoard it, too.
I would imagine I would use the mithril for a larger purpose. Something more then a weapon. More than a mere greed. We know he some mithril for rings of power, which he planned to use for domination. I would have to assume it more functional. I don't think the story ended with the death of Sauron.