Is Gandalf really on 'du' terms with the Balrog? (Odd 'duzen' example)

Question

Gandalf's line "You shall not pass!" from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is something of a meme, so I naturally wondered how it was translated into German. This video has the relevant dialog (once at :40, and again at 1:15). Gandalf says "Du kannst nicht vorbei!"

There are a few issues here. First, no infinitive verb with the modal verb. It seems to be common in German to drop "gehen/kommen" from the end when you use a modal verb with an adverb or prepositional phrase indicating direction. So the verb is not actually required here.

Second, the German uses können instead of the future tense as in the English version. To me this changes the meaning somewhat, and the "shall" is significant in light of what happens next. But perhaps this is a matter of interpretation.

What I'm stuck on is why Gandalf uses the 'du' form in this speech. The grammars say that the 'du' form is used for friends and family members, sometimes children and pets. So I would have thought "Sie können nicht vorbei!"

My first idea is that since the Balrog does not speak, it's taken to be some kind of animal. To me, this doesn't fit the story; the Balrog is a kind of demon and is intelligent despite being unwilling or unable to speak in the scene. Plus you don't see many animals wielding whips. My second idea is that Gandalf is being deliberately unhöflich by using 'du'. Perhaps this is to distract the Balrog, bait it into trying to cross the bridge, or just to show his contempt. Are either of these likely or is there another explanation?

Answer 1

In a fantasy setting it is quite uncommon to use Sie. You would use du or the pluralis majestatis form Ihr

So the question would rather be, why is Gandalf saying

Du kannst nicht vorbei!

instead of

Ihr könnt nicht vorbei!

You are right that animals would be addressed as du in German and, furthermore, that the Balrog cannot be considered an animal. At least I would consider saying Ihr to a powerful evil spirit, so as not to anger it. However, diving into the depths of Tolkien's world, Gandalf and the Balrog go back to the same race (the primordial spirits, Maia). As such, it could be argued that Gandalf is somehow familiar with it (and he knows that the Balrog is to be expected in the mines) and as such chose the du form. In that way he also implies he's on the same level, if not above it, and emphasizes this with his words. Another argument would be that the Balrog was already angered and that it was not really time to use courtesies.

However, this could be deemed too much of an interpretation and the truth could simply be that the translator didn't care much about this particular translation.

To address the question about können:

The way it is emphasized in the movie, it does not mean

You are unable to pass.

But rather

You are not allowed to pass Du darfst nicht vorbei

Which agrees with You shall not pass.

Answer 2

Others have already given good answers, but I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on the difference of "Du" vs "Sie".

The thing is - "Sie" is used when trying to show respect. There is no direct equivalent in the English language, although if I understand correctly, the old-fashioned "thou" used to fill this role¹. Instead you could imagine that using "Sie" is like adding a honorific like "Sir" or "Mr". It is used when talking to strangers when you wish to be polite to them, or when talking to superiors.

In contrast, "Du" is the default mode of address. It is not insulting or overly familiar, but it also doesn't add any extra respect. You normally use it for people whom you know personally (family, friends, colleagues, etc) where the respect is already implied and you don't need an extra demonstration of it. You can use it on strangers too, but it becomes very informal. Not impolite, but also not explicitly polite. In English that would be similar to calling someone by their first name, instead of "Mr. Smith" or something.

So, if Gendalf had used "Sie können nicht vorbei!" then it would have sounded like "Sir, you shall not pass!" Kinda weirdly respectful towards someone trying to kill you. :)

¹_{Correction from the comments - it's the other way round. "Thou" used to be the familiar form while "you" used to be the polite, respectful form. However the English language evolved to use "you" for both.}

Answer 3

In the German translation of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" one does nowhere find the modern polite form Sie, but the old-fashioned Ihr. Why is that? I think the use of Ihr wants to indicate that all this happened a very long time ago.

The phrase Du kannst nicht vorbei! is taken from Margaret Carroux's German translation of Tolkien's books. See Band 1 (Die Gefährten), Buch 2, Kapitel 5 (Die Brücke von Khazad-dûm). In the Klett-Cotta Edition from 1987 you can find it on p. 399.

In my opinion it would have been better to say Du kommst nicht vorbei instead of completely omitting the verb kommen. Anyway, your main question is why the Balrog is geduzt by Gandalf. The books definitely uses both Du and Ihr to adress persons (i.e. human beings, hobbits, elves, dwarfs) and so do the films. See here, for example "Ihr seht viel, Eómer, Eómunds Sohn, zu viel". Even Samweis uses "Herr Frodo" and "Ihr".

I suspect that other creatures are never adressed by the polite "Ihr", especially if they belong to the "evil empire": They do not deserve respect or reverence.

Update:

Here is the English original text:

There was a ringing clash and a stab of white fire. The Balrog fell back and its sword flew up in molten fragments. The wizard swayed on the bridge, stepped back a pace, and then again stood still.
'You cannot pass!' he said.
With a bound the Balrog leaped full upon the bridge. Its whip whirled and hissed.

This explains the translation Du kannst nicht vorbei .

Answer 4

tl;dr: The typical textbook statement "Du is for friends and family" is only a half-truth which applies to typical everyday situations. Originally it is simply the direct and unadorned form of address. Its use in this situation is entirely proper, and a polite form would be grossly misplaced.

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In this specific scene I see a couple of reasons Du is used:

• Du is the most direct and natural form of address. It is the equivalent to the archaic thou, except that it prevailed in German everyday use. Thou shalt not kill ("Du sollst nicht töten!") is the most direct order, devoid of any considerations of form or politeness. Interestingly Du/thou is used when speaking to God as well, indicating that it does not imply talking down to someone: "Gott, mein Gott, warum hast Du mich verlassen?" ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?") Neither in English nor in German is this impolite or does this imply being friends. It is rather "a-polite": Not concerned with politeness. And Gandalf is similarly direct here.¹
• Ihr or Sie conveys respect which Gandalf surely does not have, and politeness which would be misplaced here. You would only be polite if you wanted to preserve a smooth social relationship with somebody.
• Du may indicate a certain acquaintance. I'm not a Lord of the Rings expert but it looks as if both Gandalf and Balrogs were Maiars, immortal angelic beings. Gandalf is talking to a peer here.

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A side note to "Sie" vs. the archaic "Ihr" (a side note because neither of them was chosen here ;-)): The respectful pronoun Sie replaced Ihr only in modern times — that's why it is often not used in Fantasy settings which typically are set in a pre-industrial world.

Translations of Tolkien into German are subject to passionate debates by fans. The most modern translation by Wolfgang Krege uses Sie instead of Ihr, arguing that Tolkien essentially translated imagined extinct languages used by the protagonists into English as used in the 1940s, and that a modern translation should do the same for their target language, using whatever polite form of address is contemporary. That decision was much criticized.

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_{¹ Side note: Modern English is already using the polite plural form that has become archaic in German ("you" = "Ihr")! An increase in politeness must be conferred by other means, e.g. the ubiquitous "Sir" used to address customers, at least in the U.S. "Excuse me, Sir, you cannot pass here!" ;-) Why Tolkien didn't let his protagonists use the archaic Thou throughout is another question. The plain answer may be that the protagonists used a different language altogether which was "translated" to (then) modern English anyway, supporting Krege's German translation approach.}

Answer 5

In addition to what was already written by others about the whole respect thing, I'd like to mention another aspect: Siezen is a relatively recent thing in German, being placed around the late 17th century.

The whole concept of a Höflichkeitsform codified in German vocabulary rather than, let's say, non-verbal communication, is not that old in terms of a fantasy setting like LotR; the same Wikipedia article places the first written occurence of "Ihr" in the year 865 CE. More importantly, it was only introduced so that people from higher strata of society could feel good about being appropriately (as per them) brown-nosed by the lower classes. So why would Gandalf address Balrog with "Sie" or "Ihr"? "Du" is the only pronoun that makes sense.

By the way, of all people, Goethe is reknowned/infamous for subtly insulting people he didn't like or who'd given him trouble previously, in written formal correspondence by doing small things wrong, e.g. misspelling a greeting or not writing straight and level, sometimes even by choosing the wrong formal greeting on purpose. As an intelligent and learned man, he must have had a knack for sarcasm and gentle mischief. That's how I personally always imagined Gandalf, too.

Answer 6

I am surprised that none of the answers mention the obvious:

Sie is reserved for people. Germans never address non-human beings* with Sie. As the Balrog isn't a person†, it is addressed with du.

All the other arguments – that fantasy commonly uses "du", that "Sie" (or "Ihr") would be polite, that "du" is used in the book translation, that "du" is the natural form of address (whatever that is supposed to mean), that "Sie" is historically recent, etc. – are irrelevant because none of the other forms of address would apply to the Balrog under any circumstances anyway.

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* In real life, Germans never address non-human beings with Sie. In fantastic literature – fairy tales, courtly romances, ballads, fantasy novels – Sie is reserved for beings that have personhood, that is, beings that have human nature (emotions and motivations like our own), live in some kind of society that resembles our own, etc. A fairy that lives at the court of the fairy queen would thus be addressed with Sie, while a fairy that lurks in a swamp or river would be addressed with du.

† In the English original, the pronoun for the Balrog is "it", clearly indicating that it is not a person in the same way that the hobbits, dwarves, elves, and humans are:

The Balrog reached the bridge. ... It raised the whip, and ...

The real question then becomes: Why is the Balrog an it if it is a Maiar like Gandalf?

Answer 7

Monsters, demons and the like are not adressed in the "Sie" form in German because that would give them too much honour. Likewise, according to Matthew 16:23, Jesus adresses the Devil in the Du form in the German Bible translation.