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Revision as of 20:19, 21 November 2005 by Serendipodous (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Hand of Glory is the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged.
According to old European beliefs, a candle made of the fat from a malefactor who died on the gallows, lighted and placed in the Hand of Glory as in a candlestick would have rendered motionless all persons to whom it was presented. Because of this the Hand was sometimes used by burglars to rob houses. The Hand of Glory also purportedly had the power to unlock any door it came across.
The legend is traceable to about 1440, but the name only dates from 1707. It was originally a name for the mandrake root (via French "mandragore" and thus, "maindeglorie,"- "hand of glory") that became conflated with the earlier legend.
Trivia
- The Hand of Glory also makes an appearance in the Hellboy graphic novel, The Right Hand of Doom, in the story Box Full of Evil. The Hand in this case was from "a hanged man, dried, dipped into wax, and made into a candle", and could "unlock doors and immobilize everyone in a house".
- The Hand of Glory also appears in the graphic novel series "The Invisibles" by Grant Morrison.
- In the Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Draco Malfoy comes across the Hand of Glory in the Borgin and Burkes pawnshop located in Knockturn Alley. It makes another appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Draco uses it to make a quick get-away. In the book, the Hand doesn't render people immobile, but gives light only to the person using it.
- Glory Hands appear in computer role-playing game Betrayal at Krondor. They're specifically hands of thieves hanged at midnight. When used with a spell called "Nightfingers", they can be used to steal items from characters in combat.
- The Hand of Glory appears in the film The Wicker Man, where it is placed next to the bed of Sgt. Howie in order to frighten him.
- In Thief: the Dark Project PC-game's second Mission, Break From Cragscleft Prison, protagonist and master-Thief Garrett needs to steal his lucky hand of glory from Yssit the beggar who is imprissoned in Cragscleft prison, while breaking out his fence, Cutty.
- A Hand of Glory plays a prominent role in the plot of John Bellairs' "The House With a Clock in Its Walls".
- The Hand of Glory is also mentioned in the short story "The Mangler", in the book Night Shift, by Stephen King.
- The character of the Hand in the children's book The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood by Eva Ibbotson is a sentient severed hand who dreams of becoming a Hand of Glory, capable of giving off light and immobilising people at will
- In Graham Taylor's novel Shadowmancer,the sorcerer Obadiah Demurral also used the Hand of Glory, which put to sleep everyone in the house except the one who held it.
References
- James George Frazer, The Golden Bough.
External links
- The Hand of Glory and other gory legends about human hands - Edited by D. L. Ashliman.
- Hand of Glory - Manufacture and use of the Hand of Glory.