No Living Man

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

. . . I can see pretty much no reason why someone didn't just come along a thrust a Westerness dagger at the WK. (HCNHobbit--sorry for the abbreviation )

Nobody could come close enough.

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

See, now ... the Witch-King was the one who thought no living man could kill him, Glorfindel's prophecy has nothing to do with that.

It's not like the W-K actually heard Glorfindel say that. He probably didn't. He just assumed he was immortal in every way, not just prolonged, wraithy life.

And he assumed wrong.

Meanwhile, Glorfindel's prophecy remains true, but has nothing to do with the quote "No living man may hinder me."

[Lhunardawen]

In light of this discussion, I saw this in The Siege of Gondor:

The Nazgul screeched and swept away, for their Captain was not yet come to challenge the white fire of his foe.

In this situation, Gandalf did hinder WK, but there seems to be a rematch in sight because of the word yet. But they never meet again, as we see later on in the story. Can we then say that Gandalf has successfully hindered WK as opposed to WK's later claims as he conversed with Eowyn? After all, Gandalf here is not a man...or is he?

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

Nobody could come close enough. - Nilpaurion Felagund

That was an understatement: The Westerness swords that the hobbits got were actually daggers found by Ol' Tom the Merry Fellow at the Barrowdowns:

For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold.

But back to the question of the entire thread, I doubt there are really any other way that the Witchking can be killed, let alone the other eight. Elves were said to have power over things both seen and unseen (See Chapter: Many Meetings), and are thus unafraid to contest the Ringwraiths. But if we are to go into the exact method of how an Elf (say Elrond or Glorfindel) can bring about the demise of the Witchking, we are most likely to be talking about a contest of will-power... hardly of physics. So in that sense, it is pointless to go through the mechanics of how the old ghouls could "die" as long as it dies.

Taken in that sense, anyone with the will-power to spear a Nazgul in the eye can kill it. It is uber-strange however, that nobody have the will-power to kill or even maim one of them for nearly an entire age. We were told of course that the Nazgul are afraid of fire, even though Sauron likes to use it.

Strider laid his hand on his shoulder. 'There is still hope,' he said. 'You are not alone. Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as a sign. There is little shelter or defence here, but fire shall serve for both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it. Fire is our friend in the wilderness.'

But Gandalf, who is supposed to be a powerhouse of will-power can't even beat them at Weathertop, and presumably with fire:

"Perhaps," said Strider. "For myself, I believe that he was here, and was in danger. There have been scorching flames here; and now the light that we saw three nights ago in the eastern sky comes back to my mind. I guess that he was attacked on this hill-top, but with what result I cannot tell. He is here no longer, and we must now look after ourselves and make our own way to Rivendell, as best as we can."

Granted that Gandalf was tired and outnumbered one to nine, we are still left with the conclusion that the Ringwraiths were completely unscathed for their next uncounter with Aragorn and the hobbits. Big question as to how powerful Gandalf was in comparison with a Dunedain and his halfling cronies... Besides, I am still left speechless with the notion of girl-cum-hobbit willpower combined to "fall" the old geezer of a Nazgul...

[Formendacil]

I, like a few others, find it somewhat incredulous that having a hobbit and a woman (and no others!) was a part of the "formula" for killing the Witchking. The idea that a Dunadan or an Elf, or a Wizard could not kill the Witchking, just because they were not a woman and/or a hobbit.

There was a large dose of luck in Eowyn and Merry's accomplishment. The Witchking was over-confident, Merry was totally ignored, Eowyn's shield arm was broken and not her sword arm, Merry just happened to be carrying a sword that was particularly deadly to the Witchking. I might be wrong, but I'm seeing a fair element of luck in the matter. It was the luck of those characters in those circumstances that brought down the Witchking, rather than any prerequisites they happened to meet, such as Hobbit or woman.

Another thing...

The Sword (or Dagger) of the Barrow-downs.

While there is NO doubt whatsoever that it was the special power of this sword, its utter deadliness to the Witchking, that bore such a huge part in felling the Witchking, I must take exception to statements along the lines of "it had to be a sword of Westernesse (aka a Barrow-sword) to kill the Witchking".

So nothing else would have worked? What about Sting? Forged in Gondolin, "kin" to Biter and Beater (aka Orcrist and Glamdring), obviously superior to Frodo's previous sword. Do people think that if it had been Frodo in Merry's place that he wouldn't have had the same success with Sting as Merry did with his Barrow-sword? Surely the Numenoreans (men of Westernesse) were not the only ones to put spells deadly to evil on their blades. And was not Numenorean craft (and this Third Age craft at that) ultimately derived from the Noldorin and Sindarin cultures?

Or what about Anduril? Originally forged by Telchar (a Dwarf!) and reforged in Rivendell (by Elves), it was nonetheless "wound with runes" and was the very sword to have felled Sauron. Would a blow from it have been less successful than the Barrow-sword?

I'm not saying that it wasn't a good thing that Merry had his Barrow-sword, and not just some generic butcher knife out of Edoras, but the Barrow-swords were hardly the only blades in Middle-earth that could sever the Witchking's unseen sinew.

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

It is really unfortunate that Prof T has to describe it such that there is no other way.

No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.

This in itself accounts for two notions:
1. It has to be a Westerness dagger: made by the Numenoreans of Arnor to counter Angmar.
2. It has to be a midget with hairs on his feet.

Mark that this by no means imply that the Old Skeleton will die once the conditions are met; the hobbit in question still have to open his eyes and aim straight for the shins...

It is a wonder why Elrond did not hire a band of hobbits armed with old antique letter-openers to guard his realm...

[Firefoot]

2. It has to be a midget with hairs on his feet.

I don't think that this is true. Look at the statement again:

No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.

The phrase " not though mightier hands had wielded it" is clarifying "no other blade" - not "the blade of Westernesse." It's not saying that only a hobbit wielding the blade of Westernesse could have injured the WK so badly; it's saying that should any other blade been used, even if it had been weilded by the most powerful person in Middle-earth, it could not have had the same effect on the WK. The sentence says nothing about what would have happened if that same most powerful person had been wielding the blade of Westernesse.

e.g. If Merry had used a different sword, the effects would have been less deadly. If Aragorn had used a different sword, as before, the effects would have been less deadly. But if Aragorn had used the Blade of Westernesse...? The statement doesn't say. The emphasis is on the blade being wielded, not the hands that wielded it.

[The Saucepan Man]

Haven't we been here before?

Glorfindel did not say that no man could fell the Witch-king. He said that no man would do so.

Anyone could have killed the Witch-king, given the right circumstances. But only someone who wasn't a man would do so.

No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.

Like Formendacil, I highly doubt that this was the only blade capable of killing the Witch-king. Perhaps other blades wouldn't have dealt such a bitter blow in one stroke, but the likes of Glamdring, Anduril, Sting and many others would surely have been up to the task.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I might be wrong, but I'm seeing a fair element of luck in the matter.

Ah, the good ol' free will versus predestination. Tolkien already showed that he is not opposed to predestination, seeing as how Frodo and Bilbo were *meant* to have the Ring. So does that mean the Eowyn and Merry were born with an utter lack of free will? Or does it mean that through an extraordinary set of circumstances, their free will meshed perfectly with what Eru wanted? Or does it mean that it's all just pure dumb luck without the slightest hint of divine intervention?

The prophecy in itself declares the latter invalid, or maybe it doesn't. Was Glorfindel seeing what would happen, or what, given the right pure dumb luck moments, could happen?

But only someone who wasn't a man would do so.

True, in the 3rd Age. Elves knew that it was not their battle, and so involved themselves (with some exceptions) only to defend themselves and their realms. Dwarves are greedy and so only defended themselves, their kin, and their realms (with some exceptions). The 3rd Age was the time of Men. No questions asked.

But why, Saucie, would nobody (ignoring Earnur) try for a nice little throwing knife stab-wound before then? Merry had a dagger! It could have been aero-dynamic... Kidding, kidding... at least mostly. But in the previous Ages, why wouldn't someone who wasn't a man try?

Fea

[Kuruharan]

On the other hand, I wonder why the Barrow-wights (which are supposedly under the command of the ol' ghoul), should keep nasssty Westerness kitchen knives in their homes...

Or perhaps it is because things like that happen to be the only form of easily accessible loot.