Another Topic: Did Merry or Eowyn ...

[The Barrow-Wight]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Chief Wight
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Re: Another Topic: Did Merry or Eowyn ...

The Lord of the Nazgul (LoN) said that &quot;no man&quot; could kill him. Which might have meant that a woman or a hobbit could. But remember, hobbits were originally related to humans, so they might be considered 'Men'.

So let's look at what actually happened.

Merry stabbed the LoN in the back of the knee. This caused him to stumble, allowing Eowyn the chance to stab him in the 'head'. Since his knee had sinew which could be pierced, his head must have been physical enough to have suffered from Eowyn's blow .... except for what Tolkien wrote a few paragraphs later about Merry's Barrow-sword.

The blade had been wrought by men of the North-kingdom long ago when their chief enemy had been the LoN. It had lain magically preserved for ages in the tomb of a forgotten king.

Tolkien wrote ...
... no other blade ... would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.

I think that Merry's blade pierced his magical invulnerability, dropping it, allowing Eowyn's blade to pierce him as well. Hers was the final blow. But it would have been ineffectual without Merry's first strike.


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