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Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
Well, for one, note that he did not say "I am going to kill you", but he said the obscure "whoever touches it will die".
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Exactly. It's a passive sentence.
Death shall come to any man that draws Elendil's sword, save Elendil's heir
To me that doesn't sound like a man saying "I'll kill anyone who messes with my gear!" it sounds more like a warning that fate will punish whoever draws the blade. Maybe the word curse was misused, but to me it sounds more like something like that. Tolkien's work is after all littered with prophesies and curses. And I'm surprised that you'd say that Narsil isn't in any way magical, just because it wasn't a big talker. It is after all the legendary sword that cut the One Ring off Sauron's finger. No plain pocket knife would be fated to do that.
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Mainly though, you never have used any exaggerated sayings like that? Or heard them at least? I would be puzzled, because I think it's quite normal and I don't get why people won't see it in cases like this and take everything literally. Like, somebody says "oh but if you screw up your job this time again, your boss is going to rip your head off", while in the end (at least normally) no decapitations occur.
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Yes, I might say something like "I'll kill that ******* who stole my bike!" although I wouldn't actually do it if given the chance. Probably not anyway.
But Aragorn isn't like you and me. He's a very serious chap. I'm quite certain he wouldn't blurp out anything in a fit of rage that he didn't mean. Just think of how he marches up to the black gate and demands that the Dark Lord should step forward and pay for his crimes. Although he's in no position to make that happen, he's still dead serious, and would die trying to achieve what he said he would do.
No, I think he meant it literally when he said that death will come to any man who draws his sword, and since the scenario of him cutting down Theoden's guards (how would he do that anyway without his sword?) isn't plausable, I must assume there is a curse or something similar. Notice that the words says no man but the heir of Elendil can draw the sword and live. Touching it is no death sentance, which is probably why Othar could live.