The Balrog vs The Witch King

[CSteefel]

Originally Posted by davem

If the WK had the power to break the gates unaided then he would have done. He couldn't. Hence he had to use a battering ram. Of course, its his ram, so he broke the gates. To argue that because App B states he 'broke the gates' Grond played no part is like arguing that saying the WK 'stabbed Frodo on Weathertop' implies that the Morgul Blade was irrelevant. The WK broke the Gates with Grond & he stabbed Frodo with the Morgul Blade. He couldn't have performed either act without the object.

I didn't say the battering ram played no part. I simply said the Witch King was primarily responsible, although this is open to other interpretations like yours above.

However, note also that the Witch King's spell is more than just striking fear, or cheerleading, since it is said that

...speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone.

with the emphasis on "stone" added by myself. Given this extra information about the power here, I would say that your interpretation of the quote from Appendix B, while a viable one, is just one of those possible.