In season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, episode 6, Sauron provides Celebrimbor with a new supply of mithril, but isn’t the supply running out? The events surrounding Lord Eregion begin to get a bit confusing, between his mental deterioration and the delusions Sauron has created. While the audience is learning a lot about what is real and what isn’t, some small details begin to not add up. Some of these details, such as Sauron (as Anatar) suddenly producing more mithril out of thin air, may hint at what’s happening in the Rings of Power.
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So far in Season 2 of Rings of Power, Celebrimbor and Anatar have completed the Seven Rings of Dwarves, and the Dark Lord in disguise has been working hard to finish the Nine Rings of Men. However, the effort and resources put into the current Rings of Power have been overwhelming, and Sauron has become increasingly frustrated as obstacles continue to stand in his way. In Season 2 of Rings of Power, Episode 6, the lack of mithril is the main problem, so Anatar heads to Khazad-dûm for more. The problem is that King Durin III is too greedy to partake.
Sauron gives Celebrimbor more mithril despite King Durin's refused
When the nearly exhausted Anatar went to Khazad-dûm to ask for more mithril, he was refused. King Durin wanted to hold out until the Elves of Eregion truly gave up, for he could exchange the mithril for something far more valuable than the wood Anatar offered. This meant that the Master of Gifts had to return to Celebrimbor empty-handed. Nevertheless, Anatar produced a bowl full of ground mithril and handed it to Celebrimbor after convincing him that the only way forward was to use their Nine Rings of Power.
This was a rather surprising solution to the major problem this Rings of Power had, meaning it wasn’t a major problem at all. There’s not much to suggest anything sinister was going on here, and Celebrimpor certainly had no reason to believe that Annatar didn’t get the mithril from the dwarves. However, given the big “no” from King Durin, this is a rather confusing change.
Sauron's new Mithril is likely another one of Celebrimbor's hallucinations.
In the scene where Sauron gave Celebrimbor the mithril in Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 6, much stranger things could have provided a clue. Eregion had just fallen under siege by Adar and Orcs, leaving the city in a state of terrifying panic. However, when Celebrimbor went to investigate, Sauron worked a little magic to make the city outside his forge appear completely peaceful and safe. As the two stood talking in the brilliant sunlight surrounded by laughing children, Sauron handed over the mithril and told Celebrimbor what it was.
The mithril was likely just an illusion, as were the surrounding areas.
It is possible that, just as with the surrounding areas, the mithril was merely an illusion. Sauron needed Celebrimbor to get back to the forge and begin work, and assuring the Elves that he had secured the mithril was an effective way to do that. The Lord of Eregion was still in the planning stage and had not yet gotten to the point of actually starting to craft the Nine Rings. So Sauron may have planned to replace the illusion of Mithril with the real thing once he finally had it. Or he may have decided to use another material to make the Nine Rings but did not want Celebrimbor to know that he had made a switch.
Sauron may have stolen the new mithril from the dwarves.
It’s also possible that what Sauron gave Celebrimbor was mithril. After all, King Durin III wears one of the Seven Symbols of Sauron, so it would have been relatively easy to trick the dwarf and seize a stash of mithril before leaving Khazad-dûm. The Dark Lord certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to do so, knowing that Celebrimbor would never be the wiser. Of course, if that were the case, King Durin III would surely have found out. He was reluctant to trade mithril, hoping for a better deal, and stealing from someone he thought was an elf of Eregion would surely lead to disaster.
Whether or not Sauron’s mithril hoard was real, his gift to Celebrimbor hints at the conflicts to come. If it was an illusion, Sauron was likely sneaking something else into the recipe for the Nine. If Anatar stole the mithril, it could lead to the centuries-long hatred that would exist between Dwarves and Elves in The Lord of the Rings—the end of the friendship represented by the Gates of Durin. Regardless, none of this bodes well for Eregion or Khazad-dûm in the future of the Rings of Power.
