[davem]

Originally Posted by obloquy

No, I don't find that. It might be appropriate if you were making a poetic association of the Witch-King with the realm he once held. Perhaps one might refer to him as Angmar while he held Angmar as his kingdom, but even then it would not be his proper name, but rather a personification of his kingdom with him as the implied personality behind that kingdom's will, just as one refers to "Mordor's" doings when really one is speaking of Sauron's. I can go along with such a personification of a kingdom, but you're not referring to "the-kingdom-of-Angmar-with-the-Witch-King-as-its-brain", are you? And surely you'll admit that nobody would say, "The Dark Lord Mordor sits on his throne."

One could say Mordor sits on his throne - if one was peaking poetically. Actually, I was using 'Angmar' as shorthand, as I find 'The Witch-King a pain to write out repeatedly & W-K looks a bit like txt spk.

The Barrow Blade was special compared to regular weapons, but was "magically" inferior to Glamdring.

But only a Barrow Blade could harm Angmar , so the point is not relevant. Weapons have specific powers. Tolkien is clear about that. Glamdring (or Anduril) could not have harmed Angmar & made him vulnerable to Eowyn's death-blow.

So, the bottom line is that in a duel situation, spiritual puissance is king. The Witch-King was a MAN, and therefore, when speaking of duels, he was unquestionably no match for Gandalf (Maia) or Galadriel (Elda) or Glorfindel (Elda).

Well, he wasn't a 'man'. He was both more & less than that. He was a Man once, but that is not the point. A battering ram was once an acorn, but you'd struggle to bring down a door by throwing an acorn at it. Angmar & the rest of the Nazgul are effectively incarnations of Sauron's power. If they were 'just' Men they would have been a lot less powerful, a lot easier to dispatch, & generally a lot less of a nuisance. Besides, Men tend not to have invisible heads & such..

It doesn't matter what the Witch-King thought of himself. What matters are the precedents we have in previous duels, and Tolkien's hierarchy of powers. The W-K may not have known Gandalf's nature. In fact, Sauron may not even have known until he started pumping Saruman for info: that was the whole reason for sending the Istari in humble forms and limiting their options.

Well, that would depend on whether what he thought about himself was correct or not. I don't see your point here. If there was only one means to dispatch Angmar then there was only one means & 'spiritual power' is neither here nor there. One thing we know about Middle-earth is that there are Rules. Superior force is not the issue. As Gandalf says, he 'cannot burn snow'. Just as there are 'physical' restrictions on what he can do, so there are spiritual ones. You can't talk about the Istari having 'limited options' & then imply that the only restrictions on them is their inherent power. Gandalf can be injured by certain weapons. So can Angmar - but we know that Gandalf is not in possession of such a weapon. Therefore he cannot harm Angmar - because he cannot burn snow. Conversely, the weapon Angmar is about to use on Gandalf at the Gates of Minas Tirith is clearly a magical weapon, which he makes use of at that moment & only at that moment.

And its entirely a question of magical weapons, because Tolkien clearly states it is.