The Power
Now it is a matter of logistics. We cannot simply say that Sauron harnessed some of his power in mithril without discovering when and how.
“Melkor was jealous of [Aulë], for Aulë was most like himself in thought and in powers; and there was long strife between them, in which Melkor ever marred or undid the works of Aulë, and Aulë grew weary in repairing the tumults and disorders of Melkor.”
Valaquenta
“Sauron, however, inherited the ‘corruption’ of Arda, and only spent his (much more limited) power on the Rings; for it was the creatures of earth, in their minds and wills, that he desired to dominate. In this way Sauron was also wiser than Melkor-Morgoth. Sauron was not a beginner of discord; and he probably knew more of the ‘Music’ than did Melkor.”
Morgoth’s Ring: Part Five: Myths Transformed
Again, what are mithril’s original unique qualities? —“Lighter than silk, harder than iron.” What quality did Sauron give it? —The power to heal Middle-earth.
Sauron’s time with Aulë and Morgoth (his involvement in the creation and corruption of Arda) gave him intricate knowledge of the nature of many, if not all things in the earth, including mithril. He knew its location, unique properties, and how it was made.
“Where I came up, precious metals were scarce as hens’ teeth. So, we learned to combine them to harness strengths and hide flaws. I’ve seen a trace of nickel added to iron to make a blade lighter and stronger” (Sauron, 1×08).
After having part in all of Melkor’s deeds upon Arda, he knew how to manipulate it.
Sauron meddled with the powers of the unseen world in Dúrnost and Eregion. When Celebrimbor’s forge malfunctioned, Galadriel’s suspicion of Halbrand increased because the disastrous aftermath was the same in Forodwaith. Her attention was drawn to the tongs on the forge because it reminded her of the Orc in the wall.
Halbrand then exhibited an uncharacteristic level of excitement from his epiphany, which reminded her of Sauron searching for a hidden piece of knowledge.
Those two things proved Halbrand to be Sauron because:
- The experiments were the same.
- The power they tested was the same.
- The goal was the same.
- Halbrand was too invested for a Man.
In Eregion, they only had a small piece of mithril, and the explosion fused a pair of tongs to the forge. In Dúrnost, an entire Orc was melded to a much larger forge, so there must have been access to the same power in larger quantities. We did not see buckets of leftover mithril when Galadriel arrived in Dúrnost because Sauron did not use mithril—the power seems to have originated from him.
The ruins of the forge in Dúrnost seem like the results of failure, but what if Sauron’s experiments were actually successful, if only partially? Mithril truly contains the power to heal Middle-earth, which Sauron sought to craft. And judging from the whispering in the clip of the mithril healing the leaf, it seems that he had already done it. Mark the sequence of events.
According to what he told Galadriel, it was at the time of Finrod’s death that he sought the power itself.
“He was seeking a power. Not to destroy Middle-earth, but to heal it” (Sauron, 1×08).
It would seem that he eventually found it, for Adar said that after Morgoth’s defeat (long after Finrod’s death), he sought to craft the power.
“He sought to craft the power. Not of the flesh, but over flesh” (Adar, 1×06).
If history repeated itself, Sauron found a way. The only thing missing was the knowledge of how to contain it. It was this knowledge that he finally discovered in Eregion, with the help of Galadriel and Celebrimbor.
“‘Pushing ourselves too hard.’ Supposing that’s the trouble. Supposing we’ve been using too much force. […] Galadriel! We found it. I don’t know how we missed it before! It’s too much power for one object” (Sauron, 1×08).
How would he contain his power in mithril?
Dark Sorcery
Since we have not yet seen Sauron use much sorcery, we must turn to his fellow Maia to learn the nature of magic.
The Stranger drew his constellation on the ground with a stick, as if to ask Nori if she knew anything about it. Meanwhile, Largo struggled to lift a massive decoration for the Harfoot festival.
It was heavily implied that the Stranger unknowingly had control over Largo’s situation. In an attempt to make Nori understand him, he may have instinctively tapped into powers of the unseen world, and consequently, when he broke the stick, he broke Largo’s ankle; his physical presence was not required.
We know that the power Sauron tested was also of the unseen world. He would not need to be physically present in the Misty Mountains in order for his power to be disseminated in mithril. Largo’s broken ankle showed us exactly how that would be possible.
Galadriel: “These Orcs were meddling with the powers of the unseen world. Some dark sorcery of old. But what was their purpose?”
Thondir: “Surely, it is lost to the ages now. Whatever happened here was long ago” (1×01).
The most obvious connection between the forge and the mithril mine was the Balrog which guarded it.
But the most conspicuous was the snowflake landing on the anvil as Thondir said, “Whatever happened here was long ago.” The snowflake perfectly represents the leaf falling on the floor of the mithril mine.
The surface of the anvil and the floor of the mine mimic each other—both are exceedingly hot. One evaporated a snowflake, and the other consumed a leaf with fire. Dark sorcery? Black magic? It was as if the anvil was a miniature version of the bottom of the mine, just as the stick was a miniature version of Largo’s leg—a way to access control over a certain area from afar. Galadriel concluded that Sauron was in the North, but may as well have said that Sauron was metaphorically “in” the Misty Mountains.
“Even stone cannot hide the mark of one whose very hand is flame unquenched. He was here. Sauron was here” (Galadriel, 1×01).
I reserved the first instance we heard perilous whisperings, for this topic. Below is that instance, along with the roaring of a Balrog and many other chaotic noises. Hearing those sounds in the moment the mark was carved is significant. It seemed that the Stranger drawing his mark (about which Nori asked: “Is it some sort of map?”) connected the stick to Largo’s ankle. If that is any indication, Sauron using fire to draw his mark on the anvil (which also happened to be a map) connected the anvil to the mine. This may be the very moment Sauron successfully crafted his power.
Sauron lacked the knowledge of how to contain this power, so success would only be partial. He used too much force to contain too much power into one object. This explains why it was distributed throughout an entire deposit of mithril. And it parallels Morgoth.
“Morgoth’s power was disseminated throughout Gold,* if nowhere absolute (for he did not create Gold) it was nowhere absent.”
Morgoth’s Ring: Part Five: Myths Transformed
* Gold had an “evil trend” because of this, yet mithril did not. It contained a power to heal; and even Durin observed that it was “a specie that might be dearer than gold.”