Indeed, though in either version Eowyn only gets an opening because Merry stabs the wraith in the shin. Still, gender-relevance or not, saying the stab does nothing is incorrect. Merry's stab, in the movies manages to distract the Witch King, not kill him. In the books, it distracts him AND disrupts his ability to hold himself together in a corporeal form. Merry's stab did not actually land a killing blow, however.
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In the end they both contributed to his demise, but Eowyn is the one who actually killed him if you get down to brass tacks. It wouldn't have been possible without Merry, but Merry was pretty much crippled from the pain/cold at that point of stabbing the Witch King and wasn't able to actually finish him off.
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So, either way you look at it, Eowyn still managed to drive a sword through the Witch King's face face, ending the life of a 4000+ year old being, and coming very close to ending her own life in the process, which nobody managed to do before
Yeah it’s an odd thing. She definitely hurt him the question is always whether or not he could actually be physically damaged before being stabbed by the barrow-blade. I personally like the idea that it meant both of them. He shall not be slain “by the hand of man”, he was slain by the hands of a hobbit, and a woman
Well, that part seems a bit unclear to me. Iirc the Witch King was a special case even among the Nazgül. They all had some specific weaknesses, but he was slightly less prone to them than the others.
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From what I recall/understand they all didn't really have physical forms. They were held together, literally, by their cloaks (which Sauron gave them if memory serves correct). Losing their cloaks was therefore a pretty bad thing for them-- and likely part of why they were hesitant to follow either time the ring crossed over running water (Bucklebury Ferry, as well as the river outside Rivendell).
However, it's also implied that the Wraiths fear water. Outside of them losing their cloaks (which is more theory on my part) it's never explained WHY they fear it, simply that they do. Only the Witch King and two other wraith in the book are even willing to enter the river at first, and that's when the ring is right in front of them, and their influence is having at least some effect on Frodo's mind. The others are driven in by Aragorn, Glorfindel (Arden replaces him in the movie) and the hobbies after the elven magic takes hold of the river.
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The Witch King is also noted to have fled from Glorfindel and a companion at an earlier meeting in one of the other books, but I don't know enough about that book to comment on it. Glorfindel informs his companion that the Witch King will die at some point, but it won't be by the hands of man.
They also express extreme distaste for the sun (again, the Witch King is the exception, though even he dislikes it), and, as seen on weathertop, they are afraid of fire.
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I'm not sure whether it's because they can in some manner feel pain, or if they simply feel fear, but they don't seem to be impervious either way. If they were, it would be impossible to drive them off with things such as torches and such. Whether they could be INJURED without a barrows blade is another matter entirely, but it seems very much like there's no real way to destroy them without it-- the exception being destroying the one ring
I’m fairly certain there are a few times when the Wraiths move without armour or robes to be comletely invisible. I’m pretty sure the reason they avoid the water is because of the fear of the wizards as when they did enter one river Elrond and Gandalf immediately sent the water horses(i’m Most uncertain about this as it may just be that river). I was also just reading why the wraiths dislike fire and Tolkien stated in an essay that they didn’t fear fire they feared those who didn’t fear them. As their ability to inspire fear was so intense that those who resist it almost rebound it is a way to put it.
I guess I should clarify: I wasn't saying the wraiths became immobile or ceased to exist without their cloaks. Rather, it's somewhat implied that they relied on their clothing and mounts, at least in part, to interact with the physical world.
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"You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them, and they could see you.'
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`I know,' said Frodo. `They were terrible to behold! But why could we all see their horses?'
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`Because they are real horses; just as the black robes are real robes that they wear to give shape to their nothingness when they have dealings with the living.'"
What happens when they lose their clothing and mounts is somewhat obscure. It could potentially be nothing, but it seems at least in part they become more wraith than physical in form. Alternatively their decisions to retreat when not mountain or clothed could very well have origins in desiring fear to do their work, and being invisible making them hard to fear, though even if that's the case, should they be able to interact with the physical world even while invisible it would seem a small thing for them to simply snatch the ring from Frodo when he can't see them coming. Even perhaps stage an ambush awaiting the hobbies outside of Rivendell.
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However, they instead opt to return to Mordor to retrieve new clothing and better mounts
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In the end they both contributed to his demise, but Eowyn is the one who actually killed him if you get down to brass tacks. It wouldn't have been possible without Merry, but Merry was pretty much crippled from the pain/cold at that point of stabbing the Witch King and wasn't able to actually finish him off.
'
So, either way you look at it, Eowyn still managed to drive a sword through the Witch King's face face, ending the life of a 4000+ year old being, and coming very close to ending her own life in the process, which nobody managed to do before
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From what I recall/understand they all didn't really have physical forms. They were held together, literally, by their cloaks (which Sauron gave them if memory serves correct). Losing their cloaks was therefore a pretty bad thing for them-- and likely part of why they were hesitant to follow either time the ring crossed over running water (Bucklebury Ferry, as well as the river outside Rivendell).
'
The Witch King is also noted to have fled from Glorfindel and a companion at an earlier meeting in one of the other books, but I don't know enough about that book to comment on it. Glorfindel informs his companion that the Witch King will die at some point, but it won't be by the hands of man.
'
I'm not sure whether it's because they can in some manner feel pain, or if they simply feel fear, but they don't seem to be impervious either way. If they were, it would be impossible to drive them off with things such as torches and such. Whether they could be INJURED without a barrows blade is another matter entirely, but it seems very much like there's no real way to destroy them without it-- the exception being destroying the one ring
'
"You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them, and they could see you.'
'
`I know,' said Frodo. `They were terrible to behold! But why could we all see their horses?'
'
`Because they are real horses; just as the black robes are real robes that they wear to give shape to their nothingness when they have dealings with the living.'"
'
However, they instead opt to return to Mordor to retrieve new clothing and better mounts