[Gordis]

Originally Posted by CSteefel

Can't disagree with anything in the two posts above, with the possible exception of Earnur's retreat from the Witch King. I read Earnur's flight as actually due to his horse, in fact it is said:

As we see few years later when he goes to take the challenge of the WK, Earnur was brave to the point of being foolhardy, so one would not have expected him to flee willingly.

That is what I meant: Earnur was a worthy opponent for the WK, certainly not an easy kill - but the WK didn't hesitate to challenge him to a duel in the battle of 1975. The Nazgul Lord did have courage.

Originally Posted by IIbrîniðilpathânezel

But I still have a feeling that the Witch King would happily throw his fellow Nazgul under the bus, if it came to a "me or them" situation.

Ha- nazgul psychology question! We really know next to nothing about the nazgul interrelationships...

What we see in the "Hunt for the Ring" (RC), is that whenever a lesser nazgul has problems, is upset, or uncertain what to do, his first impulse is to go report to the WK/ to cry on his shoulder, abandoning his assigned tasks. This attitude of the subordinates irritates the Captain.

When the Captain himself is upset (like after Weathertop), he doesn't go to the others seeking sympathy, but hides to suffer alone, and reappears only after he feels OK again. The others, meanwhile, do nothing on their own:

It is a strange thing that the camp was not watched while darkness lasted of the night Oct. 6-7, and the crossing of the Road into the southward lands seems not to have been observed, so that [the Witch-king] again lost track of the Ring. For this there were probably several reasons, the least to be expected being the most important, namely that [the Witch-king], the great captain, was actually dismayed. [...]
Escaping a wound that would have been as deadly to him as the Mordor-knife to Frodo (as was proved at the end), he withdrew and hid for a while, out of doubt and fear both of Aragorn and especially of Frodo. But fear of Sauron, and the forces of Sauron's will was the stronger.
Oct. 7. He arose and cried out to his companions, and drew [the other four] back to him. RC p.180

Actually, I guess, it is a normal attitude of a commander of a small close-knit group, don't you think?