Why did he just let her stab him, it was obvious that's what she was going to do. He could have moved to one side, grabbed the sword with his metal hand or general do something useful
He was immortal, so it shouldn't have mattered. But, IIRC, the blade she was using came from the barrows and was specifically forged to kill him.
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In the books, the Hobbits found the blade as they left the Shire when Tom Bombadil rescued them from the barrowights. It's something like that but I haven't read the series for a long, long time..
If I remember right, it wasn't Eowyn who wielded the Barrows Blade. As jasonmon said, Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo all receive one from the barrows crypts near Tom Bombadill. Frodo's later breaks, and at one point Merry and Pippin lose theirs (though they are later returned by Aragorn).
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Grain of salt, it's been years since I've read LotR, and there's a few theories about what, exactly, goes on with the Nazgul. It's implied they are immortal, but whether this is because they are immune to damage or are simply very hard TO damage I was never really sure on. Iirc, the entire reason the river outside Rivendell is able to stop the Nazgul is because the Nazgul don't really have a form. They're shapeless shadows, almost like ghosts (hence the name "ringwraith" )
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The cloaks they wear were made for them by Sauron, and allow the ringwraiths to take a more physical form. The river forces them from their cloaks, causing them to lose their forms, and (iirc, in the books) they are forced to return to Sauron because they need help getting dressed in the morning and he's the only one up to the task. This is part of why the fellowship gets a reprieve from them during (and somewhat after) their stay in Rivendell.
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The reason all this matters is because it leads back around to what happens when Eowyn faces off with the Witch King.
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In the book, Merry has his barrows blade, and (in the movie as well) he drives it into the back of the Witch King's "knee."
The line that follows is something along the lines of "piercing the undead flesh, breaking the spell that bound his sinews to his will."
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The Nazgul don't have flesh as we understand it, and harming them is nearly impossible because of this. But the barrows blades were forged specifically to be wielded against their kind, which is why it's actually able to cause the Witch King pain
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So whether Merry ended the Witch King's immortality, or, more likely, simply disrupted the Witch King's ability to hold himself together and keep his "defences up" (both magical and physical, since at this point the Witch King's sword had been driven into the ground due to the pain of being "stabbed" ), it leaves him wide open to Eowyn's attack.
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And she stabs him directly through the "face" -- which is a feat likely never accomplished before by anyone.
Indeed, haha. I wasn't trying to step all over your point, since what you said was more or less correct. Just expand on the details a bit
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The movies did a great job (in my opinion) of capturing the gist of the story, but they missed out on a lot of stuff as well. Admittedly I always found the part with Tom Bombadill a bit odd, and I can't fault them for excluding him. Or the burning of the Shire, and a dozen other things. But some of the details that are subtly important did get lost unfortunately. But on the plus side It gives us excuses to discuss them like this :)
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In the books, the Hobbits found the blade as they left the Shire when Tom Bombadil rescued them from the barrowights. It's something like that but I haven't read the series for a long, long time..
'
Grain of salt, it's been years since I've read LotR, and there's a few theories about what, exactly, goes on with the Nazgul. It's implied they are immortal, but whether this is because they are immune to damage or are simply very hard TO damage I was never really sure on. Iirc, the entire reason the river outside Rivendell is able to stop the Nazgul is because the Nazgul don't really have a form. They're shapeless shadows, almost like ghosts (hence the name "ringwraith" )
'
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The reason all this matters is because it leads back around to what happens when Eowyn faces off with the Witch King.
'
In the book, Merry has his barrows blade, and (in the movie as well) he drives it into the back of the Witch King's "knee."
'
The Nazgul don't have flesh as we understand it, and harming them is nearly impossible because of this. But the barrows blades were forged specifically to be wielded against their kind, which is why it's actually able to cause the Witch King pain
'
So whether Merry ended the Witch King's immortality, or, more likely, simply disrupted the Witch King's ability to hold himself together and keep his "defences up" (both magical and physical, since at this point the Witch King's sword had been driven into the ground due to the pain of being "stabbed" ), it leaves him wide open to Eowyn's attack.
'
And she stabs him directly through the "face" -- which is a feat likely never accomplished before by anyone.
http://www.henneth-annun.net/events_view.cfm?evid=477
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The movies did a great job (in my opinion) of capturing the gist of the story, but they missed out on a lot of stuff as well. Admittedly I always found the part with Tom Bombadill a bit odd, and I can't fault them for excluding him. Or the burning of the Shire, and a dozen other things. But some of the details that are subtly important did get lost unfortunately. But on the plus side It gives us excuses to discuss them like this :)