Not by the hands of men

[Arvedui]

Yes, right. Sorry about that. How utterly stupid of me. Of course he did not see Eowyn and Merry. He saw something that was not Man. I don't have the books with me at the moment, but if I recall correctly, in the situation at hand he is described as having a long and thoughtful look at the Witch-king, or rather in the direction he disappeared, before he gave his statement.

 

[Cian]

A man 'not born of woman' (for example) can simply refer to one born through caesarean section -- one is still 'born' of woman in a sense, just not in the usual way.

I note that both Éowyn and Merry are included as 'fulfillers' in the footnote to Éomer Eâdig in ROTK Appendix A. The wording therein is that Merry was _also_ 'not a Man', that is, Merry is not a Man in one sense (but a 'Halfling'), and Éowyn is not a man in another.

Tolkien also wrote that Hobbits were a diminutive branch of humans, but that is not a problem here IMO. And what Glorfindel may have 'meant' is probably not so much the issue compared to how his words would ultimately 'ring true' once the event had played itself out.

Consider the words of the famed Apparition:

'Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
shall come against him.'

Macb:

'That will never be;
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements!
good!

Seemingly good news! And did a forest actually march to Dunsinane hill? Not really, not an actual forest; though in one sense it did, as ...

'Let every soldier hew him down a bough and bear't before him; thereby we shall shadow the numbers of our host ...'

¤

 

[BlackCaptain]

I don't know if this has been said in this thread yet, but it is the gender, not race of men that is not allowed to slay the witch king. If you look at the capitalization in the curse, the 'M' is not capitilized in the word 'man'. Every time however, when Tolkien uses the word 'Man' for the race of Men, he capitilizes that 'M'.

 

[Anamatar IV]

A sword rang as it was drawn. 'Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.' 'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!' Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman.

If that helps...at all.

 

[Cian]

Originally posted by BlackCaptain
I don't know if this has been said in this thread yet, but it is the gender, not race of men that is not allowed to slay the witch king. If you look at the capitalization in the curse, the 'M' is not capitilized in the word 'man'. Every time however, when Tolkien uses the word 'Man' for the race of Men, he capitilizes that 'M'.

'... and thus the words of Glorfindel long before to king Eärnur were fulfilled, that the Witch-king would not fall by the hand of man. For it is said in the songs of the Mark that in this deed Éowyn had the aid of Théoden's esquire, and that he also was not a Man but a Halfling out of a far country, ...' ~ Appendix A, from the one volume The Lord Of The Rings Harper Collins

Both 'man' and 'Man' are as published, and in other editions I own incidentally.

¤

 

[BlackCaptain]

So then it's both. And that's why the Witch King ran away from Glorfindel... it all makes sense now