This forum was closed on October 1st, 2010. However, the archives are open to the public and filled with vast amounts of good reading and information for you to enjoy. If you wish to meet some Wardrobians, please visit the Into the Wardrobe Facebook group.

Silly question about Mithril

Plato to MacDonald to Chesterton, Tolkien and the Boys in the Pub.
Forum rules
Please keep all discussion on topic and in line with our code of conduct.

Silly question about Mithril

Postby wingedllama » August 24th, 2006, 7:28 am

This isn't really a serious question, but I want to pose it anyway.

If Mithril is 'true silver' as Tolkien says, how can we explain that in chemical terms? What I mean is if Middle-Earth had a periodic table would mithril be considered an element in its own right, or just a possible isotope of silver? Maybe if they are considered two seperate elements, Middle-Earth chemists could call 'true silver' mithrilium.

And when I make posts like this folks, it tells me that it is way past my bedtime. :smile:
Member of the 2456317 Club
User avatar
wingedllama
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 1775
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: The Western Wild

re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby The Bigsleep J » August 24th, 2006, 8:15 am

Actually, the properties of mithril has possibly been highly exagerated, as a scholarly website informed me*. True silver appears to be a very metal indeed.

Insert supposedly witty but random absurd comment here and add water
User avatar
The Bigsleep J
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 3236
Joined: May 2002
Location: South Africa

Re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby Stanley Anderson » August 24th, 2006, 3:33 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
User avatar
Stanley Anderson
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 3251
Joined: Aug 1996
Location: Southern California

re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby A#minor » August 24th, 2006, 5:33 pm

That is a great link, BigSleepJ! A heresy worthy even of Erekose. :lol:

I have nothing to add about mithril, except that I like the sound of the name.
It sort of rolls off the tongue. Miiiithriiiillll :toothy-grin:
"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
User avatar
A#minor
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 7323
Joined: May 2005
Location: Georgia, USA

re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby wingedllama » August 25th, 2006, 3:36 am

Member of the 2456317 Club
User avatar
wingedllama
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 1775
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: The Western Wild

Re: re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby Stanley Anderson » August 25th, 2006, 2:39 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
User avatar
Stanley Anderson
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 3251
Joined: Aug 1996
Location: Southern California

Re: re: Silly question about Mithril

Postby Erekose » August 28th, 2006, 9:58 pm

Call yourself a dog???? I've seen better hair on a lavatory brush!!!
User avatar
Erekose
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 2210
Joined: Jan 2001


Return to Inklings & Influences

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered members and 4 guests