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« on: May 18, 2007, 08:23:46 PM »
I have 2 questions I was wondering about for a long time:
1) What happened to the Entwives? Were they all killed? In some sources Tolkien says they probably were, but then I found this quote:
As for the Entwives: I do not know. ... But I think in TT, 80-81 it is plain that there would be for the Ents no re-union in 'history' -- but Ents and their wives being rational creatures would find some 'earthly paradise' until the end of this world: beyond which the wisdom neither of Elves nor Ents could see. Though maybe they shared the hope of Aragorn that they were 'not bound for ever to the circles of the world and beyond them is more than memory.' .... Letters, 419 (#338)
This is rather confusing. If the Ents cannot have any reunion in “history”, so why is paradise that they are supposed to find called “earthly”? Do you have any ideas?
2) Who killed the leader of the Nazgul - Merry or Eowyn? Eowyn struck him on his head while Merry just wounded him in his knee, but Eowyn's sword was just a normal weapon, so it shouldn't do any harm to a magical creature, while Merry's sword was able to do so.
There can be also some misunderstanding about the prophecy: it stated that “no living man could harm the Nazgul”. But does the term “man” indicate a gender, so it means that the Nazgul wouldn’t be killed by a man, but by a woman or did it indicate a race, so that means he wouldn't be killed by a man, but by a hobbit?