Branch thread: Tolkien's military technology

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Certainly the Gate-Guards of Gondolin had some visually impressive stuff but the exact type of armour is not described in detail.

However there's a snippet in The Children of Hurin, where it was said that "the sword and harness of the least of the warriors of Turgon was worth more than the ransom of any king among Men." Which implies either mithril, or serious high-end smith-craft.

But how did they get mithril? (And, yes, I know they built a whole gate out of the stuff).

And supposedly even the Noldor never made mail as good as the best Dwarven stuff.