Where Did All the Mithril Go?

6 comments
Bilbo Baggins gives a mithril mail shirt to Frodo Baggins. Readers ask where all the mined mithril in Middle-earth went.
The Numenoreans and Sauron spent centuries collecting mithril. What happened? Where did all the mithril go? Tolkien hints most of it was captured by Sauron and lost when Barad-dur was destroyed.

Q: Where Did All the Mithril Go?

ANSWER: Mithril appears to be the rarest mineral in Middle-earth. It is, according to a couple of texts, only found in Khazad-dûm. During the Second Age the Númenoreans collected a great deal of mithril, especially when they began levying tribute on the men of Middle-earth. But Sauron also collected mithril, and in one passage Tolkien suggests that Sauron had gathered most of the remaining mithril to himself by the end of the Third Age.

The Longbeard Dwarves had access to a vast trading network through the other six Dwarven kingdoms; hence, they could have distributed mithril throughout Middle-earth. Therefore the Númenoreans would have only had access to a portion of the available mithril in their day; whereas Sauron, after conquering most of Middle-earth, would have had access to the majority of the remaining mithril.

Since Númenor took most of its treasures with it in the Great Cataclysm it is probably safe to assume that a large part, perhaps most, of the mithril that the Númenoreans had collected throughout the Second Age was lost at that time.

But Gondor and Arnor would have had access to mithril for two thousand years in the Third Age, until the Balrog of Moria drove the Dwarves out of their realm. Arnor had already fallen to the Witch-king of Angmar by then; presumably he would have stripped Fornost Erain and other Númenorean fortresses of their treasures each time he overcame one. Hence, if there was much mithril in Arnor it could have gradually found its way into Sauron’s hoards over the centuries.

Gondor was able to continue using mithril all the way up to the War of the Ring. However, by then the metal had become so precious it was only used by a small number of elite people. As Gondor lost territories and suffered defeats in battle through the years, it could also have lost a substantial part of the mithril it had collected.

So by the time Barad-dûr was destroyed Sauron might have collected a huge store of mithril in the fortress, a store which would have been lost forever when the mountain collapsed and was swallowed up by the huge lava flow coming out of Mount Doom. Some readers have asked if that mithril might not have survived, such that a new vein could be sought once the volcano had quieted and the lava flows cooled.

While that might seem plausible to some J.R.R. Tolkien never seems to have given the matter any thought. And since no Dwarves are said to have ever settled in Mordor it seems doubtful to me that Tolkien would have imagined anyone having the skill to extract mithril from the remains of Barad-dûr.

Hence, most of the mithril that had been mined by the Longbeard Dwarves in the Second and Third Ages was probably lost forever in the great cataclysms that destroyed Númenor and Barad-dûr.

See Also

What Kind of Armor Did Tolkien Dwarves Use?

What Was Barad-dûr Like on the Inside?

How Faithful Is Amazon’s Rings of Power to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Books?

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6 comments

  1. Excellent summary! Just a tiny correction: I don’t think Barad-Dûr should be referred to as a “mountain”.

    Also, does it say specifically that Sauron was hoarding mithril? It would make more sense for him to make use of the metal in his military efforts, such as for weapons and armor. (For ranking officers. The poor orcs apparently had to make do with iron.) If so, a large part of Sauron’s mithril might have been scattered all over Middle-earth at the time of his downfall.

    1. As for Sauron hoarding mithril, there is this passage in “A Journey in the Dark” in The Fellowship of the Ring:

      `Piles of jewels? ‘ said Gandalf. `No. The Orcs have often plundered Moria; there is nothing left in the upper halls. And since the dwarves fled, no one dares to seek the shafts and treasuries down in the deep places: they are drowned in water–or in a shadow of fear.’

      `Then what do the dwarves want to come back for? ‘ asked Sam.

      ‘For mithril,’ answered Gandalf. `The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. 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. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is 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. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin’s Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.

      As for whether Sauron’s fortress was on a mountain, well, I leave it to the reader to decide what these passages mean. First is a quote from the scene where Frodo sits atop Amon Hen (while wearing the Ring) and looks out across Middle-earth:

      …Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.

      And then there is the description of the destruction of Barad-dûr:

      A brief vision he had of swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant: and then all passed. Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires of smoke and spouting steams went billowing up, up, until they toppled like an overwhelming wave, and its wild crest curled and came foaming down upon the land. And then at last over the miles between there came a rumble, rising to a deafening crash and roar; the earth shook, the plain heaved and cracked, and Orodruin reeled. Fire belched from its riven summit. The skies burst into thunder seared with lightning. Down like lashing whips fell a torrent of black rain. And into the heart of the storm, with a cry that pierced all other sounds, tearing the clouds asunder, the Nazgûl came, shooting like flaming bolts, as caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled, withered, and went out.

      The language may be figurative but mountains come in various sizes and shapes. I’ll leave it at that.

      1. I see: by “when the mountain collapsed” you referred not to Barad-Dûr, but to the mountain upon which Barad-Dûr seems to have been built.

        As regards mithril, it is clear that Sauron “coveted” it; but whether he stored it away in the Dark Tower or put it to practical use apparently remains an open question.

  2. It would make sense to build Barad-dûr on an existing mountain, or at least a hill, simply for economy. Not only would it give a head start on building a tall structure, but the hill itself could be hollowed out, with the debris used for construction material, and the resulting caverns providing a secure defensive and industrial location. Even Sauron would likely do things the easiest way.

  3. After years of pondering I still can’t imagine a satisfactorily explanation for why Sauron sought Mithril. After all, gold was rich in the Morgoth-element and accumulating it may have made sense. Silver was almost devoid of it, so of little interest. But Mithril? Logic would suggest that Mithril was even purer than silver, but why then look for it? The only idea I’ve come up with is that it was a deny-to-the-enemy strategy, but – again – why deny it to Elves and Dunedain? Was it only because it made wonderful byrnies? In the latter case, we would have seen Mithril armour-clad Olog-hai at the Siege of Minas Tirith, so that’s unlikely. But what if Mithril had anti-magic properties, for example shielding his Eye? In that case Sauron’s strategy may have been to actually try not to accumulate but to destroy all the Mithril (perhaps in the Crack of Doom) in an attempt to eliminate something that could hide the ring from his view. A bit stretched, perhaps, but that’s my best shot so far on this subject.

    1. Gigoachef, it seems clear that Mithril at this time was extremely rare, so any mithril-mail in Sauron’s possession would probably be spread quite thin among his troops (which were apparently distributed over large parts of the continent). Probably it would be reserved for especially important or high-ranking officers. I imagine Gothmog might have been assigned mithril armor, although if so we are not told (we know virtually nothing about him, after all).

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