Death of the Witch-King

Originally posted by Gothmog
...So it would make sense for them to go to one place within the world for them to start their journey. The most suitable place for spirits to go to before leaving would be that place that is set up to recieve spirits. Therefore I believe that the spirits of Men do go to some place within the halls of Mandos to find the path to that place set for them by Iluvatar.

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Actually it says only Manwe, Mandos and Eru know what path the spirits of Man follow. I think that a home (even a temporary one) in the Halls of Mandos would create "spectral confusion" and that Man has his own Path outside of the domain of Mandos. But...hey... that's just me.

Originally posted by Confusticated
... Because of that I rather say that Merry killed the Nazgul than Eowyn. I will even say that they killed him together... but I will not say that Eowyn killed him.

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Tolkien wrote that by Éowyn's hand the Witch-king of Angmar was destroyed (in a longer version of The Tale of Years that he desired for publication).

In ROTK Appendices it tells that Merry "aided" in the deed of bringing the WK to nothing ~ aided Éowyn, the principle 'deed-doer' to my mind.

If Grond is correct and the soul of the Wraith is preserved and follows the path it was meant to take, this quote would back up the point that men's souls do not go to the Halls of Mandos. Also, this would pertain to the original question of where the witch king went.

"...and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up and was never heard again in that age of this world.

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It would seem that the soul of the wraith was swallowed up into some void. His fate seems rather queer, however, he was the captain of the ringwraiths. One might think that his soul perished if it wasn't for the last few words. It definetly sounds like he did not go to the Halls of Mandos, and it is possible he suffered a fate similar to Sauron.

for the fate of Sauron was this

"...for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell."

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Sound similar?

Now Grond the only thing that makes me feel that the ringwraiths were no longer men, and that their perverted souls suffered a different fate is this quote

"...the Nazgul came, shooting like flaming bolts as caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled, withered, and went out.

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Make of it what you will.

I kind of always assumed that by binding themselves to the rings they unmade themselves with them...

There has been a lengthy thread with quite a few good posts on the topic of "Who killed the Witch-king?" a while ago.

IMO killing the Lord of the Nazgûl was a joint effort. Éowyn's deadly blow wouldn't have been possible without Merry's act of heroism. If not for Merry she would have ended differently:

'...Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.'

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Originally posted by Cian
Tolkien wrote that by Éowyn's hand the Witch-king of Angmar was destroyed (in a longer version of The Tale of Years that he desired for publication).

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Well I was wrong all along.