Iconic Scenes: Eowyn and the Witch-King

I was reading Sarah Darkmagic’s blog where she was talking about the iconic scene in Return of the King where Eowyn faces off against the Witch King.

Here is the text of the scene from Return of the King:

Out of the wreck rose a Black Rider, tall and threatening, towering above her. With a cry of hatred that stung the very ears like venom he let fall his mace. Her shield was shivered in many pieces, and her arm was broken; she stumbled to her knees. He bent over her like a cloud, and his eyes glittered; he raised his mace to kill.

But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of bitter pain, and his stroke went wide, driving into the ground. Merry’s sword had stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath the hauberk had pierced the sinew behind the mighty knee.

“Eowyn! Eowyn!” cried Merry. Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as great shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. Eowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But lo! the mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world.

This is one of the most iconic scenes in the whole trilogy, and one that has stuck with me since I was a little kid and watched the old Return of the King cartoon movie.

The question now arises (as it always does around here): How can this work in gaming terms?

I seriously doubt that it’s as simple as a Critical Hit. I’m not so concerned with the exact mechanics, but how it could possibly play out in an actual session. There are only two attacks to bring down one of the Big Bad Evil Guys. Would players feel robbed?

The way I would handle it would be to pepper the campaign with references to “No man may slay him”, or Glorfindel’s prophecy of “Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall,” or even the Witch-King himself and his line, “Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!” This sets up nicely for the players to figure out how to kill him. Even if they were to kill him in only one blow, it would still all make sense, and be quite satisfying.

However, then you stumble into another concern: What if the players never pick up on that, and they send in all the men against the (now unbeatable) Witch-King? It’s actually not an issue, as far as I’m concerned. Here’s why:

Your players will never know more than you know. If they decide to move in and face the Witch-King, even if they’ve been told that no man can defeat them, you can either play it like an OSR game and just kill the players for their failure to pick up on your hints, or you can acknowlege that your hints may have been a bit too subtle, and let the players fight him.

Will some of them die? Perhaps. but it’s at this point that you give the players the chance to defeat him, whether or not the female party member is with them.

Another interpretation: Though no man may kill him, that doesn’t mean they can’t harm him. You could just as easily make him unkillable past his final HP. Only a woman would be able to strike the killing blow, allowing the girl in your group a moment of badassery.

Something to think about.