Maeglin was an experienced blacksmith at the time, so he quickly became friends with Enerdill. Unlike Enerdil, however, he wasn't as talented at forging - at least he preferred heavier swords like dwarves. Perhaps it was his upbringing that had an impact because his father was known for preferring to communicate with dwarves more with elves. Like Enerdil, Maeglin and his father visited the forges of Nogrod and Belegost many times. But Maeglin understood the art of dwarf blacksmiths differently than Enerdil. And he learned from dwarf masters another thing - he was able to find ore veins like no other elf. And he found them in Eccoriata, the mountains surrounding the Tumladen Valley. He built a mine for metal mining, which he called Angabar.
Enerdil and Maeglin cooperated successfully for many years - by the way, Enerdil helped Maeglin to build the Seventh Gate. But when King Thurgon told them to start manufacturing weapons, their opinions diverged for the first time. This was after the battle of Dagore Bragollah. Maeglin, according to his beliefs, preferred to forge heavier weapons, and Enerdil offered to develop the production of "ice" blades (the name was taken because of this strange shining). Only then did he say about the mystery of the alloy - the blades included mythrilus, which Enerdil and his blacksmiths called "lunar tears", because of the special shape of the nuggets.
Finally, King Thurgon intervened in their dispute and entrusted Maeglin with the main production of weapons for gondolindrimes. However, Erendil was not unemployed either - he took up special types of swords and armor.
I remember asking Elrond why that was the case. He smiled and answered:
- You know, Bilbo, Maeglin's steel swords were almost as strong and sharp as Enerdil's blades. We elves from Rivendell still use these weapons. However, not all of our swords remember this era, in Rivendell, there are only a few Gondolin blades. The decision of the Turgon was correct, especially since the stock of Mythril was small. And Enerdil was not offended - rather, it was Maeglin who started to envy him.
- And where did Enerdil even get his Mythril from? - I was amazed. - As far as I know, the dwarves only found it in the Second Age, and not in the beginning.
- Bilbo, nobody knows that for sure," Elrond put his hands together. - We know he couldn't find the Mythril in Eccoriat because there wasn't a word about it in the surviving notes. And he invented these alloys before he got to Gondolin, and then he just improved them. I personally have two possible explanations for that. First, Enerdil brought nuggets from Valinor. It's possible - they're pretty light, and if each of his blacksmiths took at least one bag, they'd have a lot of them. And they were walking with carts and horses, so I think he might have taken a few cases. And the second possibility was that the dwarves found Mythril much earlier than they told the world. According to legends, the mines of Nogrod and Belegost were known because of their wealth, and who knows what the dwarves might have found there. If they had already found mythrillation then, it is likely that they could have shared it with a friend who had taught them a lot.
Elrond smiled and left. And I went back to the ancient records from Gondolin's chronicles.
In fact, Enerdil wasn't fooling himself by the king's decision, and he wasn't offended by his friend. He was still getting iron from the Angabar mine, and he and Maeglin cooperated in most of the weapons production. At the same time, Enerdil continued to experiment with alloys, bringing them to perfection. Maeglin often went into a friend's forge to see how he worked - and gradually in his dark soul rose quiet envy, especially since his blacksmiths praised Enerdil and came to him to study. And he willingly shared his experience with them.
Finally, the day came when Enerdil was able to show the king his first sword. This event is so remembered in an ancient record:
"When King Thurgon pulled the sword out of the sheath, the long blade ran instantly - from the end to the handle. Few people noticed this strange phenomenon, and Maeglin was among them. He turned to Enerdil with the intention of asking him a question, but he was interrupted by the king's voice:
- Thank you for your gift, Enerdil, son of Isilandil, and I give him the name of Gladring. I am sure that he will soon become a real terror for our enemies.
Enerdil bowed down, then turned to Maeglin, who looked at him with a stone face.