What did Gandalf's Speech to the Balrog Mean? What is the Flame of Anor?

in the shadowed depths of Moria Gandalf the gy stood steadfast upon the bridge of kazad Doom as he confronted the mighty balrog dorin's Bane amidst the smoke and Flame the words of Gandalf the gy echoed in the deep but what meaning lay behind his mysterious speech today we will be unraveling the meaning of the ominous words that Gandalf spoke to durin's Bane greetings fellow explorers of Middle Earth before we get started I'd like to quickly mention that I have released a range of merchandise for the channel so if you like the look of the designs click the link in the description below to view the full range let us first remind ourselves of the speech that the gray wizard made while standing before his foe you cannot pass he said the Orcs Stood Still and a dead silence fell I am a servant of the secret fire wielder of the flame of Anor you cannot pass the dark fire will not Avail you flame of udun go back to the shadow you cannot pass within these words a mysterious complexity awaits its unraveling upon a first reading most will fail to grasp the essence of this dialogue but do not despair for even some of those within the fellowship will have found themselves unable to Fathom the entirety of its meaning to grasp the essence of this exchange we must first look to the silmarilion where the tale of creation unfolds under the title of the Inu lindel revealing the very Genesis of these two powers in the beginning there was U the one who in AR is called iluvatar and he made first the ioner the holy ones that were The Offspring of his thought and they were with him before ought else was made both Gandalf and the balog once existed as ironer they then came into the world Ard joining the revered order of the Maya we know little of durin's Bane at this time but in those days Gandalf bore the name Olin however the balog would not have necessarily recognized Gandalf as a fellow meire at first as glamdring glinted in the fiery depths the balrog may have recalled Echoes of gondolin Glory from within the shadowed recesses of its ancient mind however aside from this clue to Gandalf's hidden power he otherwise remained a nebulous figure cloaked in the guise of Frailty and appearing as an old man of little note but upon hearing Gandalf's words doran's Bane would have suddenly felt the harsh sting of realization as through the veils of time and strife the flickers of recognition would have ignited within its mind as it discerned olin's presence in the opening section of his speech Gandalf informs the balro that he is the servant of the secret fire the secret fire also known as the flame imperishable is a symbol of iru and is the very essence of all life in doing so Gandalf is highlighting the Betrayal that the balog has committed in turning from Iron he is branding durin's Bane a traitor in the eyes of iluvatar and painting the balrog as a Defector from the sacred order of creation Gandalf then goes on to claim that he is a wielder of the flame of Anor among the fans of tolken there exists a theory suggesting that naria Gandalf's hidden ring of power imbus Gandalf with a powerful Fire magic for those who subscribe to this Theory the utterance of the flame of Anor becomes a revelation in which the wizard informs his foe that he possesses naria it is however very unlikely that Gandalf would unveil such a precious secret and inform the balrog that a ring of power was with within its grasp and let us not forget there were of course evil things other than the balog listening many Orcs were present and Gollum was also lurking in the shadows Gandalf would not have even revealed his ownership of naria to the members of the fellowship to let slip such a revelation would be to invite danger upon his party to betray the trust of his Elven allies and awaken the ravenous hunger of his foes furthermore Elon the bearer of V IA tells us that the Elven rings do not possess offensive enchantments in the following passage they are not idle but they were not made as weapons of war or Conquest that is not their power those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth but understanding making and healing to preserve all things unstained interestingly Anor is the cinder in word for the Sun so the flame of Anor actually means the flame of the sun with this translation in hand let us examine tol keen's first draft of Gandalf's dialogue where he writes of a white fire Gandalf stood in the midst of the bridge in his hand glamdring gleamed in his left he held up his staff the balog advanced and stood gazing at him suddenly with a spout of flame it sprang on the bridge but Gandalf stood firm you cannot pass he said go back I am the master of the white fire the red flame cannot come this way in this fledgling rendition we are granted a glimpse into tol keen's original thinking regarding the flame of Anor his initial description of the white fire suggests a dualistic dance of flames one as pristine as the sun's Radiance and one which smolders like Ashen Embers it then seems that tolken dipped his pen into the ink of poetic fervor as he reached shaped the wording christening the white fire a new as the flame of Anor but why would Gandalf deem it to be important to let the balrog know he wielded the flame of the sun within tolk's legendarium the sun's luminance traces its Origins back to a glowing fruit that once adorned the boughs of laurelin one of the two trees of valinor thus within gandal there lies an ancient Vigor a legacy from the hallowed days of valinor rich with the Splendor of those lands the purity of the sun has ever been a Scourge upon the forces of darkness and even unto melor himself within the pages of morgoth's ring lies a passage that tells of the son's formidable might here the Maya Ari offers a warning to melor cautioning him against the Folly of marring the sun put not out thy hand to it for though thy potency May destroy it it will burn thee and thy brightness will be made dark melor did not heed her warning but cried in his wrath the gift which is withheld I take and he ravished Ari Desiring both to abase her and to take into himself her powers but even as Ari foretold melor was burned and his brightness darkened and he gave no more light but light pained him exceedingly and he hated it even melor the mightiest among the found himself humbled by the Sun the balrog would have been wary of such power and Gandalf's boast was evidently true as we hear of what happens when the White Flame clashed with dark fire from Out of The Shadow a red sword leapt flaming glamdring glittered white in answer there was a ringing clash and a stab of white fire the balrog fell back and its sword flew up in molten fragments in the next part of Gandalf's speech he the balrog as the flame of udun udun is the cerin word for hell it speaks of a realm buried beneath the weight of the iron mountains more commonly known as utumno it was within the dim Halls of utumno that the balrogs pledged their allegiance to the dark lord forsaking light for the Embrace of shadow in the mention of utum no's name Gandalf unveils his comprehension of the balrog's might tracing the origins of its formidable prowess with this Gandalf reveals the depths of his wisdom painting himself as a challenger armed with the knowledge required to quell its formidable Essence the final words of Gandalf's speech are you cannot pass this is the source of much debate within the fandom as in the Peter Jackson Trilogy Gandalf cries you shall not pass instead some fans argue that the Cinematic wording featuring sir Ian McKellen's stirring delivery of the alternate line carries a more resonant Cadence than its literary counterpart curiously the rewording of the line was actually born of happen starts within the script the words were unchanged and in the foreign dubbed versions too the wording remains unaltered sir Ian McKellen himself in a moment of candid reflection on a British talk show acknowledged that the alteration was in fact an error on his part the distinction may seem minor however in the realm of linguistic Nuance the wording Bears weight and importance if we look to Gandalf's other utterances whilst confronting other powerful foes a theme emerges Gandalf tells Saran your staff is broken as opposed to I will break your staff he also tells the witch King you cannot enter here as opposed to I forbid you to enter these declarations stand not as statements of intent but rather as immutable truths made real in the speaking of the words the phrasing of you shall not pass is reminiscent of an authority figure warning that they would choose to enforce their will if tested you cannot pass however is a potent enchantment Conjuring forth a reality woven by the very utterance itself now attuned to Gandalf's wisdom let us paint a new the essence of his words in this reimagining the Lang language becomes more accessible to our ears you cannot pass I Too Am A meire and A steadfast servant to our father the one true God yet you draped in the embodiment of disloyalty are labeled traitor by my lips I fight with the flame of the Sun the bane of your kind you cannot pass I know well the flame of utumno and with this incantation I bar your path you can Cann not pass Gandalf's dialogue stands as a Living testament to tol keen's literary Brilliance for within his words the history of a universe unfurls alive with Intrigue and enchantment each word in every line dripping with tantalizing law that invites us to delve deeper into the Wonder and veiled Mysteries that will undoubtedly continue to Captivate both us and future generations for many years to come thank you all very much for watching if you have enjoyed the artwork in this video I'm pleased to announce that I have released a range of wall art that you can order now via the link in the description below I would also like to take this opportunity to light the beacons and call for Aid if you did enjoy this video I would ask 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Channel: Realms Unravelled

Views: 28,118

Keywords: Lotr, lotrlore, lordoftherings, lord of the rings, tolkien, tolkienlore, middleearth, middle earth, gandalf, gandalf the grey, khazad-dum, moria, bridge, bridge of khazad-dum, balrog, durins bane, flame of anor, glamdring, narya, secret fire, flame imperishable, eru, iluvatar, maiar, valar, ainur

Id: 4jTR1wikblc

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 21 2024