Okay yeah that is a much better line, and reading it I am reminded how much of a Beowulf nerd Tolkien was. If you believe Old English literature and the Icelandic Sagas people used to spend a lot of time yelling about their genealogy and bragging at each other before they got down to the murdering.
The entire confrontation between Éowyn and the Witch King has so much more time to breathe in the books. It all flows directly from the charge, to Théoden falling, to the death of the Witch King before there's finally a break in the action while Merry hears Théoden's last words.
Okay yeah that is a much better line, and reading it I am reminded how much of a Beowulf nerd Tolkien was. If you believe Old English literature and the Icelandic Sagas people used to spend a lot of time yelling about their genealogy and bragging at each other before they got down to the murdering.
The entire confrontation between Éowyn and the Witch King has so much more time to breathe in the books. It all flows directly from the charge, to Théoden falling, to the death of the Witch King before there's finally a break in the action while Merry hears Théoden's last words.