Frodo, your sword is broken

Elentir

New Member
A couple of things come to mind here.

Frodo's defiance at the ford slows the Witch King in the ford making him waste the time to break Frodo's sword and silence him. This gives the flood time to reach the ford before the Nazgul finish crossing. If Frodo hadn't defied the Nazgul, they may well have crossed before the flood came.

This is the first time we see a weapon broken or otherwise rendered useless by a force of will.
 
True! And in Frodo's condition, and given the situation, I think we are meant to see this as an incredible feat of strength on his part.(and on the part of the witch king)
 
I think what was really important about that moment was that up until then the Witch Kings power was being used really only on Frodo. Tiny bit on the horse. But he was filling Frodo with despair and making psychic commands Frodo had trouble resisting. Up until this point, everything he did COULD have been explained as his connection to Frodo by the morgul blade's shard buried in Frodo. The powers the King had were only on Frodo. The Witch Breaking the sword was the first time his sorcery effected the real world.

Good thing he only did it on the sword. It would have been messy if he used his magic on the horse.
 
Good thing he only did it on the sword. It would have been messy if he used his magic on the horse.

That's an excellent point. I wonder why he didn't attack Asfaloth. I would guess that either 1) Asfaloth has some intrinsic ability to resist sorcery or 2) the Witch-King has some specific affinity for weapons that is a reflection of his power.

I regard the first as being rather unlikely. As awesome as Asfaloth seems to be, I don't imagine that he could contend with one of the Nine in a battle of wills.

There does seem to be some evidence for the second option. We know that the Witch-King has a peculiar effect on weapons that pierce him: "...all blades perish that pierce that dreadful King." We will, of course, see this in action later on when Merry stabs him at the field of Pelennor. Knowing that the rings give power according to the stature of the wielder, it would not be unexpected for a great warrior to gain a particular affinity for arms.

On the other hand, he seems required to physically contend with Eówen during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, so he can't simply curb-stomp any sword he comes across. Maybe his direct connection to Frodo is also essential in his ability simply to destroy Frodo's weapon.
 
I have a new theory!!!

Okay, this theory is that the Witch King had no intention of destroying the blade although that was a bonus for him and he probably thought it made him look cool.
My theory is that the Witch King only intended on exerting his influence on shutting Frodo up, but his influence was magnified by the other 8 nazgul. The sword exploded in the same way that a thermostat explodes in cartoons when they pick up too much heat.
The sword is woven with spells against the Witch King. But the sword, which is an old sword as well, was caught in the friction between the spells woven on it and the incredibly magnified power of the one it was made to slay.
The sword was not able to withstand the friction and then shattered.

This would explain why the Witch King never uses his "break the enemies weapon" spell again except in the movie trilogy.

This would then be why he didnt do his sword explode technique against Eowyn and it wouldnt have worked against her sword anyway because it was a normal sword.
 
This would then be why he didnt do his sword explode technique against Eowyn and it wouldnt have worked against her sword anyway because it was a normal sword.
Counter-theory: the Witch King destroyed Frodo's sword because he knew it was special, "wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor" (or whatever the exact words were). But had no fear of Eowyn's perfectly mundane sword: that thing could never harm him, or so he thought: it was only Merry's barrow-blade, "piercing the spells that knit his unseen sinews to his will" (paraphrasing again) that opened up the possibility for Eowyn's sword stroke to do him harm.
 
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