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What did Thanos do to Eitri's hands? Are they:

  • encased in metal?

  • cut off and replaced (by Eitri or Thanos) with metal?

  • turned to metal?

  • something else?

In Avengers: Infinity War, Eitri reports on Thanos' visit:

Eitri: I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted. A device capable of harnessing the power of the stones. And he... and he killed everyone anyway. All except me. "Your life is yours," he said. "But your hands. Your hands are mine alone."

I'd assumed that Thanos had somehow removed Eitri's hands and taken them with him, and that Eitri himself had sourced a metal replacement (I'd subconsciously assumed that prosthetic limbs were ready and waiting or else easily made). Now I'm thinking that Thanos has opted for an easier storage solution and simply encased the hands in metal or used some of the infinity stones to turn them to metal. Is there anything in universe that clarifies this? MCU answers preferred, but comics also an option as this is pretty specific.

Inspired by the answers to this question.

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  • 1
    @Valorum Whilst that does support my theory on them having been encased in metal, it too appears to be unsourced speculation if I'm reading it correctly.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 15:33
  • It took me a wee while, but I've found confirmation that Eitri's hands were encased in uru by Thanos, presumably by pushing his hands into a vat of the stuff in liquid form.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 22:52

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11

They appear to have been encased in metal. See the below image where we can see the outline of his fingers underneath the metal. If the metal was just gloves or something similar he would have been able to take them off and forge Stormbreaker himself.

Eitri's hands

You can also see that in this image and the fact that it looks like the metal has been poured over his hands.

Eitri's hands from a different angle

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  • Also sorry for the poor quality images, if I find some better ones I'll update.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 15:34
  • 1
    @ThePopMachine I'd assume you would normally pull the mold apart so it can be reused if needed as you would in the real world.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 15:50
  • 2
    @TheLethalCarrot In metal working, specifically mold casting, it is very common for your mold to be a one time use thing. link
    – drakonusrenovotio
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 16:42
  • 4
    Molds in real-world metalsmithing are often formed from a fine, compacted sand or a plaster in a process called expendable casting. I'm more bugged in that scene by the fact that no time was spent grinding or sharpening Stormbreaker after it was broken out of the mold. So Thor would have been carrying a dull axe with jagged pieces sticking out in various places around the edges.
    – BBlake
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 17:48
  • 2
    @BBlake what is a dull axe after all but a hammer?
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 18:07
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We have confirmation from the film's official Junior Novelisation that his hands have been "encased" in "unbreakable steel". Basically Thanos shoved Eitri's hands into a vat of hot metal.

"Then he k...then he killed everyone anyway. All except me."
It was then that Thor noticed Eitri's hands were gnarled and encased in unbreakable steel.
"'Your life is yours he said, 'but your hands are mine alone.'"

Marvel: Destiny Arrives

And in the the Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War - The Art of the Movie factbook, we have positive confirmation of the metal used, uru.

enter image description here

"Nidavellir's lone survivor, Eitri, agrees to help Thor create a god-killer to destroy Thanos, who encased his hands in uru and killed the rest of the dwarfs."

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