Where did "you shall not pass" come from?

Question

One of the most memorable lines from the Lord of the Rings movies is when Gandalf stands before the Balrog and says "you cannot pass". It's commonly quoted as "you shall not pass" because he says that afterwards.

He doesn't actually say that in the book.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf blocks the Balrog saying:

You cannot pass....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 Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.

What is the reason for the shift?

Answer 1

It was most likely a conflation with “they shall not pass”, which the Wikipedia article notes:

was most famously used during the Battle of Verdun in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle. It appears on propaganda posters, such as that by Maurice Neumont after the Second Battle of the Marne, which was later adopted on uniform badges by units manning the Maginot Line. Later during the war, it also was used by Romanian soldiers during the Battle of Mărășești.

This opens the possibility that Tolkien himself was quite well aware of that form of the phrase and may have even been inspired by it.

It was also used during the Spanish Civil War and has since been used by various anti-fascist groups worldwide, as well as by the Sandinistas (according to the same Wikipedia article).

The timeline of it's usage, especially by the Sandinistas, makes it most likely that the conflation comes from the 60s counter-cultural movements, when their usage of it would have been well known and when popularity of LotR was really starting to take off (particularly in the US). Of course, someone who was around at the time would be needed to confirm that.

Answer 2

J.R.R. Tolkien was a noted prescriptivist, regarding Shakespearean neologisms as a bastardization of English and attempting to prescribe specific rules for the usage of his own invented languages.

The guide to prescriptivist English, The Elements of Style says:

Shall, Will. In formal writing, the future tense requires shall for the first person, will for the second and third. The formula to express the speaker's belief regarding a future action or state is I shall; I will expresses determination or consent. A swimmer in distress cries, "I shall drown; no one will save me!" A suicide puts it the other way: "I will drown; no one shall save me!"

Thus, saying "you shall not pass" would be saying "you do not want to pass" which is false.* That Balrog really wanted to pass.

_{*...unless we take the alternate explanation that Gandalf was using some sort of Jedi mind trick.}

The modern film-makers were less prescriptivistic than Tolkien so they had no objection to using shall in the more modern manner of it being an archaic-sounding command, similar to the modern must. Thus, we get the popular saying "you shall not pass!" even though it didn't exist in the original text.

Answer 3

My personal opinion, Ian McKellen has such a great theatrical voice that the line was re-written for him. He was able to set a mood and tone with that particular line that makes a huge impact on the scene. He delivers the line so well. It's amazing how a well trained Shakespearean actor can make a scene such as that one.

Answer 4

I shall return. Douglas MacArthur

I'll be back. The Terminator

Which sounds more determined? "I shall return." It meant no obstacle was going to stop General MacArthur's return to the Philippines.

"You shall not pass" probably sounded determined more than "You cannot pass."

Answer 5

what about the old expression "Thou Shalt not pass"?

That was the title of a movie back in 1925.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016424/

It might come from the King James Bible.