‘The Rings Of Power’: The Significance Of Durin’s Discovery Explained
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In The Rings of Power’s first season episode, “The Great Wave,” Durin reveals to Elrond that the dwarves have discovered Mithril. This is a monumental discovery; Mithril is very important in Tolkien’s lore. Durin describes it as “lighter than silk, stronger than iron,” and talks of its potential to revolutionize dwarven culture. However, he feels that his father, the king, is being too cautious because Mithril is dangerous to mine. Durin also says that in the dwarf’s tongue, it is known as “grey glitter.” Mithril is the elvish word for it.
Gandolf gives a more complete description of Mithril in The Fellowship of the Ring:
The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant... 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... 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 that of common silver, but the beauty of Mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.
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So, we know that the dwarves will, at some point, mine the Mithril, and they will become hugely prosperous as a result. Unfortunately, it will also be their downfall.
During the height of the dwarves’ power in Khazad-dûm, they learned to make many beautiful things with Mithril. They also shared with the elves, who made many objects of great beauty of their own. Durin alludes to the weapons and armor to be made. The most famous example is the Mithril chainmail that Thorin gifted to Bilbo in The Hobbit. That same Mithril coat saved Frodo’s life in The Lord of the Rings. The elves even made one of the Rings of Power from Mithril, Nenya, the one Galadriel wore.
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The dwarves’ undoing is hinted at in The Rings of Power when Durin speaks of Mithril as being difficult to mine. According to Tolkien, the vein of Mithril ran very deep below Khazad-dûm. The dwarves got greedy in their hunt for the metal and delved too deep. There they awoke a Balrog, an ancient monster created by Melkor. The balrog drove the dwarves from their homes and scattered them around Middle Earth. As a result, they lost the world’s only source of Mithril. All remaining Mithril became priceless.
Durin’s discovery of Mithril will be a turning point for the dwarves, the elves, and The Rings of Power itself. It will be interesting to see how Durin gets his father to reopen the mine. Khazad-dûm is spectacular so far in the series, and it is destined to get even more spectacular with the discovery of Mithril.
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