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| {{sources}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Sauron]] |
| [[Image:Necromancer.jpg|thumb|The Necromancer as depicted in the [[Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game]]]]The '''Necromancer''' was an evil entity that took up residence at the fortress of [[Dol Guldur]] in [[Mirkwood|Greenwood the Great]] in the late [[Third Age]]. Although the [[White Council]] suspected as much from the beginning, it was only later confirmed that the Necromancer was [[Sauron]].
| | [[Category:Titles]] |
| ==History==
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| ===Sauron's Return===
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| After his defeat in the year [[Second Age 3441|S.A. 3441]] by the combined forces of The Last Alliance between the Elves of [[Lindon]] under [[Gil-galad]] and the Kingdoms of [[Gondor]] and [[Arnor]] led by [[Elendil]] and his son [[Isildur]], Sauron had lost his ability to form a physical body for a great while. It is thought that he fled to the far east to regain his power and strength before returning. It was not until c. [[Third Age 1000|T.A. 1000]] that Sauron could again begin to take shape and in [[Third Age 1050|1050]] his power was enough that he began again to throw a shadow across portions of [[Middle-earth]]. It is around this time that he first began to inhabit southern [[Mirkwood|Greenwood the Great]], choosing the hill of [[Amon Lanc]] as a place to build the fortress of [[Dol Guldur]]. At first, it was thought by the wise that it was one of the [[Nazgûl]] who had returned and taken up residence in southern Greenwood, but when [[Gandalf]] entered the fortress in [[Third Age 2063|2063]] the power in Dol Guldur fled before him into the East thus beginning the [[Watchful Peace]].
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| ===The Watchful Peace===
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| The Watchful Peace was a period from 2063 until Sauron's return to [[Dol Guldur]] in [[Third Age 2460|2460]]. During this time Dol Guldur was ruled by [[Khamûl]] the Easterling in the Absence of the Necromancer. It was during this period that the [[Witch-king]] of [[Angmar]] had overthrown the Northern Kingdom of [[Arnor]] and its three successor kingdoms: [[Arthedain]], [[Rhudaur]], and [[Cardolan]]. The Shadow on [[Mirkwood]] had lessened, but the [[Nazgûl]] had used this period to prepare for Sauron's return.
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| [[Sauron]] returned from the east in [[Third Age 2460|2460]] and again took up residence in [[Dol Guldur]]. Eventually, after many hundreds of years of pressing the [[White Council]] to take action against the [[Necromancer]], [[Gandalf]] enters [[Dol Guldur]] in secret in [[Third Age 2850|2850]] and learned that the Necromancer was actually none other than [[Sauron]]. In [[Third Age 2851|2851]], the White Council were informed of this, and [[Gandalf]] urged an immediate attack upon the fortress, but [[Saruman the White]] opposed him, having already learned of the presence of the [[The One Ring|Ruling Ring]] near the [[Gladden Fields]].
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| It is not until 90 years later, in [[Third Age 2941|2941]] that Gandalf finally prevailed upon the [[White Council]] to attack Dol Guldur and drive [[Sauron]] out. At this point, [[Sauron]] returned to [[Mordor]] and finalized the reconstruction of [[Barad-dûr]], which had been prepared for him by the [[Nazgûl]] for many years prior to this.
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| ===The Assault upon Dol Guldur===
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| Not much is known of the assault upon Dol Guldur; if this was simply a duel between great powers, or if it involved the use of armies of any kind.
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| As speculation, it seems more likely that there was no direct confrontation between [[Sauron]] and the [[Istari]], as their mandate was to avoid these types of direct confrontations with The Enemy, and they were not to openly use their power as Maia. So, it is more likely that the Assault upon Dol Guldur was by force of arms involving the armies of the Southern Kingdoms: Primarily Gondor, but likely Rohan would have played a role as well due to its proximity to Dol Guldur.
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| ==Forces of the Necromancer==
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| In addition to the greater spirits and undead either created or controlled by the Necromancer, he may have had at his disposal a greater force of undead. This is only hinted at, but the area had ample sources of the bodies of the dead and likely their spirits as well. The largest group of the bodies and spirits of the dead available to [[Sauron]] as the Necromancer were the many dead bodies and [[Ghost Candles]] of the [[Dead Marshes]] north of the [[Dagorlad]] Battle Plain (and some miles to the south of Dol Guldur) who were already in a form of undead over which necromancers tend to wield power. This would have been a relatively nearby supply of readily armed troops for any army that the Necromancer may have had.
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| Also close at hand would be the many dead bodies of the last battle between the [[Goblins]] and [[Dwarves]] at the [[Battle of Azanulbizar]] (Nanduhurion) that took place below the East Gates of [[Moria]] in 2799. This would be little more than 100 years before the assault upon Dol Guldur by the [[White Council]].
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| The Many battles of the Third Age in the [[Wilderland]] between the [[Northmen]] or [[Éothéod]] and the various invading [[Easterlings]], [[Balchoth]], and [[Wainriders]] could also have placed great numbers of dead near to Dol Guldur and within the purview of the Necromancer.
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| Going even further back in time, the [[Battle of the Gladden Fields]] was right upon the doorstep of Dol Guldur, and a great many [[Númenóreans]] fell in that battle. Either their spirits or bodies may also have been a source of "manpower" for the Necromancer.
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| The [[Orcs]] of the Misty Mountains may also have provided the Necromancer with a ready supply of troops, as the [[Orcs]] and [[Goblins]] of Middle Earth seemed to always be at the beck and call of [[Sauron]].
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| There is also the question of whether any of the Easterlings that had sheltered Sauron during the Watchful peace may have had any hand in the defense of Dol Goldur. Twice he fled to the East while his power was not yet strong enough to confront the Istari or the Elves of Lorien, Lindon or Rivendell. So, this is also an unanswered question as to the composition of the forces gathered at Dol Goldur.
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| ==Conception==
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| In ''[[The Hobbit]]'' the Necromancer is an obscure villainous entity mentioned fleetingly by [[Gandalf]] as one of the dangers of the wider world. He is peripheral to the plot of the book: explaining why the company takes the dangerous road though Mirkwood rather than going around, and providing a reason for Gandalf's absence for that section of the journey. Thematically the Necromancer, a truly 'terrible' force beyond the power of the main protagonists, gives the world of ''The Hobbit'' a greater level of reality which Tolkien felt was necessary for a 'fairy-tale' to ring true.<ref name="Letter17">{{L|17}}</ref>
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| Despite the alias it would appear that the Necromancer was always intended to stand for [[Sauron]], a figure from the very earliest phases of his [[Legendarium]] (as [[Tevildo]] in ''[[The Tale of Tinúviel]]''). Shortly after the publication of ''The Hobbit'' Tolkien wrote:
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| {{blockquote|Mr Baggins began as a comic tale among conventional and inconsistent Grimm's fairy-tale dwarves, and got drawn into the edge of it – so that even Sauron the terrible peeped over the edge.|[[J.R.R. Tolkien]]<ref name="Letter19">{{L|19}}</ref>}}
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| However as ''The Hobbit'' was not originally intended to be integrated with Tolkien's wider mythology the Necromancer did not necessarily need to be consistent with his [[First Age]] counterpart Sauron, rather the two were loosely linked to add an 'impression of depth' to the narrative of ''The Hobbit''. With Tolkien's decision to merge the two 'worlds' and make Sauron the central antagonist ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' came the need to reconcile the two figures and account for his whereabouts in the millennia between the end of the First Age and his dwelling in Bilbo's Mirkwood. This was largely achieved in the ''[[Appendix B|Tale of Years]]'', with Sauron becoming a much greater figure after the fall of his master, one who argueably drove the history of the entire Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth.
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| ==Etymology==
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| Generally, a necromancer is a sorcerer who has a power over dead, whether that be over their bodies (eg. zombies, skeletons, undead) or over their spirits that have been trapped so that they may not go to their final destinations (eg. The [[Halls of Mandos]] for the Elves). Apart from that, it is not clear whether the [[White Council]] named that entity "The Necromancer" or whether [[Sauron]] himself chose the name and what his powers in this regard were.
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| It could be argued that [[Sauron]] used both the power of control of the bodies of the dead and over the spirits of the dead in his role as the Necromancer. He no doubt taught the [[Witch-king]] of [[Angmar]] how to either create or control the [[Barrow-wights]], which were a form of [[ëalar]] (spirit) in Middle-earth. It is likely that [[Sauron]] may have made use of similar spirits as well at Dol Guldur.
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| {{references}}
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| * ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', [[Appendix B]]
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| [[Category:Maiar]] | |
