. Alas, not me: In/Of, Or, What's a Little Preposition Between Friends?

20 July 2016

In/Of, Or, What's a Little Preposition Between Friends?

Note that Galadriel says:

'For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth,'
not

'For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves in Middle-earth.'
Born in Middle-earth*
Born in Aman

Just sayin'.


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*Obviously, this whole post is a joke. I am, however, following the tradition found in The Silmarillion (114, 234, 254, 298, 321, 331) and almost elsewhere else that he was a 'prince of Doriath', not the very late variation that he was of the Teleri of Aman. For discussion of Galadriel, Celeborn, and their history, see Unfinished Tales, 228-267. 

5 comments:

  1. And Galadriel's smirk is just so self-satisfied.

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  2. I am reminded of the important distinction between "the gods in Lankhmar" and "the gods of Lankhmar".

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  3. TroelsForchhammer21 July, 2016 05:42

    :-D
    Nice catch!

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  4. hyperborealis29 July, 2016 01:08

    The whole sentence is absurd: the passive voice, which leaves out the names and numbers of the implied wisdom accountants; the diction, which asks us to believe that wisdom is such that it can be summed like so many dollars; and the transposition of syntax and reality, such that Elves seemingly universally comprise a hierarchy of wise, wiser, and wisest, with the person Galadriel has just subjunctively and conditionally rebuked for a miscue of wisdom apparently inhabiting the top spot!

    The sense of all this wordplay I think is to obscure to her guests her own primacy within Lorien. And thus, paradoxically, to reveal it, to whoever has eyes to see.

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