Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
Home / Knights Who Say Ni He Saidit Again

Knights Who Say Ni He Saidit Again

Post a Comment

Monty Python characters

The Knights Who Say "Ni!", also called the Knights of Ni, are a band of knights encountered past King Arthur and his followers in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They demonstrate their power by shouting "Ni!" (pronounced "nee"), terrifying the political party, whom they reject to let passage through their forest unless appeased through the gift of a shrubbery.

Description [edit]

The knights appear silhouetted in a misty wood, wearing robes and horned helmets; their full number is never apparent, merely there are at least six. The leader of the knights, played by Michael Palin, is the but i who speaks to the party. He is nigh double Arthur's height, and wears a great helm decorated with long antlers. The other knights are big, but of man proportions, and wear visored sallet helmets decorated with cow horns. The knight explains that they are the "keepers of the sacred words 'Ni', 'Peng', and 'Neee-Wom'". Arthur confides to Sir Bedivere, "those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!"[one]

Tasks [edit]

The knights demand a sacrifice, and when Arthur states that he merely wishes to laissez passer through the woods, the knights begin shouting "Ni!", forcing the party to compress back in fear. After this demonstration of their power, the head knight threatens to say "Ni!" once again unless the travellers gratify them with a shrubbery; otherwise they shall never pass through the wood alive. When Arthur questions the demand, the knights once again shout "Ni!" until the travellers hold to bring them a shrubbery, which the caput knight specifies must be "one that looks nice. And not too expensive."[i] [2]

In order to fulfill their promise to the Knights of Ni, the party visits a small village, where Arthur and Bedivere ask an one-time crone where they can obtain a shrubbery. The woman questions them, and Arthur admits that information technology is for the Knights who say "Ni!", whereupon she refuses to cooperate. Arthur and so threatens to say "Ni!" to the onetime woman unless she helps them, and when she withal refuses, begins shouting "Ni!". Bedivere has problem proverb the sacred word, which he pronounces "Nu!" until Arthur demonstrates the correct technique. As the crone shrinks back from their combined assault, they are interrupted by Roger the Shrubber, who laments the lack of law and club that allows ruffians to say "Ni!" to an sometime woman. Arthur obtains a shrubbery from Roger, and brings it to the Knights of Ni.[1]

The head knight acknowledges that "it is a good shrubbery", simply asserts that the knights cannot allow Arthur and his followers to laissez passer through the wood because they are no longer the Knights who say "Ni!" They are at present the Knights who say "Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptang Zoo Boing!"[i] and must therefore give Arthur a test. Unable to pronounce the new name, Arthur addresses them as "Knights who until recently said 'Ni!'", inquiring as to the nature of the exam.

The head knight demands another shrubbery, to be placed next to just slightly higher than the first; and then Arthur "must cutting down the mightiest tree in the forest—with a herring!" The knight presents a herring to be used. Arthur objects, asserting that "it tin't be done!" upon which the knights recoil as though in fright and pain. It soon emerges that the knights are unable to withstand the word "it", which Arthur's party is unable to avert saying. The knights are before long incapacitated by the word, which even the head knight cannot terminate repeating, allowing Arthur and his followers to make their escape.[1]

Flick notes [edit]

In the original screenplay, it was suggested that the head knight be played by "Mike standing on John'southward shoulders". In the DVD commentary for the film, Michael Palin states that their utilise of the discussion "Ni!" was derived from The Goon Show. After, Palin gave another inspiration – his history teacher at Shrewsbury Schoolhouse, Laurence Le Quesne, who had the habit of saying "Ni" while searching for books.[3] Upon Arthur's return, the knights were to have said, "Neeeow...wum...ping!"[4]

Contemporary scholarship [edit]

The Knights who say "Ni!" have been cited as an case of intentional condone for historical accuracy in neo-medievalism, which may be assorted with the casual condone for historical accuracy inherent in more traditional works of the fantasy genre.[5] However, in Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present, the authors suggest that the original characters of Monty Python and the Holy Grail actually represent medievalism, rather than neomedievalism, as many of the picture show'south details are in fact based on authentic medieval texts and ideas. With respect to the Knights who say "Ni!", the authors suggest that Sir Bedivere's difficulty pronouncing "Ni!", despite its levity, "carries a very learned joke near the difficulties of pronouncing Middle English language", alluding to the Great Vowel Shift, which occurred in English during the late medieval period.[six]

Footnotes [edit]

  1. ^ In that location are several slight variations in spelling based on different sources; this spelling is based on the film subtitles, which give "Zoo" rather than "Zoom"; the finish of this word is indistinctly pronounced in the film. The subtitles only include three "Ekkes", but four tin definitely be heard in the dialogue. This line appears to have been semi-improvisational, and may differ from the original script and later versions, with "Ni!" sometimes existence added at the end. Despite the head knight'due south pronouncement of the new proper noun, some of the other knights nevertheless chatter "Ni!" in the background.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (Directors) (1975). Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Movement flick). EMI Films.
  2. ^ Kevin J. Harty (2002). Cinema Arthuriana. McFarland. ISBN0-7864-1344-i.
  3. ^ "'Ni!' - Former Shrewsbury schoolmaster the inspiration for famous Monty Python sketch", Shropshire Star, 17 December 2015
  4. ^ Parker, Alan; O'Shea, Mick (2006). And Now For Something Completely Digital: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python CDs and DVDs. The Disinformation Visitor. p. 62. ISBN9781932857313.
  5. ^ Carol Robertson and Pamela Clements (editors), "Neomedievalism in the Media: Essays on Picture show, Television and Electronic Games", in Parergon, vol. xxx, no. one, pp. 313–315 (2013), Australian and New Zealand Clan of Medieval and Early on Mod Studies.
  6. ^ Tison Pugh and Angela Jane Weisl, Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present, Routledge (2013), p. four.

Farther reading [edit]

  • Larsen, Darl (2003). Monty Python, Shakespeare, and English Renaissance drama. ISBN978-0-7864-1504-five . Retrieved 21 Baronial 2011.

External links [edit]

  • The Knights Who Say "Ni!" – Monty Python and the Holy Grail – Official Monty Python Aqueduct

faulknerdifid1960.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Who_Say_%22Ni%21%22

Post a Comment for "Knights Who Say Ni He Saidit Again"