One of the biggest themes in all of Tolkien’s works is that of good and evil, light and dark, and the balance between them. When that balanced is tipped too far one way or another, there are always devastating consequences. This has been symbolized so far in theRings of Powerby the black poison that is currently choking out the life of the trees in the elven kingdom of Lindon.
These trees and their ailment are a visible representation of the growing danger of Sauron. His darkness is spreading across the lands of Middle Earth, snuffing out everything that stands in its way. But in the seventh episode of the series, the healing of the poisoned Lindon leaf in Khazad-Dum by Durin’s shard of Mithril represents a very real hope that there might be a way to fight back against Sauron’s malice.
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When Durin slides the precious ore across the table in anger, it comes to a stop right beside the dying leaf that Elrond brought earlier. The leaf serves as proof of the very real danger that the elves and their kingdom are facing. Before Disa and Durin’s eyes, the thick, tar-like substance that infects the veins across the venation patter of the leaf begins to retreat. It turns from a crunched, withered looking thing, back to its full golden health. The Mithril shard and its glittering light seem capable of drawing the darkness right out of the leaf and absorbing it, without being damaged or tarnished. And this healing of the leaf could also heal and protect the elves from their diminishing that is to come.
It all has to do with the hints aboutthe origin of Mithrilthat were given a few episodes earlier. Gil-galad revealed to Elrond that the elves were seeking the precious ore because they believed it to be the power from a long ago legend named the ‘Roots of Hithaeglir.’ Ifthe elven kingis right, and Mithril really does contain the light of the Valar, then it would seem that this light is the key to how this precious ore can heal the trees, and the elves themselves. The light within the Mithril was sealed by a stroke of lightening into its essence, right down through the roots into the heart of the mountain. The forest of golden trees in Lindon came across from the Undying Lands, and were planted from seeds that still held all the magic and the light of this sacred place within them when they were planted. Therefore, if the Mithril in Khazad-Dum holds this same light, it is essentially a battery pack that can recharge the heavenly glow that the trees need to survive.
In the same way that darkness can only exist around the edges of light, the darkness of Sauron can only thrive in the places where the light of the Valar has been diminished. If Mithril holds within it this sacred illumination, it can be used to draw out the darkness from the world like sucking poison from a wound. This is whatthe forger Celebrimbormeans when he says that they need enough Mithril to ‘Saturate every last elf in the light of the Valar.’ All the elves must have this light within them, to protect them from being corrupted by Sauron’s malice, so that they may one day return to the lands of their birth in Valinor. This light clearly helps the trees to grow strong and infallible.The tree that Durin planted in his homedeep under the ground has thrived, despite not having any of the conditions that a tree needs to survive. This can only be because it was growing near the source of Mithril all along.
However, the trouble with this evil, this darkness that is spreading, is that it has been festering for years. Even though visible signs of it have only just come to the surface in the form of the trees, and withthe growing hoardes of orcs in the Southlands, this is a motion that was put in place long ago. In some ways, it’s almost as if Sauron and Morgoth put in place a contingency plan to counteract the healing properties of the Mithril. That plan comes in the form ofthe Balrog that was awoken deep in the mineat the end of episode 7.
In the original story of the roots of Hithaeglir, it was a Balrog that was trying to tear down one of the sacred trees. When the lightning struck the elven hero who fought the Balrog to protect it, both his light from Valinor, and the Balrog’s fire and flame of Morgoth, were sealed into the tree and the subsequent Mithril. So in this respect, not only will the Balrog destroy the kingdom of Khazad-Dum, it could also be the one things that diminishes the power of the Mithril. As such, it may prevent it from healing the trees and the elves themselves.
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