the photo does have a source! this prosthetic is housed in the london science museum. its appearance is atypical to other prosthetics of the time, so its user probably covered the hand with a glove, but the ability of each steel joint to be able to articulate would’ve proved useful to the person who wore it (https://victorianachronists.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/medical-advancements-victorian-era-prosthetics/)
So English used to have the formal/informal you distinction, and “thou” was informal. Tolkien makes use of this in his books, whether it’s Fingolfin’s brotherly closeness (”Thou shalt lead and I will follow”) or Eowyn and Aragorn sharing a moment after her recovery and engagement (Aragorn’s ”I have wished thee joy ever since I met thee”) where he had previously used the formal “you” while she, in love and desperate to stop him from taking the Paths of the Dead, had used “thee” (”because they would not be parted from thee–because they love thee”). In general, Tolkien uses “thou” to show moments of high emotion and closeness.
But “thou” can also be fighting words, when used inappropriately. (Remember Shakespeare’s Tybalt telling Romeo “Thou art a villain”?)
Feanor’s confrontation with Melkor is a moment of emotion, but not closeness. Feanor uses the informal “thou” as an insult, showing how he looks down on Melkor, when he says, “Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos!” In case the point wasn’t clear enough, he proceeds to slam the door in the face of “the most powerful being in all Ea.”
Melkor must be furious. Feanor, a mere elf, not only refused him, but refused him rudely, showing even in his pronoun choice that he looked down on Melkor despite all Melkor’s power.
I’d make a point that Feanor never uses formal you when talking (I may be wrong but I don’t remember one instance, even in Tolkien’s extended lore), nor does anyone else. It’s still pretty poignant, however, that he would do it both to Melkor and, notably, to the Herald of Manwe (maaaybe Eonwe, but the name isn’t in the text.)
Then turning to the herald he cried: ‘Say this to Manwë
Súlimo, High King of Arda: if Fëanor cannot overthrow Morgoth, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not
idle in grief. And it may be that Eru has set in me a fire
greater than thou knowest. Such hurt at the least will I do to
the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of
Doom shall wonder to hear it. Yea, in the end they shall
follow me. Farewell!‘
In that hour the voice of Fëanor grew so great and so
potent that even the herald of the Valar bowed before him
as one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were
over-ruled.
Here’s Feanor using the formal “you” even when angry:
But good point about the Herald of Manwe part!
Boy how could I forget the speech to Olwe of all things lol
But thank you for the reminder! Though I wonder if it isn’t a plural instead of formal?
And this is why I’ve written 6,000 words of feanope thou/you porn, in case anyone was wondering
What happens when we don’t dread our own body breaking We can see the dark clouds start to seethe above us We were never meant to be such vessels of physical form You doubt and you’re desperate You wear both your cross and your hammer Such beautiful dreams of violence In them your tongue is made of silver But we don’t fight like animals, we fight like gods
It tastes like salt and rust, drips down the side of his face and smears behind his teeth. The weight of the crown presses down heavy and cold and he can barely see through the iron, the silver glint and as they dance around each other, blood through water he cannot tell where one ends and the other begin. It is bright and furious, some summer storm rolling in from a dark distance, all destruction and hate for a moment and when the dust settles what will be left but the ruin of them.
It will be the ruin of them both, and he has never felt so alive.
He is laughing as the hammer comes down, again and again, leaving pits from which darkness flowers, wraps around them like a veil of dirt and death and rage.
“You wish for death, o king, then let me give it to you.”
“Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! The Ring! The Ring!”
-The Nazgul/Ringwraiths, The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
PS – “Then the leader, who was now half across the Ford, stood up menacing in his stirrups, and raised up his hand. Frodo was stricken dumb. He felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his heart labouring. His sword broke and fell out of his shaking hand. The elf-horse reared and snorted. The foremost of the black horses had almost set foot upon the shore.”
Gold necklace with seven pendants of emerald green
and scarlet humming-birds’ heads, the feathers attached to a gold
backing, made by Harry Emanuel, London, 1865.
The king looked sternly on Thorin, when he was brought before him, and asked him many questions. But Thorin would only say that he was starving.
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 