Witch-King

[Lantarion]

Yeah that's basically it Arvedui.
Foresight means seeing the future, seeing what will happen; if you have the 'gift of foresight', you will often see things that have not happen yet but will in the future.

A prophecy is something basically 'set in stone'. You dno't have to believe it because a prophecy is not necessarily correct. But it is a statement which is held to be a 'doom' over somebody or something; it can be good or bad.

But the two are tied.

 

[Arvedui]

foresight noun (approving)
the ability to predict what is likely to happen and to use this to prepare for the future.
prophecy noun
1 a statement that sth will happen in the future, especially one made by sb with religious or magic powers.
2 formal the power of being able to say what will happen in the future.

From the Oxford Advanced Learners's Dictionary

So from this one can deduct that a prophecy is more certain than foresight.
Either way, neither a prophecy nor foresight can be taken to the meaning that only a woman can kill the Witch-king. As I said earlier: Glorfindel "saw" that in the end, the Witch-king would be killed by a woman.

Gandalf White: Thanks for the quote. I agree that it is indeed likely that the Witch-king may have heard of the prophecy.

 

[Gandalf White]

Ahhh, it makes so much more sense now. Thanks for the help.

So if/when the WK did get ahold of Glorfindel's foresight he blew it out of context, apparently.

 

[Lantarion]

You mean Glorfindel's prophecy, fool!! Have you learned nothing?!

The way I see it, the WK either a) heard about the prophecy and assumed it meant that no person, i.e. nobody could kill him ('Man' does not necessarily mean the race, or the gender); or b) he didn't hear about it and it was a legendary coincidence that Glorfindel's prophecy came true.
Also in the context of 'a)', it is arguable whe´ther Glorfindel meant for the WK to hear about his prophecy in order for him to show forth his arrogance and grow unwary and prideful.

 

[Gandalf White]

Originally posted by Lantarion
You mean Glorfindel's prophecy, fool!! Have you learned nothing?!

The way I see it, the WK either a) heard about the prophecy and assumed it meant that no person, i.e. nobody could kill him ('Man' does not necessarily mean the race, or the gender); or b) he didn't hear about it and it was a legendary coincidence that Glorfindel's prophecy came true.
Also in the context of 'a)', it is arguable whe´ther Glorfindel meant for the WK to hear about his prophecy in order for him to show forth his arrogance and grow unwary and prideful.

Wait, now you're saying that Glorfindel's statement was a prophecy, when before you said

In this light it certainly seems that Glorfindel was only forseeing the future demise of the WK, which might have been twisted into 'prophecy' over the years.

Your point 'a' agrees with my statement

he blew it out of context, apparently

But (b)? Arvedui gave the definition of a prophecy, so how could you call option (b) a "legendary coincidence?"

I also doubt Glorfindel uttered it to throw the WK off guard. By saying this, he prevented Eärnur from chasing a WK whose army had just been entirely defeated, and who was basically on the run. Why, when he had the chance to end him now, would he choose to stop Eärnur and build the WK's ego?

 

[Lantarion]

Originally posted by Gandalf White
Wait, now you're saying that Glorfindel's statement was a prophecy

Doh you're right!
It was a joke in the first sentence (indicated by the two grinning smilies ), and then I accidentally started using it in the rest of my post!! Sorry 'bout that..
But in hindsight my option b) could be logical, because a prophecy is not inherently correct, as I see it.
But no, I flipped for a second, sorry.

And yeah it was only a vague hypothesis about the intentions of Glorfindel in uttering the "prophecy" .

 

[Helcaraxë]

Anyway, if the witch king could only be made killable by a blade of westernesse or the elves, why didn't Frodo's knife that he stabbed the WK with on weathertop make him killable?

 

[Eriol]

Originally posted by MorgothsBane
Anyway, if the witch king could only be made killable by a blade of westernesse or the elves, why didn't Frodo's knife that he stabbed the WK with on weathertop make him killable?

Frodo's knife only cut throught the Witch-King's robe, or it would have been broken. Check "A Knife in the Dark" for more details .