Mithril is a fictional material from
J. R. R. Tolkien's universe,
Middle-earth. It is a precious silvery metal, stronger than steel but much lighter in weight, that was mined by the
Dwarves in the mines of
Khazad-dûm. The name
mithril comes from two words in
Sindarin?
mith, meaning "grey", and
ril meaning "glitter".
Mithril was also called "true-silver" by Men, while the
Dwarves had their own, secret name for it. It is unclear whether or not mithril is a real metal; many have thought it to be
platinum, however, platinum is far too heavy to qualify as a candidate. It is possible that this legendary material was modelled after
titanium, as this metal, while actually quite abundant as
ore, was very expensive to produce in its metallic form (especially by medieval technology), and has some of mithril's properties of strength, corrosion resistance, and light weight. Other possibilities are
aluminium or
magnesium; these metals are even lighter than titanium, but not as strong. (Famously,
Napoleon III of France once bought dinnerware made out of aluminium because it was more expensive than gold at the time.) Certainly Tolkien, being highly educated, would have had knowledge of these three metals and the difficulty in preparing them. However, probably because nobody is known to have asked Tolkien about mithril, it will never be known with certainty whether mithril is based on any real metal.