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"I wondered recently why swinging an ordinary steel blade in the empty space between head and crown would do anything besides make a nice swishing sound..."
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I don't think the space could be considered "empty". The Nazgul were obviously able to affect the physical world, and likewise physical objects could not occupy the same space as their "wraith" forms. For example, the fact that he even had a helm tells us that there was something there to strike. Also their cloaks, and any weapons they wielded. Remember that the Nazgul didn't
die to become the wraiths that they were, they simply withered away. In this way they are different than simple spirits. But what is the difference? Do they still maintain a physical form, albeit invisible to those whose reality is strictly the world of the living? What of the barrow wights? This is an intriguing topic and I'd like to hear some thoughts. Perhaps in a new thread.
So I opt for the second, Maril: Merry merely made the King vulnerable to Eowyn, and her blow was the one that rendered him an impotent spirit. I also don't think that he necessarily believed he was invulnerable to Eowyn, because he originally thought she was a man. Perhaps he had made it his policy not to go into hand-to-hand combat with women or Elves or Dwarves or Ents or Istari. In this case he was trapped.
[ November 28, 2001: Message edited by: obloquy ]