Mithral

Fictional record. This page describes a mining commodity from a fictional setting, not a real material. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.

The Dungeons & Dragons spelling of a light, flexible precious metal, known to dwarves as truemetal, produced from an ore found in the Underdark and in mountain ranges such as the Sword Coast North. The game's free Basic Rules describe it in one line: a mithral chain shirt or breastplate can be worn under normal clothes.

Where it occurs

The ore is found in the Underdark and in certain mountain ranges of Faerûn, the Sword Coast North among them. Mithral Hall, the stronghold of Clan Battlehammer in the Spine of the World, was founded on its own extensive deposits and takes its name from them. In Baldur's Gate 3 two veins of mithral ore bulge from the rock of Grymforge in the Underdark, and the game consumes them to make adamantine.

How it's obtained

Mithral ore is a silver-and-black mineral in the ground. It is produced by a process akin to steel-smelting and comes out of the forge a shining silvery-blue. The duergar who seized Mithral Hall kept its mines working for their own ends under the shadow dragon Shimmergloom until Clan Battlehammer returned.

Properties

Items of mithral weigh half as much as the same items in steel. Armour of it is light enough that it neither hinders stealth nor demands great strength of the wearer, and it restricts spellcasting less than ordinary armour. Its reaction to magic is erratic: about half the time a spell strikes a mithral item, its owner is briefly and partly shielded from the harm.

Why it's valuable

A metal valuable enough to name and found a stronghold on. The whole history of Mithral Hall, its fall to the duergar and the dragon, Bruenor Battlehammer's long exile and the reclamation told in Streams of Silver and The Halfling's Gem, turns on possession of its mithral mines.

Uses

Armour first of all, where its lightness counts most. The Hammer of Thunderbolts was made of mithral and adamantine, and the dagger of venom issued to senior clerics of the drow god Vhaeraun required mithral or adamantine to make. Some spells accept a pinch of mithral as a component.

Canon & adaptations

The spelling moves between editions: the first-edition Dungeon Masters Guide writes mithril, later Forgotten Realms material mithral. Bards hold that mithral combined with steel yields adamantine; dwarves call the claim laughable, and some say they simply decline to perform the feat for outsiders. Baldur's Gate 3 goes further and makes mithral ore the sole raw material of its adamantine forge.

Related fictional records

Mithril, Mythril Mine, Adamantine

Recorded claims

Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.

• Mithral is a light, flexible metal; a mithral chain shirt or breastplate can be worn under normal clothes, and mithral armour imposes no stealth disadvantage or strength requirement. (explicit canon) ¹
• Mithral ore is found in the Underdark and in mountain ranges of Faerûn such as the Sword Coast North, and Mithral Hall was founded on its own deposits of it. (MineArchive inference) ^2,3
• The ore is a silver-and-black mineral, smelted by a process similar to steel-making into a silvery-blue metal half the weight of steel. (MineArchive inference) ³
• Bards claim mithral combined with steel makes adamantine; dwarves call the claim laughable. (MineArchive inference, disputed) ³
• In Baldur's Gate 3 the only two pieces of mithral ore in the game are consumed at the Adamantine Forge to make adamantine items. (adaptation only) ⁴

Fictional mines producing this

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis.

• Mithral Hall
  The stronghold was founded on its own extensive deposits of mithral ore and is named for them.

Sources

1. (primary canon) Mithral Armor — D&D 5th Edition Free Basic Rules (2014), Roll20 Compendium — Wizards of the Coast rules text, licensed reproduction by Roll20
2. (interpretation) Mithral Hall — Forgotten Realms Wiki — Forgotten Realms Wiki
3. (interpretation) Mithral — Forgotten Realms Wiki — Forgotten Realms Wiki (Fandom), citing Dungeon Masters Guide (1st ed.) p.164, Manual of the Planes (1st ed.) p.43, Volo's Guide to All Things Magical p.57, Magic of Faerûn p.180, Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5 p.284 and 5th ed. p.182; read through the wiki's MediaWiki API
4. (adaptation) Mithral Ore — bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki, reproducing Baldur's Gate 3 item data

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026