Fantasy metals tier list

[Succubiome]

pretty sure Orihalcum is Adamantanium and Mithril's daughter

 

[Shard]

Personally, I've always thought of mythril as being light and extremely good for magic while slightly stronger than steel, orichalcum is horrible for magic but incredibly strong and pretty heavy, then adamantium being the divine metal that is light and both good for magic as well as incredibly strong.

The last one comes from playing Dwarf Fortress a lot, I'm sure.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I've researched this... A lot. Too much, since it's all made up and nobody can agree on anything anyways.

To start with, Adamantine and Orichalcum come from Greek 'myth'.

Adamantine uses the same root word as Diamond, the meaning of which was supposedly 'unconquerable, untamable'. That word was used to describe anything hard, and then turned into a mythical metal that combined all the properties of the hard things it described. The myth faded, but the word still describes hard things even now.

Orichalcum, literally translated as 'Mountain Copper', was a special alloy of bronze made from extremely rare materials in a single part of the Mediterranean. I've seen a source that found a sunken ship full of what they believed was Orichalcum (I believe it was an Arsenic Bronze, but it's been several years since I saw that and I feel in my heart that I am wrong).

(Hihiirokane is pretty much unknown. It refers to a bright red metal in ancient Japanese pseudo-myth. Perhaps Copper? It usually has a fire aspect in fiction.)

---

For my personal mythology, I decided to run with this certain recurring theme. Adamantine is 'True Iron'. Mithril is 'True Silver'. Orichalcum is 'True Copper'. Aurum(Aurium?) is 'True Gold'.

True Iron "Adamantine" is impervious to attacks, whether magical or physical. It's heavy as hell, never breaks or bends, holds an edge perfectly, and is colored green. It makes excellent weapons and armor... Or it would, if the user could carry it or find a way to use their magic without the adamantine interfering.

True Gold "Aurium" is a heavy non-Newtonian fluid, remaining mostly solid most of the time, colored gold as one might expect. It conducts and channels mysticisms exceptionally well, making it useful to Faith based magic users. Oh, how solid it is can be controlled with training, meaning it can potentially be used for weapons and armor.

True Silver "Mithril" is an exceptionally light, magically conductive metal, stronger than steel and nearly as strong as adamantine. Excellent for wand making, but it can also serve as a weapon or armor, so long as you're careful not to get hit by enemy spells.

True Copper "Orichalcum" is most notable for its ability to hold and boost enchantments, in much the same way that regular copper is used in non-magical circuits. That said, it's also quite durable and pretty when polished, so it can be used in weapons and armor, or- if one is feeling ostentatious- to fortify the city walls (stupid Atlanteans).

Personally, I think the best way to utilize these metals is to alloy them together, rather than to rank them against each other.

 

[Nolff]

Generic fantasy stories tend to have 3 big recurring fictional metals

Adamantium, Mithril, Orichalcum

It varies story to story which is stronger. Do you have a personal opinion on how you think they relate to eachother?

I personally like it when Adamantium is the strongest material in the story, (Terraria metal prog, Greek mythos.) Mithril IMO would be a metal that is weak and easily malleable but has the highest magic conductivity/sensitivity/whatever, and Orichalcum would be Mithril but for fighters. Adamantium is just a fuse of both and has both properties.

There are a few others, though many are "trademarks" of specific publishers - Cinnabril (TSR/WotC trademark) for Red Steel; Vibranium (Marvel Comics), Nth Metal (DC Comics), and about a dozen others I have forgotten. Adamantium and Orichalcum are both derived from Ancient Greek texts (though Adamantine is how the first one usually translates), while, as far as I can tell, Mithril was the creation of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Orichalcum was very rare and used mostly as a trade item AFAICT. It had properties that made it seem magical (and it may have been a real alloy used by the dwellers of the continent of Atlantis, lost, likely forever, when it sank beneath the waves - assuming it actually existed) but it was mostly exceptional for its raw value.
Adamantine was the metal used by the gods to fashion their gear, and some of the stuff they loaned to mortals. It is harder than any known substance (and likely was based on Damascus Steel), requiring the forge of Hephaestus to manipulate.
Mithril is a rare metal, sometimes called by the same name as mercury (quicksilver), and may be related to the fantasy metal electrum (a gold and silver alloy that may have existed at some time but probably not in any real quantity) and Hard Silver (which I have only seen in two games). It is a light, soft metal, as strong as steel but only workable by those with special knowledge (mostly the Elves of Middle Earth though the Dwarves likely understood how to use it as well at one time).

Of these, I think in general Adamantine > Mithril > Orichalcum for gear use, but for use in powering (but not HOLDING; that is part of "general gear" as far as I can tell) magic, reverse the order.

Mithril -> Orichalcum -> Adamantium.

The way I see it, and I think this is what I've seen most often in stories? Is that Mithril and Adamantium are roughly equivalent but with different purposes, Mithril being used by casters for mana conductivity, and Adamantium used by fighters for it's raw durability. Sometimes a mix of the two is used, for say a magic sword with an outer layer of Adamantium for a strong edge, and inner core of Mithril to channel magic and maintain some flexibility.

I will say that I've seen Mithril being something that resists magic, and Adamantium something that resists physical attacks but not magic, before as well. And a neat idea for Mithril where depending on how the smith forges it, it either blocks or conducts mana.

Typically above them both is Orichalcum, which has the qualities of both, but even better, but it takes almost divine-level ability to craft with because it's just so resistant to being shaped. So it's the material of legendary, or even divine artefacts. Though I think I might have also seen something where mithril conducts mana, adamantium resists physical attacks, and orichalcum resists magical attacks, and they're all of roughly equivalent counterparts of each other.

Edit: And typically Adamantium is particularly heavy and Mithril is particularly light. And the physical properties of Mithril can range from equivalent to silver, to equivalent or a bit stronger than steel. I've seen a few settings where mithril is essentially just silver that got infused with a lot of mana over a long period of time, changing it into and making it conductive of mana, which is why it would physically be equivalent to silver.

From what I've seen, in most stories Mythril is light, very durable, and interacts very well with magic, Adamantium is extremely durable, heavy, and resistant to magic, while Orichalcum has similar strength to Adamantium but is also lighter and is extremely good with magic.

This is probably my favorite interpretation.

In general it heavily depends on the setting and purpose, but I'd say it tends to look like this:
Mythril =< Adamantium < Orichalcum.

Same here. Something like this.

1 low - 5 high	Weight	Durability	Magic
Steel	3	1	1
Mythril	2	3	3
Adamantium	3	5	2
Orichalcum	3	2	5

The vibe I get for them in stories I’ve read is:
Adamantine is steel but more so. Harder, denser, stronger tensile strength, harder to forge, probably heavier.

Mythril is aluminum but with the strength of steel (if not better). Sometimes it’s also related to silver and has similar properties there too. Much lighter than adamantine, but very tough.

I haven’t read much that uses orichalcum but my head has randomly decided that it is a magically superior superconductor, essentially gold but better in the same way that mythril is aluminum but better. It would mostly be used by mages. I have no idea if I read this somewhere or if I manifested it completely from my rectum.

That's definitely not the same.

What I described would probably be Mithril 2-2-3 to 2-3-4, Adamantium 5-5-0, Orichalcum 3-4-5 or 3-5-5.

Yours is cool because it's balanced, but it has the issue that reality rarely is balanced, and there's a lot of other factors that might affect how good a metal is.

I might look to reinvent that when writing fantasy, and add a number of other metals. Those three are popular, but by themselves they stick out like a sore thumb, and it would be best to complement them with a number of different asymmetric metals with different purposes.

Mythril sounds like a metal that can be adaptable depending on the type of magic used to create/forge it. In some fantasy Witchsteel is metal that is focused on dark magic and curses. I always thought that Witchsteel sounded like corrupted mythril.

For which is stronger I think it depends on the use of the meta.l No metal is completely on top for all around but instead each has its own best at category. Magic sword or focus I'd go with mythril. However, if you are forging armor I think that Adamantium is more for durability and defense.

Personal bias but I don't really think that Orichalcum is a "strongest metal." To me it is a top 5 metal but never actually being on the top. Perhaps it is easier to find then Adamantium or Mythril and that is why it is used so much in fantasy? Plus usually the go to for top orc armor/weapons.

I prefer it when fantasy metals are written like actual metals. There is no one metal that is objectively better than others, there are just metals suited to different things.

Look at steel for example. They come in different hardness. Extremely hard steel can hold a sharper edge, but it's more brittle in exchange. Steel like that is perfect for those expensive japanese kitchen knives. They're so sharp, they've cut through peoples fingers so cleanly it took them a moment to notice. They'll do the job better than almost anything, but don't ever drop it on the floor unless you want super sharp metal shards embedded in your shin. You'd never want to use this for armor. Unless you could manage to trick your enemy into wearing it, I suppose. Metals that are simply objectively 'better' in terms of video game stats is a little boring to me and denies a setting of a certain flair of artisanism that I enjoy when I find it.

So I'd rank them like this:

Mithril: A soft, light, malleable metal better suited for armor than holding an edge. Also a very nice metal for jewelry, and probably even for thread. I'll go against the edge here and say it has poor mana conductivity, because my brain says that'd be better for armor that may have to tank spells. But with mithril being mithril, there are probably highly magically conductive, specialized mithril alloys for magical purposes.

Adamantium: Something that holds an edge well, I guess. This sounds like an all-round metal that in a fantasy setting may be good for both armor and weaponry, but it also sounds heavy.

Orichalcium: IRL, orichalcium is a fancy name for a copper alloy. Copper has nice conductivity, so maybe it'd be a good metal for magic things. Wouldn't want to pay the big dollars for a copper sword or a set of copper armor, though. It's way too soft.

I say each should be treated as their own spereat things example and not ranked against one another as they could complement each other in various circumstances. Example below.

Adamantium Is a tough, resistant, highly durable, long-lasting, heavy material that is nearly indestructible and often used in heavy-duty things such as golems or a generational weapon.

Mithril: An even rarer and sought-after legendary metal for its high conductivity with mana, as most metals can only conduct so much before they break and burn, mithril is in a league of its own in that department often depicted as even improving the mana-challenged within.

Orichalcum: Though weaker is rarer than the other two as it is highly resistant to magic, often used in a sense to fight spiritual beings composed of magic themselves.

Just like that, you can give specific reasons for alloys of these to exist, orichalcum and adamantium, you must have pissed off some fucking spirits, or just hate magic to the core. Mithril and Adamantium could be the source of an heirloom or legendary weapon that's bested time. Mithril and orichalcum don't mix and for other reasons, Orichalcum doesn't mix with other magical metals.

One I'm surprised isn't up there in common fantasy metals is cobalt, though I would put it as something similar to Mithril but a more common metal the only issue is it's too brittle to use in crafting, gears and items that will take heavy abuse. Which would bring in alloys like magic steel, steel + cobalt, to make something more capable.

Well, I am going by the word of a friend who claimed to have looked into it (he was a history minor, I think Economics major; don't even recall if this was in college or when I lived in Chicago the decade after college), who believed that the alloy definitely existed, and was used briefly in some jewelry but there was no historical evidence that it was ever used as currency (except in those cases where jewelry was used AS currency in trade).

So Electrum was real but its use as currency was PROBABLY a fabrication of Dungeons and Dragons, and it was never really a common metal, just one that saw occasional use.

I recall seeing that mentioned somewhere but don't have any clue where.

Mithril best, it is worth more than the whole shire

Good question. I always picture adamantium as the strongest while having no magic conductivity. Orichalcum is the best in terms of having decent magic conductivity while also being sturdy, and then mithril would have the highest magic conductivity but the lowest durability.

None. Mithril is old school and always reminds me of dragons, templars and middle ages.

I just generally feel grandeur names for fictional stuffs are always subjective, some might click some won't. I don't see how one can do a comparison between them, they are fictional and don't exist in the same world to interact in the same way and judge them.

I usually create my own fantasy metals in each setting. Sometimes the scales, bones, teeth, horns, and claws of powerful monsters can also be tougher than most metals, so they're used to create equipment too, and equipment is not always just metal mined from a mountain, but a combination of many things.
I usually never use Adamantium that much, but it is related with Adamas, which is Diamond, the toughest material known to man. Usually its a rare metal. Mithril is quite common, and I often make it different by being infused with different elemetnal properties, such as Red, Sunlight, Abyssal, and Spiritual variants.
Orichalcum tends to be a metal related with the gods, a Divine Metal that mortals simply cannot mine nor find naturally. it often times either gifted by the gods to someone, or its what composes ancient divine relics. In one of my settings, the Gods obtained Orichalcum from the blood of an alien race they enslaved, who were incredibly powerful metal-based lifeforms resembling giant golden sphynxes. Because of this it has unique properties unlike any other metal, and when heated enough it can even move on its own as if it were alive. But when hardened at lower temperatures, it can become so tough that nothing can break it, its magic conductivity is null too, cancelling magic attacks with ease.

pretty sure Orihalcum is Adamantanium and Mithril's daughter

Personally, I've always thought of mythril as being light and extremely good for magic while slightly stronger than steel, orichalcum is horrible for magic but incredibly strong and pretty heavy, then adamantium being the divine metal that is light and both good for magic as well as incredibly strong.

The last one comes from playing Dwarf Fortress a lot, I'm sure.

I've researched this... A lot. Too much, since it's all made up and nobody can agree on anything anyways.

To start with, Adamantine and Orichalcum come from Greek 'myth'.

Adamantine uses the same root word as Diamond, the meaning of which was supposedly 'unconquerable, untamable'. That word was used to describe anything hard, and then turned into a mythical metal that combined all the properties of the hard things it described. The myth faded, but the word still describes hard things even now.

Orichalcum, literally translated as 'Mountain Copper', was a special alloy of bronze made from extremely rare materials in a single part of the Mediterranean. I've seen a source that found a sunken ship full of what they believed was Orichalcum (I believe it was an Arsenic Bronze, but it's been several years since I saw that and I feel in my heart that I am wrong).

(Hihiirokane is pretty much unknown. It refers to a bright red metal in ancient Japanese pseudo-myth. Perhaps Copper? It usually has a fire aspect in fiction.)

---

For my personal mythology, I decided to run with this certain recurring theme. Adamantine is 'True Iron'. Mithril is 'True Silver'. Orichalcum is 'True Copper'. Aurum(Aurium?) is 'True Gold'.

True Iron "Adamantine" is impervious to attacks, whether magical or physical. It's heavy as hell, never breaks or bends, holds an edge perfectly, and is colored green. It makes excellent weapons and armor... Or it would, if the user could carry it or find a way to use their magic without the adamantine interfering.

True Gold "Aurium" is a heavy non-Newtonian fluid, remaining mostly solid most of the time, colored gold as one might expect. It conducts and channels mysticisms exceptionally well, making it useful to Faith based magic users. Oh, how solid it is can be controlled with training, meaning it can potentially be used for weapons and armor.

True Silver "Mithril" is an exceptionally light, magically conductive metal, stronger than steel and nearly as strong as adamantine. Excellent for wand making, but it can also serve as a weapon or armor, so long as you're careful not to get hit by enemy spells.

True Copper "Orichalcum" is most notable for its ability to hold and boost enchantments, in much the same way that regular copper is used in non-magical circuits. That said, it's also quite durable and pretty when polished, so it can be used in weapons and armor, or- if one is feeling ostentatious- to fortify the city walls (stupid Atlanteans).

Personally, I think the best way to utilize these metals is to alloy them together, rather than to rank them against each other.

OBAMIUM

 

[georgelee5786]

OBAMIUM
View attachment 31001
View attachment 31002

All hail Obamium

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

The only magic metal I used in my work is mithril, and they combined it with iron to make the cheaper 'iron-mithril' alloy they used in gun, tank and ship productions.

Also, I made it that mithril has only 'one time' malleability property. Once heated and forged, nothing can bend it again.

 

[Deleted member 148356]

"****ing SLAVES! Get your Beards Back here!" -Armok Upon being Chained and having his Adamantine stolen by dwarves.
From the game Dwarf Fortress.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Adamantine uses the same root word as Diamond, the meaning of which was supposedly 'unconquerable, untamable'. That word was used to describe anything hard, and then turned into a mythical metal that combined all the properties of the hard things it described. The myth faded, but the word still describes hard things even now.

Read that a couple of years back and had since forgotten it - good point.

(Hihiirokane is pretty much unknown. It refers to a bright red metal in ancient Japanese pseudo-myth. Perhaps Copper? It usually has a fire aspect in fiction.)

Suspect it also inspired the metal of the Red Steel AD&D setting too.

---

For my personal mythology, I decided to run with this certain recurring theme. Adamantine is 'True Iron'. Mithril is 'True Silver'. Orichalcum is 'True Copper'. Aurum(Aurium?) is 'True Gold'.

True Iron "Adamantine" is impervious to attacks, whether magical or physical. It's heavy as hell, never breaks or bends, holds an edge perfectly, and is colored green. It makes excellent weapons and armor... Or it would, if the user could carry it or find a way to use their magic without the adamantine interfering.

True Gold "Aurium" is a heavy non-Newtonian fluid, remaining mostly solid most of the time, colored gold as one might expect. It conducts and channels mysticisms exceptionally well, making it useful to Faith based magic users. Oh, how solid it is can be controlled with training, meaning it can potentially be used for weapons and armor.

True Silver "Mithril" is an exceptionally light, magically conductive metal, stronger than steel and nearly as strong as adamantine. Excellent for wand making, but it can also serve as a weapon or armor, so long as you're careful not to get hit by enemy spells.

True Copper "Orichalcum" is most notable for its ability to hold and boost enchantments, in much the same way that regular copper is used in non-magical circuits. That said, it's also quite durable and pretty when polished, so it can be used in weapons and armor, or- if one is feeling ostentatious- to fortify the city walls (stupid Atlanteans).

Personally, I think the best way to utilize these metals is to alloy them together, rather than to rank them against each other.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I like Polithrium.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I personally like it when Adamantium is the strongest material in the story, (Terraria metal prog, Greek mythos.) Mithril IMO would be a metal that is weak and easily malleable but has the highest magic conductivity/sensitivity/whatever, and Orichalcum would be Mithril but for fighters. Adamantium is just a fuse of both and has both properties.

Huh. I agree with the first, but reverse mithril and orichalum. Wait... is it really spelled orichalcum? That's dumb and way too easy to make immature jokes from.

 

[Nolff]

All hail Obamium

All hail Obamium ore.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Unobtainum?

 

[Golden_Hyde]

I think as for Adamantium and Mithril, when I looked at their physical attributes (putting aside the magical one), I think of two particular metallic object that exist in the real world; Titanium and Tungsten (or Wolfram, depending on what you refer it in your respective mother tongue).

Titanium is actually very lightweight when compared to other metals (aside of Aluminum) but it's also extremely durable, although it hardly able to hold an edge, hence if you wanna make a blade out of it, you have to put it around a steel—or anything similar on how to make a sword out of Titanium.

Tungsten however is extremely heavy, and when someone uses it in its purest form, it's very brittle and fragile, making it not suitable for taking blunt force, hence why most people would mix it with Carbon to refine its hardness (CMIIW). Tungsten can hold an edge, especially with its compound version with Carbon—aka Tungsten Carbide, but resharpening it will be difficult.

So yeah, with this new information, you can do whatever you want with it

 

[Nolff]

I think as for Adamantium and Mithril, when I looked at their physical attributes (putting aside the magical one), I think of two particular metallic object that exist in the real world; Titanium and Tungsten (or Wolfram, depending on what you refer it in your respective mother tongue).

Titanium is actually very lightweight when compared to other metals (aside of Aluminum) but it's also extremely durable, although it hardly able to hold an edge, hence if you wanna make a blade out of it, you have to put it around a steel—or anything similar on how to make a sword out of Titanium.

Tungsten however is extremely heavy, and when someone uses it in its purest form, it's very brittle and fragile, making it not suitable for taking blunt force, hence why most people would mix it with Carbon to refine its hardness (CMIIW). Tungsten can hold an edge, especially with its compound version with Carbon—aka Tungsten Carbide, but resharpening it will be difficult.

So yeah, with this new information, you can do whatever you want with it

The hell's a CMIIW?

 

[Golden_Hyde]

The hell's a CMIIW?

*correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Nolff]

*correct me if I'm wrong

Thanks!