Quote:
Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
Again, if you take just the plain facta, it is not necessary that they had the personal experience - they could have just known how the blade works, theoretically (as when you buy some apparatus and you never used it, but you know what it's supposed to do). Gandalf also knew what the blade is supposed to do and we can say that he definitely did not use the blade before. (This of course implies that he probably knew that such a thing exists and how it works, either through studying some "knowledge of the Enemy" - so more probably he heard of that from Saruman - or through hearing about, or experiencing some case when another person was hurt. But then, it won't be Eärnur, as no one knew of his fate.) In any case, it is only a theory that the Nazgul have used the blade before, and it is only a theory that if they did, one of the uses could have been Eärnur. The tale is not saying "no", but it is not even saying "yes".
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Well, I don't know about that. It seems to me clearly stated in the text by Gandalf that the Nazgul withdrew expected the wound from the Morgul Blade to overcome Frodo. Otherwise, they would have attacked again. This doesn't seem to be something that would be a "theoretical result"--much likelier to have come from some prior experience.
I suppose that a large company of Orcs could have trapped Earnur and his Knights, but certainly the Witch King did not seem to be afraid to confront him 9 years or so before in Eriador...