Yeah well, we got bullet proof glass and glass fibre too these days but that's besides the point.



If only...



Considering Mithril is supposed to be so rare that it can only be found in tombs, I reckon it's the other way around. The Legion styled their helmets after the Elvish style helmet. Then this is the book that says that not just mithril but also glass can only be found in tombs. Must be from before the time that all the bandits started importing glass armour from Morrowind!



Damn time travellers leaving their bullet proof shirts behind.

Funny thing is. As a silk shirt it's much more palpable. It's actually fantastical in the sense that it kicks in your brain and shouts impossible really loud. Mithril being really strong metal doesn't do that. It's to easy to forget about it.

That's probably true, after all, if Bethesda wants to expand the variety of armor in the game, they can always just include multiple different armor types made from the same materials, like how there were a number of different variations of bonemold in Morrowind, or how things like chainmail are presumably made from either iron or steel. However, Mithril has been around since the series' origins, so one can't exactly say including it is breaking the lore. Still, a lot of new lore was written since the series began that wasn't present at the start in an effort to make it a little less generic, so Bethesda COULD have removed mithril in the process, if they wanted to, or they could have instead given us some actual information on it, so that while mithril would still be in the world, we'd at least know where it comes from.

But I suspect that mithril is an Imperial design, given the style of it, as has been noted, the helmet seems similar to the Imperial Legion helm, but where the material comes from is uncertain, since we don't see any mithril mines in Oblivion, but we also don't see any iron mines, in fact, not only are all the mines in the game abandoned, but the ones that exist also seem to produce only gold or silver, so we really can't gather much from the absence of mithril mines, so for now, mithril is going to be one of those things that's just there, with very little explanation for why it's there.

Of course, maybe no one makes mithril anymore and all the mithril we found was looted from ruins, after all, we all know how impressive the technology of the ancients was, it was so much better than our pathetic modern technology, plus, it's conveniently accessable, you can find it in any random tomb or ruin, and it hasn't even been worn with time!



:rofl:

I suspect that "elven", in this case, is just an oversight on the writer's part, though. A lot of the armor in the game is named for what it's made out of, so maybe the writer just put "elven" under the assumption that it's the name of the material it's made out of. Though it may also be elven [insert name of metal here], in which case, the name of the metal isn't there, I'm sure we've all seen fantasy authors, wanting to show us just how much better things made by elves are than our puny human junk, add the word "elven" before whatever it is, like elven chain, elven steel, elven silver, elven cheese... well, I don't know what elven cheese would be like, but I'm sure it's much better than our human cheese.



Marvel isn't the only setting to use adamantium other than the Elder Scrolls, though, but maybe those settings copied it from Marvel, I don't know where the name first originated, but I suspect Marvel copied it from someone else.

I never heard or saw anything suggesting the Legion helmet was styled after the elven helmet.

Edit: Off of that, I understand that mithril armor represents a sore subject regarding Oblivion to many people, but I think it would be best to focus on what we have and minimize complaining about it.

I'm pretty sure it was invented by Marvel.

According to wiki Adamantium was invented by Marvel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamantium
Or atleast Marvel is the first thing they are mentioning in wiki.

EDIT: It seems that it first appeared in this thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_(comics)

Just look at them:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-item-Mithril_Armor.jpg
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-item-Elven_Armor.jpg
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-item-Steel_Armor.jpg
http://images.uesp.net//c/ca/OB-npc-Imperial_Legion_Guard.jpg

They all share the same outline. For some the "eye brow" part of the helm sweeps back a bit more then with the others, and the angles at which the cheek guards flare are slightly different. For reference, take the http://www.collecttolkien.com/images/Helmets/Helm%20ROTK%20Gondor%20Set%20Sideshow%20Spring2005%20$120.jpg, each helmet differs about as much from each other the helmets above do.

Perhaps there is a connection, but perhaps it is just a result of two different groups designing helmets with similar ideas regarding protectiveness versus sight and ventilation allowed.

Considering the history and culture of these two groups is intertwined, I wouldn't be surprised if they had similar ideas. After all why stop at assimilating the religion?

http://elderscrolls.com/art/popup_concepts.htm

http://elderscrolls.com/art/obliv_conceptart.htm

In the OB concept art for mithril, the wearer looks Nordic or Breton.

The 2nd one looks very in-game

I sense two different discussions going on at the same time here, and sort of getting confused with each other:

1) What is the material from which "Mithril armor" is made? I.e. the material defines the armor type (as in "fur armor")
2) Who makes/made "Mithril armor" I.e. the construction determines the type (as in "eleven armor")

But whoever makes it, they do need a material to make it from, so it's a legitimate question whether Mithril is just a another way of making armor from the same material as another type - e.g. Steel Plate and Chainmail both use steel, or a separate material. The latter theory supports it being used to make a superior form of chainmail in TES IV and a plate style in earlier games.

There's also an assumption that the material has to be mined directly as Mithril. Since it appears metallic, Mithril could well be an alloy based on Iron, just as Steel is, so the question is where that other alloying ingredient arises, and who has the technology to create the mixture. What alloy or metal is used for Dwarven armor? Are they related?

Well I think it is definitely safe to say that mithril is the material. The style of mithril armor in Oblivion appears to just be mithril chainmail, and due to Elven armor being so light and strong, I was also thinking it possible that maybe it was mithril banded mail. It's obvious that the mithril in the Elder Scrolls is based off the mithril from Tolkien lore, which is extremely similar to titanium... but that doesn't get us any closer to figuring out where it comes from and/or where the equipment made from it comes from... :T

It comes from Moria. It smacks of big-bearded midgets, poking away at underground rocks. Wrong Bethesda. I give it a negative one.

Aside from that, I'll emphasize something, maybe help:
I think I remember hearing that the Nibeneans hunt a particular newt called a mithril. After several chemical treatments, the hide becomes light as silk, yet more durable than metal. The few craftsmen who know the process can build chain, scale or plate armors from the hide. Most can only afford - or prefer - the natural colors of the hide preserved, others pay a ransom for a silver sheen.

Knowledge of Dwemer metallurgy vanished along with the Dwemer themselves. It's sometimes referred to as "brass", so it's presumably an alloy, but it has extraordinary magical properties that have never been replicated or fully understood. The Dwemer left enough of it behind that it's been reworked by latter-day armorers into modern "Dwarven".

The best explanation I can come up with for the presence of Mithril on Tamriel is that there was anciently an interplanetary trade route to Middle-Earth.

Marvel may have been first with the word "adamantium", but it is based on "adamantine" which goes back to a greek word for "made of something really hard".

I'll go with 1) silk because it's soft, smooth and decidedly not a metal mined by beared midgets working for Massey Coal, silk being a plant leaves only one possible producer 2) British India Cyrodiil.

Silk isn't a plant, it's an animal product.

Even better! According to Wiki only moth caterpillars are used for textile production.

men-of-ge (who were eventually destroyed when the Flower King Nilichi made great sacrifice to an insect god named [lost]),

And now we know why it's no longer being made!

You're saying you think that mithril armor is actually made from silk? Now things are just getting silly.

Yup and not that silly at all.

i support this latest development, as it is very good (read: unique) world building.

I think it's quite interesting, too. As an added effect, the thought of a silk like material being made into very protective armor is cool in that it contradicts what one would normally expect, that being some strong metal or alloy. It makes it seem more rare and exotic, something I think TES could use more of.

I'd like to make two points that I believe prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that mithril is painfully obviously a type of metal, and not silk:
1. If you look at the mithril armor in Oblivion, here are three examples of why it looks like metal - First, it is mostly chain mail; so even if someone were to find a silk that was as shiny as metal, try to twist silk into a type of rope-like configuration and then tie it together in a netting to resemble chain mail, in said configuration it would not be nearly as shiny anymore, and therefore would just look like gray netting, as opposed to the shiny metal of the chain mail in Oblivion. Second, the mithril helmet can't possibly me made from fabric due to it's shape/structure, unless the silk was layered on top of a harder substance like wood or metal. Third, there are various other components to the armor that, like the helmet, are obviously sturdy solid pieces of metal and not flexible fabric.
2. Arena had mithril weapons. If mithril is made from silk then it means the weapons would I'd either be really floppy (a silk sword? really?), or have to be a harder substance such as wood or metal, then wrapped in the silk. I just don't see that as making any sense at all.

Am I just missing something here? Is it just me, or does it not make any sense whatsoever for armor and weapons to be made from something that comes out of a worm's bum? I'm not trying to start a fight or anything... This is just blowing my mind a bit... I'm sorry if I am seeming closed-minded. :/

Mithril as silk....no, just no. What the hell is wrong with you guys?
We've had this discussion before, and damn the IT's, this is something I had "noted"

In one of the way way way way long ago threads on this subject it was considered to be an Altmeri material (read as from the earth = stone-esque material) which they mystically reformed through smithing, magicka know-how, some other method we have no true info about, to be a protective material against whatever antagonist was bothering them in the Summerset Ilses at the time.

Number 2: It was an Orcish created material (and thusly Orcs are the only ones to be able to understand/refine whatever Mithril is made of) from the way back when, which fits when you take a good, hard look at Orcish armors of the here-and-now and wonder what they could be possibly made of. (Keep in mind Orc smiths are pretty superior to anyone else...so much so that their armors are prized possesions among those elite enough to come upon one)

Number 3 (and possibly the lamest one): It is just another after-product of Lorkahn falling to Nirn, of which few people know how to refine/reform.

I personally like #2, although number 4: "MK's: '[censored] shouldn't be here'" grumpiness post makes the most sense since it is very possible that Mithril is the byproduct of dummies messing with time and/or space.

Mithril Silk worms produced a silk that was basically like puddy, and it could be formed, dried, and hardened into any shape.

I think the easiest part of the Lore is digging the Developers out of pits.