Skyrim: WHAT IS IT? - Mithril & Adamantium Armor - Elder Scrolls Lore

In our latest Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim video we delve into Mithril & Adamantium Armor.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.

The game's main story revolves around the player character and their quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The videogame is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, and takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.

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[FudgeMuppet]

I probably should have mentioned the greek origin of adamantine (which many things have taken inspiration from in naming; D&D, Marvel etc.) as a few people have pointed out.


But as I understood adamantine or adamant (the greek words), it did not refer to a specific substance. I am not well versed on the etymology of the word, but wikipedia has this to say for anyone curious:

"Adamant and similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal."


"Adamantine has, throughout ancient history, referred to anything that was made of a very hard material. Virgil describes Tartarus as having a screeching gate protected by columns of solid adamantine (Aeneid book VI). Later, by the Middle Ages, the term came to refer to diamond, as it was the hardest material then known.
"

"It was in the Middle Ages, too, that adamantine hardness and the lodestone's magnetic properties became confused and combined, leading to an alternate definition in which "adamant" means magnet, falsely derived from the Latin adamare, which means to love or be attached to. Another connection was the belief that adamant (the diamond definition) could block the effects of a magnet. This was addressed in chapter III of Pseudodoxia Epidemica, for instance.
"

"Since the word diamond is now used for the hardest gemstone, the increasingly archaic term "adamant" has a mostly poetic or figurative use. In that capacity, the name is frequently used in popular media and fiction to refer to a very hard substance."


So, I was under the impression it was just a term for hard stuff, not a specific material (like iron or malachite), hence why I picked Marvel for comparison because in that universe it is a defined metal. Probably should have mentioned the greek stuff anyways, but there you go, for anyone interested ^.


Hope you still enjoyed :)

[shiro_the_trap]

I lost it when you said "and Dominatrix armour borrowed from your mum's closet", I wasn't expecting it and it was really well executed

[insanegamer]

Quick, someone go tell MXR that BDSM is canon so he can say it's Immersive.

[TheZombiesReanimated]

Adamantium appears in pre-comic stories and mythology too, which Wolverine probably borrowed from.

An Adamantium Sword was used to behead Medusa in the story of Perseus and an Adamant sickle was used to castrate Cronus.

Adamantium Chains were used to bind Prometheus to the rock and the devil to hell in paradise lost.

Hell, legend says that Alexander the Great built a wall from the stuff.

[MilkD]

Easy, you need 20 defense for Mithril, 30 for Adamant.

[patroclusilliad]

I am half certain Adamantium/Adamantite originally came from Greek myth and was the substance used to bound the Titans in Tartarus.

[prosra]

I loved the designe of Mithril armor in Oblivion. I looked cooler than Elven or Glass.

[lionboi]

Adamant was introduced in Greek myth, not Marvel comics. It was a divine metal said to be hard as diamond.

[bacd-nnlg]

I just pick up today a full set of Mithril armor in Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion, and this video cames out. ☺

[Kellethorn]

"From your mom's closet"
*Spits cereal across the entire table*

Weeeell played you fudging muppet. Weeellll plaaaayyed. ;)

[tiberiussempronious]

"What I never told Bilbo, his mithril mail was worth more than the entire shire and everything in it."

[Dobbinator]

Oh we know bdsm is canon im the elderscrolls universe, i mean have you visited helga's bedroom in riften, she praises dibella. Hard

[serotonin.scavenger]

Mithril can easily be explained away as Ayleid of origin. The silver hue of the armor looks like it took inspiration from the stars, and you know how much the Ayleids liked the stars.

[BlazinMatt]

Loving this series! Can you do one on the Nightingale Armor and Weapons you get during the Thieves Guild quests? I find the connection they obviously have to the Daedric Prince Nocturnal fascinating and how you have to use the rare alchemical ingredient Void Salts in their upgrading as well. I'm sure you could shed some light on the subject. Just a little suggestion is all! Keep up the good work! You guys are the best! 👍

[Ghrimvortex]

Your such a G, keep doing you man your videos are easily the best you dont get the recognition you deserve

[REALROCKFM]

I read this on r/teslore by Lady Nerevar for a creative concept on how Mithril could be integrated into the elder scrolls universe & make it significantly less “Tolkien”

“One particularly creative use of silk deserves a special mention: the armor known as Mithril. The term derives from the Nedic miith ii riil, which translates roughly to “storied strength of moth-carried ancestors.”
Though the art to its manufacture has been lost to the ages, we know that it was made by interweaving song-strengthened silk with metal wire (initially copper, later silver) and binding the weave together with the spirit of an ancestor. One account replaces the metal with the hair of the one meant to wear the armor, and another claims that nothing but silk, spirit, and song is needed.
Regardless of its manufacture, the strands were then bent into rings, which were linked in an intricate five-part pattern. The suits excelled at stopping the short sword and spear favored by foot soldiers, as well as the spells of magi.
The making of the suits stopped sometime in the mid 1st era, perhaps prompted by the advent of heavier swords or sturdier metals. No full suits survived to modernity, though individual links or chains are found in the possession of many wealthy citizens.
Many claim that the metal speaks to its carrier, and ensures that they win in battle.”


Some of this does conflict with the mithril we see in Oblivion but Oblivion conflicts with tons of lore anyway...

[dominiqueminor]

Adamantium as it appears in Marvel is an alloy of vibranium. It is based on adamantine from greek myth. Both are derived from the greek word adamas or adamantos.

[adamxei]

*LIGHT AS A FEATHER STRONG AS DRAGON SCALE*

[MeanAndPristine]

Adamantium actually debuted in Greek mythos. The sickle (weapon) of Cronus was adamantine, coming from the Greek word for “indomitable”. It was stolen and used by the gods to cut their father, Cronus, into pieces (the reasoning for this can be easily figured out from the famous painting “Saturn Devouring His Son”)

[thexith]

The cinematic shot in the bowels of the Markarth blacksmith perfectly defines the figurative visage of this video in a way.