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Virtuella's Idiosyncratic Literary Criticisms by Virtuella	8 Review(s)
Damien	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/6/2016
I don't think the Witch-King thought he was generally invulnerable. When Glorfindel rides up, the Witch-king ran away. Skedaddled. "Turned in flight." Then Glorfindel made his prophecy, to hold Earnur back. And prophecy is a thing in Middle-Earth, done by Ainur, Quendi, and occasionally even humans. I think Glorfindel was basically saying "I can kind of see when and how he'll fall, and it won't be by you, so don't try." Sauron had gathered the Rings of Power back to himself; the Witch-king's Ring was off in Barar-dur. I'm not sure where this is spelled out, but it's the common wisdom. At any rate it would have lost its power when the One was destroyed, just as the Three did.

Rian Steelsheen	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/30/2010
I don’t read Glorfindel’s words the same way. It’s a prophecy, so Glorfindel is making a prediction. He cannot possibly change the WK’s physical constitution, or even perceive a weakness in it. My interpretation is that he had a flash of foresight and was suddenly gifted with the knowledge that no mortal man will be the one to destroy the WK. It’s not that a man cannot kill him, Earnur and Gandalf for example could, it’s just that it’s not what is going to happen. It sounds more logical to me this way. As to how Éowyn’s sword was able to pierce him, well I have always assumed that he had a body of some sort, or how would he be able too wear a cloak, boots, and a crown (Sauron kept the nine rings with him)? I thought the problem was that his body couldn’t hold itself together without the cloak to keep it still. The material forming his body isn’t able to keep a definitive human form without his clothes. Isn’t that what happened to him at the Bruinen? So, he can be pierced by anything, including a simple Rohirric sword, but Merry’s one is more effective as it is ensorcelled to be most painful for him. At the Pelennor he was so badly disembodied that it would have taken him a very long time to re-embody himself, but when the Ring was destroyed, he really died anyway. Well that is how I understood thing at first, but I have not really thought about it until now, so I may be wrong :) I liked your structural analysis! Author Reply: Thank you for your thoughts! There's probably a lot of room for specualtion on this issue, but yes, the structural question of what function thsi fulfils in the text was the bit I was mostly interested in.

Mîdhaer	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/9/2009
I need to make an important point here. While Eowyn's sword was not magic, Merry's knife was. I think Merry's sword created a vulnerability, which Eowyn took to her advantage. Author Reply: True. If you scroll down the reviews page and look at Dreamflower's comment, you'll see that she's explained this point in much detail.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/12/2009
BTW--looking at your response to Dreamflower's comments--you asked about Frodo stabbing the Witch-king. He ATTEMPTED to stab the Witch-king, but the only damage he did was to slash the Nazgul's cloak. Aragorn comments that he knows this is true as all blades perish that cut into the Nazgul's undead flesh, and Frodo's blade was still whole until he fell from Asfaloth on the Imladris side of the Bruinen, when it broke under him. Again, I love the thoughts you are inspiring! But I gotta get to bed--I barely slept last night, and have my LONG day tomorrow--I gotta get some sleep if I'm to be any good with my clients at all! Author Reply: I looked it up when I got home and realized how I had got muddled up there!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/12/2009
That the "topos" or female archetypes are represented by these women within LOTR is an excellent observation. Certainly the fact that the Witch-king's vulnerability is hidden behind his own hype is well supported by what we see as happening within the story. There was a tale that made the MEFAs I think the second year, one in which the Witch-king is starting to boast how he cannot be felled by the hand of a Man, and suddenly Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf, Ioreth, and I think even Shadowfax all point out that, technically speaking they are none of them Men and therefore as capable of seeing to his ending as Merry and Eowyn. I think you'd enjoy it! Thanks for the thought-provoking message. Have been dealing with more crises at work, so am only now having time to catch up on writing designed to make me think! I think I'll read one more before I turn off the light and go to sleep so hopefully I'll be up in time to get to work by seven thirty! Author Reply: Yeah, I'm always one to look for topoi... It's a nice game. ;-) I read that story you mention the other day. It just goes to show that the witch king must have been rather intellectually challenged. Thanks for taking the time to read and review this in spite of your stressful time at work. Hope things will ease up soon!

eiluj	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/4/2009
"Note that all these are “good” models of female roles. There are no evil witches in LOTR." That's a very interesting point, considering how frequently Tolkien is slammed as anti-woman (I'm not saying he should be, merely that he is). But for an evil witch, how about Shelob? She's on-scene more than Ioreth or Rosie, and plays a major role in the plot. Author Reply: I knew when I wrote this that someone would bring up Shelob... But I think she doesn't count, for the simple reason that she is a spider. ;-) However, it just occurred to me that I did overlook someone: Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. That's an interesting one. She's definitely a nuisance, but on the other hand, being bossy and mind-spirited is not exactly a classic concept of female wickedness. And she is kind of redeemed in the end, when she stands up to the ruffians. Hmm, need to think about that some more. Thanks for reviewing!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/4/2009
Oh, but there IS a story-internal explanation for how the W-k was slain. And it involves BOTH of those who did the slaying. First let's look at Glorfindel's role: his prophesy neither "changed the physical make-up of the witch king, thus making him vulnerable" nor did he "perceive a vulnerability that the witch king had always had". It's my belief that there is a third possibility: he simply had a moment of foresight, in which he had a vision of the W-K being slain by a woman and a hobbit. I am sure that at the time he did not know who the slayers were, nor how they accomplished it-- he simply saw that was how the W-K would meet his fate. However, the subsequent repetition of his words did have an effect-- by giving the W-K a false sense of security, in misunderstanding the nature of the prophesy. This led to his being overconfident. (And as you say, logically prey to a lot of fates. Have you ever read "No Living Man" by Elana? It's on this very archive, and addresses the situation humorously. It's one of the very first fics I ever read.) Perhaps Glorfindel's memory of exactly what he saw was fleeting, or perhaps he simply decided to keep to himself the exact nature of his vision. The fact that Elrond, Gandalf et al. seemed to buy into that interpretation does cause the whole thing to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now, as to the logic of how he was slain. Merry's Barrow-blade was the key. No, Eowyn's sword was not magic. It did not need to be magic-- Merry's was! It was his blow that undid the spells keeping the W-K in the wraith world. By breaking those spells he rendered the W-K suddenly vulnerable to the very ordinary sword being carried by Eowyn. In other words, the W-K was thrust from being a wraith to being once more a Man-- a several thousand year old Man who was now subject to the normal things that happen to a Man who has a sword thrust into his neck. Because of his age, he quickly disintegrated, leaving his helm, cloak, etc. behind. He did not leave his Ring, because he did not have it on. Sauron possessed the Nine, and held them in his keeping-- part of his hold over the Nazgul. Because of this it has to be said that no Man slew the W-K, as Glorfindel saw. It was accomplished in unison, by a Woman who was not a man (gender) , though she was a Man (race), and a Hobbit who was not a Man (race) though he was a man (gender). The rest of your conclusions, as to the story-external reasons that Tolkien used such a device, however, are absolutely spot-on! Thanks for posting these! They were a lot of fun to read and to think about! Author Reply: Aha! I am not 100% convinced by your story-internal explanation, but about 89%, and that's good enough for now. I confess, though, that I'm more interested in the structural ones, as you know I usually am. ;-) If Glorfindel "foresaw" what would happen, why would he keep it to himself? Most likely, I think, because he was confused by what he saw? Thanks for your detailled comments! Author Reply: Forgot to say: If we want to apply your explanatioan, we'd need to give less credit to Eowyn and more to Merry. BTW, didn't Frodo stab the witch king with a Barrow Downs blade on Weathertop? I'm at school right now and don't have my book to look it up, but I'm pretty sure he did, becasue wasn't that when Aragorn said his piece about "All blades perish that pierce that pale king" or suchlike? Another thought: Glorfindel's words could also simply be taken as, "This is a foe too big for a Man. It needs a greater being to defeat him." There is, indeed, an indication that Gandalf thinks of himself as the "chosen" opponent to the witch king. It makes for a delicious irony then that the witch king is slain by those who in the perception of many people would be considered "lesser" in comparison to Man.

Elflingimp	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/4/2009
Good Article, but Tolkiens world is make believe and fantasy in which he could write anything he wished,he did not give all the reasons for everything he wrote to, do that it would take away the magical feel of the story. I honestly think you are taking some things a little to literally Hugs The Imp Author Reply: "in which he could write anything he wished" I would disagree with that. Yes, a fantasy world doesn't have to follow the physical rules of our world, but it needs to follow its own internal logic. It does not take away the magic if a story is coherent in itself, in fact I find it distracting if it isn't. However, what I've tried to point out here is that the structural logic is sound, which, in my opinion, outweighs the weakness of the story-internal logic. Also, I would argue that a critical assessment of a work of fiction is a sign of respect. I don't think it is a compliment to a story if we don't deem it worthy of a rational appraisal. Thanks for reviewing!

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