Thread: Irony
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Old 02-07-2003, 02:40 PM   #32
obloquy
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
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Sting

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I think that Merry stabbing the Witch-King with the dagger from the Barrow is ironic, but only because it is combined with the Witch-King facing someone who is not bound by the prophecy concerning his apparent invulnerability. Of all the combatants that he might have come across on Pelennor Fields, he encounters a hobbit armed with a dagger specifically wrought to fight his former realm and Eowyn, the only person there who can beat his prophecy.
The thing is, it wasn't a prophecy of invulnerability. It was a prophecy of who would kill the Witch-King, not who could. The words were spoken originally by Glorfindel: "Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall." This was not a spell to grant invulnerability, it was a prophecy of what would occur (again, not what could). The Witch-King made the same mistake on the field of Pelennor when he said, "No living man may hinder me!" Of course, as soon as Éowyn revealed who she was, the Witch-King was silent, "as if in sudden doubt." He realized he had misinterpreted. I think this fact robs the whole scenario of any irony that may have been squeezed from it.
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