Why can 'no man' kill the Witch King? #lotr_qa

Middle Earth Lore

Gandalf, Tolkien, Wizards, Rings of Power, LOTR, Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, Witch King, Nazgul, Eowyn

[samtheman]

Cool fact: Tolkien based this bit off of
Macbeth, who "could not be killed of woman born"
And then he gets killed by some dude born by a C-section so technically he wasn't woman born

[pinkfloyd]

Witch King: no man can kill me
All sorts of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Woman: we are not men.

[faithseed]

Witch king: No Man Can kill Me
Kid named: No Man 💀💀

[phj]

I believe Glorfindels prophecy was something like "far away lies his doom, and not by man will he meet it"

[Warmaka]

Witch king: "No man can kill me!"
_gets mauled by bear_

[CHRT_TV]

I appreciate that Glorfindel was mostly just trying to tell the last king of Gondor (until Aragorn) not to throw his life away pursuing a single foe singlemindedly -- which of course he eventually did anyway -- and the people of Middle-Earth basically all went, "You know, that Glorfindel guy said it, and he killed a Balrog in single combat and went to Mandos and came back, so it's probably true." The dude had too much street cred. Respect.

[AngusT.McCraken]

I didn’t like how in the movie they really downplayed the importance of Merry’s knife and what he did. It was his blow that turned the witch king back into flesh and made him mortal.

[thethemperoroftheholybri]

This proves confidence is the best defence, the Witch King was so confident he survived countless battles for thousands of years, all because he was confident a Man wouldn't kill him

[unruly_ronin]

My man blud immediately started walking around like he owns the place💀

[wesleydraves]

Fun fact in the lord of the rings book glorfindel took the hobbits and Aragorn to Rivendell not Arwen

[hipo]

In the book, Merry stabbed the Witch King behind his knee with an Elvish blade they had gotten from the Barrow Downs
he was about to strike Eowyn. The blade was enchanted with Elvish spells against the Witch King from back in the 2nd Age. That plus him being a Hobbit fulfilled the prophecy

[civilwildman]

Fact: The weapon Merry had used was looted from the Barrow-Downs all the way back in The Fellowship of the Ring.

[HessenUK]

If the prophecy was that he “would” not be killed by a man, and he believed the prophecy, then technically he “knows” he “could” not be killed by a man.

[filipvadas]

In retrospect, even if the Witch King couldn't be killed by a Man, in a world filled with Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits etc. The Witch King was really asking for it for hyping himself up when there are so many workarounds lol

[mowmix]

Thank you for pointing out the magical nature of the dagger Mary used, as the films just sort of skipped that slightly important fact.

[Hemestal]

I remember being so aggravated that Jackson didnt elaborate on HOW Merry got his dagger like in the books.

[SilverFang]

I just want to point out that Eowyn is of the race of men. So technically yes Witch King was killed by a man but only because a hobbit lowered his defenses.

[kakkacarmenelectra]

Bet the other Nazgûl must have felt really awkward when they saw Eowyn kill their boss 👀👀

[RelativelyBest]

I love the idea that this dude spent thousands of years thinking he literally couldn't be killed by a man and everyone he fought simply failed to prove him wrong. Like it was some kind of magic feather bullshit and he could have been killed at any time, but he survived purely on unfounded confidence.

[christophersanchez]

Nazgul are hard to kill as they technically exist as long as Sauron exists, as they’re bound to him

But the Witch-King’s circumstances that lead to his demise were special that lead to his misunderstood prophecy to he fulfilled