“Thee” and “thou” in “The Lord of the Rings”

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by The Might

Actually Galadriel, he does in the Unfinished Tales

Ah, I didn't have the sense to look up that passage... It's in COH as well...

Originally Posted by Miggy

Also, interesting to note that both Turin and Gurthang(!) use "thee" in their short dialogue:

Very interesting, that. Does it show that Gurthang is closer to Turin than his friends and family? Or, maybe that they "shared their death" is what makes them close? So if all humans are equal on the day of their death, swords are equal too?... But it's a special sword, with a personality of it's own, so I guess it's almost human in nature.

Originally Posted by Zil

Curiously, the Witch-king didn't use that language when he was face to face with Gandalf.

It's "do you', not "dost thou". Does that indicate the Witch-king either didn't see Gandalf as an inferior, or that he was afraid?

I think that it's a mixture of both. Or, maybe, his purpose was only to scare Gandalf, not to insult him - vainly, - as he knew it won't work on him. Eowyn is a different case altogether. The WK was offended and angered by her challenge. So insulting her would be a must.