Who Really Killed the Witch King in ROTK??

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Hm. Tolkien does say that the flying beast “settled upon the body of Snowmane, digging in its claws, stooping its long, naked neck.” But I think that lifting them up and about was a cinematic invention akin to the “speaking” or roaring Balrog,

Yes, the beast was a carrion-feeder - it was ready to gobble down a portion of Snowmane and maybe also Theoden (though with his mail and helm he could have been hard to swallow).

But do carrion-birds carry the carcasses of the dead beasts away? I don't think they do. Actually, all bird bones are tubular: hollow inside and very light. It was also true for flying dinosaurs, IIRC. Thus, being light themselves, the birds can hardly carry a great weight, exceeding their own.

Now the Fell Beast already carries the Nazgul King (who weights, I believe, exactly the same as a living man of the same great stature), his armor, clothes, weapons (including the heavy mace) and likely a saddle. The poor beast is heavily burdened as it is, and I don't believe it can lift much in addition: certainly not a horse. Remember the Eagles complaining about Gandalf's weight? One carried him from Isengard to Edoras, but no further - and Gandalf was not armored and smaller then the WK.

This said, I don't believe in Fell Beasts (with riders) lifting up horses.

Zilbanne, welcome here! You are a lucky one - you discuss this old WK-Eowyn-the prophecy question for the very first time. Have fun!

You are quite right mentioning Pippin denying being a Man. He is "no Man" in the same way as Macduff is not "of woman born" - not quite, but enough to fit with the prophecy. Same way Eowyn is of Men, but "no man." There is a trick in the prophecy, it proved to be not as straightforward as it looked. It would have been much less interesting if Glorfindel meant an Elf or a Dwarf, would it?

Originally Posted by Zilbanne

Anyway I'm but a fledgling here at Entmoot but I believe Merry was able to help Eowyn kill the Witch king only because he was not a man and had the special weapon chosen for him by T. Bobadil, in edition to his Hobbit status

I agree. + Merry was extremely favored by the circumstances: WK's attention being elsewhere, his vision impaired, nobody watching his back. Had Merry tried to face the nazgul head on, he would have been squashed like a midge, Barrow-blade or not.

Originally Posted by Zilbanne

Though I can't prove it, I think say if Eomer used Merry's blade against the witch king, it may have wounded him but wouldn't have had the same deadly effect that Merry's will and arm had in using it.

Here I have to disagree. I think IF Eomer had the chance to hit the WK with Merry's blade, the effect would have been exactly the same: the nazgul would have fallen down.
But the problem is that Eomer wouldn't get the opportunity for this hit - the circumstances wouldn't favor him, because it would make Glorfindel's prophecy untrue.

I am not sure I managed to explain my position well enough, though…. Did you get my meaning?