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Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil
I actually discussed this subject not too long ago at a terrorism lecture. It amounts to being the difference between biological and 'traditional' physical warfare. If somebody bombs you, shoots you, stabs you, you die. If somebody slips a strain of something into a couple reservoirs... It's more of a paranoia thing. You never have to throw a punch as long as the world is enough intimidated by you that they aren't willing to pick a fight. People who risk being shot by 'the enemy' aren't nearly as defeated as people who are afraid to drink water or leave the house.
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This is why to me, the Witch King is such an effective enemy. It's not necessarily anything to do with his personal power or the forces he commands, but it has a lot to do with his reputation. There is the prophecy that he cannot be killed by 'Man' - and this works well for him until someone who is quite literally not a man (but without the capital
) comes along with a little Hobbit and disregards this. As in real life, the only way to defeat terror is not to allow yourself to be swayed by it!
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Think about Tolkien's evil forces catapulting the heads of the fallen soldiers over the walls of Gondor. It was unnecessary on a level of brute force. What, are you going to give your enemies concussions? But think of seeing your brother or your best friend or your father, staring at you through lifeless eyes that still hold the traces of terror that were burned into them in their last second of life. It's a far more effective weapon than a boulder. The hesitation alone caused by the psychological impact can turn the battle in favor of the bad guys.
Messing with heads isn't essential, exactly, but it's effective as hell.
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I think that the heads would have hurt if they'd hit you - but as you say that's not the point! There were better missiles to launch! However firing the head of an enemy over a wall does not only have a psychological effect it can also spread disease; in medieval warfare biological methods were widely used, such as dipping arrow heads in rotten diseased flesh and hurling carcasses of diseased beasts over the walls and dropping them in wells supplying water.
And going back to the psychological effects, the other is that using these heads as missiles shows immense disrespect. It shows that the enemy are somewhat dehumanised and will stop at nothing in order to beat you. It's not so common these days in warfare as we have the Geneva Convention, but it still goes on - forces on all sides still take great delight in humiliating prisoners when they can get away with it