He is a villain of many powers and forms.
He is a shapeshifter, a master of both illusions and deception, and the craftsman of one of
the greatest artifacts in history.
Among his many names and titles is one with dark implications and possible power over
the dead.
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover Sauron the Necromancer.
Throughout the First and Second ages of Arda, Sauron shows many incredible abilities.
We are told he is lord of werewolves - having created the monstrous creatures himself.
He is a shapeshifter - taking the form of a werewolf, a serpent, and a vampire.
He is a master of shadows and phantoms - using illusions to deceive.
He uses his fair form, and his cunning, to manipulate great leaders of both men and elves,
bringing about ruin and constructing his greatest weapon.
However, there is another title Sauron is given in Tolkien’s text: the Necromancer.
But why does Sauron during his time in Mirkwood get the title of Necromancer?
What powers over the dead does the dark lord exhibit - or is Tolkien using a different
meaning of the term?
Does Sauron actually have any power over the dead?
For those answers, we will look within the text, the real world outside the text, and
venture into the realm of theory.
After Sauron’s defeat at the end of the Second Age, he abandons his physical form
and goes into hiding for over a thousand years.
Around 1050 TA, Sauron has not only begun to retake his physical form, but has also
returned to the western lands of Middle-earth, settling at the long abandoned Amon Lanc in
southern Greenwood and building the fortress of Dol Guldur.
Around 50 years later (1100 TA), the Wise - that is, the greatest elves and wizards
of Middle-earth, learn of this shadow, known only as “the Necromancer”.
For many long years, it is assumed that this Necromancer was one of the Nazgul, which while
concerning, is much less so than its master returning.
While we know a great deal about Sauron’s actions and power during this time from things
like the Lord of the Rings appendices, it’s interesting to note that the title of Necromancer
is used almost exclusively in The Hobbit - for reasons we will outline in a few moments.
We first hear of the Necromancer when Gandalf and the dwarves are meeting in Bilbo’s home
after the wizard reveals the map and key he acquired from Thrain…
“Your grandfather,” said the wizard slowly and grimly, “gave the map to his son for
safety before he went to the mines of Moria.
Your father went away to try his luck with the map after your grandfather was killed;
and lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had, but he never got near the Mountain.
How he got there I don’t know, but I found him a prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.”
“Whatever were you doing there?” asked Thorin with a shudder, and all the dwarves
shivered.
“Never you mind.
I was finding things out, as usual; and a nasty dangerous business it was.
Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped.
I tried to save your father, but it was too late.
He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything except the map and the key.”
“We have long ago paid the goblins of Moria,” said Thorin; “we must give a thought to
the Necromancer.”
“Don’t be absurd!
He is an enemy far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together, if they could all
be collected again from the four corners of the world.
The one thing your father wished was for his son to read the map and use the key.
The dragon and the Mountain are more than big enough tasks for you!”
By this time, Gandalf knows the Necromancer to be Sauron.
He confirmed this some 91 years earlier when he met a dying Thrain in Dol Guldur.
But as we look at the publication of The Hobbit, it’s noteworthy that the Necromancer didn’t
necessarily have to be Sauron.
Indeed, Tolkien did not originally intend for The Hobbit to be part of his greater mythology
which at the time was primarily the tales we know today as The Silmarillion.
Tolkien added this greater evil force - “far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together”
- to give the world of The Hobbit a greater level of reality for this fairy-tale.
However, in his Dec 16, 1937 letter to Stanley Unwin, he confesses that the tale of The Hobbit
was drawn into his grander mythology.
After acknowledging that a Hobbit sequel is the prudent move, he states: 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.
With the later publication of The Lord of the Rings, Sauron as the Necromancer is solidified
within the greater tale - primarily in Appendix B - The Tale of Years.
It is here that we learn more of Sauron’s actions within Mirkwood.
After first arriving in Greenwood around 1000 TA, the Necromancer’s presence would slowly
turn it into a dark and dangerous place - earning it the name Mirkwood.
The dark and evil effects of Sauron’s presence are not new by this point in the story.
Indeed, there is a forest in the First Age that suffers similar effects when Sauron takes
control of a nearby fortress in his service to Morgoth.
That forest is named “Taur-nu-Fuin”, meaning “Forest under Nightshade”.
And later, after Sauron’s defeat at the jaws of Huan, Sauron would flee to Taur-nu-Fuin
in vampire form - filling it with horror.
Interestingly, the name Mirkwood is a mannish name derived from what Greenwood is now called
in Sindarin…Taur-nu-Fuin.
While there would be a period of 400 years when Sauron would flee Mirkwood rather than
be discovered by Gandalf, he would directly plague the forest and surrounding areas as
the Necromancer for a total of over 1500 years.
During his time in the forest, many evil creatures are drawn to him and the surrounding lands.
The children of the great spider Shelob would infest Mirkwood.
And it is during his time as the Necromancer that orcs come to inhabit the realm of Moria
and the Witch-king’s kingdom of Angmar rises, causing the eventual downfall of Arnor.
Not only are his effects seen through his servants, but we also see examples of Sauron’s
own power stretching far beyond his location.
In 1635, Sauron causes the Great Plague - a terrible epidemic that kills hundreds of thousands
of people and effects the lands of Middle-earth for hundreds of years.
While certainly impressive in power, none of these things display what we typically
think of when it comes to necromancy.
While necromancy is most commonly associated with summoning the dead, a less common meaning
is simply general dark or black magic.
Indeed, many over the years have come to the conclusion that Tolkien’s use of Necromancer
is in a more general dark magic sense.
One of Gandalf’s lines points to this as he warns Bilbo of the peril of alternate paths
for their quest:
“There is, if you care to go two hundred miles or so out of your way north, and twice
that south.
But you wouldn’t get a safe path even then.
There are no safe paths in this part of the world.
Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever
you go.
Before you could get round Mirkwood in the North you would be right among the slopes
of the Grey Mountains, and they are simply stiff with goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs of
the worst description.
Before you could get round it in the South, you would get into the land of the Necromancer;
and even you, Bilbo, won’t need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer.
I don’t advise you to go anywhere near the places overlooked by his dark tower!”
So there we have it - Sauron as Necromancer is simply a matter of his dark magic being
evident, right?
Well, not necessarily.
While we aren’t told of any such dealings during his time in Mirkwood - there are other
instances that point to Sauron’s power over the dead.
There are certainly instances in Middle-earth where death is delayed - most famously we
see the Nazgul who live for thousands of years - far beyond the lifespan of men.
We also see the Oathbreakers - who were cursed not by Sauron, but by a mortal man - Isildur.
Though, the true power behind that curse was the Oath they swore - the power of Oaths a
great topic for a future video.
The Oathbreakers and the Nazgul are both described as Wraiths - undead beings clinging to life
long after their time had passed.
In the First Age, we also find that Sauron created werewolves by trapping evil spirits
within the bodies of wolves.
And like his master, we see the Witch-king employ a similar skill in the creation of
the Barrow-wights.
These undead-like creatures are made when the witch king sends evil spirits to the burial
mounds of men from the Angmar Wars.
These spirits inhabit the bones of fallen men creating these bone-chilling creatures.
The true nature of the spirits themselves is unknown - though theories include that
they were lesser maiar, or the souls of orcs, fallen elves, or evil men.
While we could extrapolate Sauron’s potential skill based on his servants creation of the
barrow-wights, there’s a more overt mention from Tolkien’s text that seems to solidify
the dark lord's abilities with the dead.
In The History of Middle-earth Volume 10: Morgoth’s Ring, it talks about the separation
of Fea and Hroa - that is soul and body.
It mentions how when a being is “Unbodied” - for example when an elf is killed in battle,
the spirit is summoned to the Halls of Mandos, where it can in time be re-embodied.
However, there were indeed some who refused this summons of Mandos…
But it would seem that in these after-days more and more of the Elves, be they of the
Eldalië in origin or be they of other kinds, who linger in Middle-earth now refuse the
summons of Mandos, and wander houseless in the world,* unwilling to leave it and unable
to inhabit it, haunting trees or springs or hidden places that once they knew.
Not all of these are kindly or unstained by the Shadow.
Indeed the refusal of the summons is in itself a sign of taint.
Interestingly, while we see many cases of wraiths, where men have their existence in
Middle-earth prolonged unnaturally, their summons to the Halls of Mandos - then to the
unknown that awaits them beyond - is not optional.
For unlike the elves, men are not bound to the world itself - thus the gift of men, true
death, would seem to prevent their spirits from lingering after their demise.
As mentioned in the previous quote - a spirit who rejected the summons of Mandos indicates
there is some level of taint upon that soul.
And as may be expected, those souls would seem to be susceptible to Sauron and his master:
For the Unbodied, wandering in the world, are those who at the least have refused the
door of life and remain in regret and self-pity.
Some are filled with bitterness, grievance, and envy.
Some were enslaved by the Dark Lord and do his work still, though he himself is gone.
They will not speak truth or wisdom.
To call on them is folly.
To attempt to master them and to make them servants of one own’s will is wickedness.
Of note here is that Tolkien highlights that these spirits will not speak truth or wisdom
and that to call on them is folly.
Necromancy, in some of its oldest iterations, was specifically referring to the act of divination
by communication with the dead - meaning people would attempt to commune with the dead in
order to foretell future events.
As Tolkien says, this is folly, and he goes on to say…
Such practices are of Morgoth; and the necromancers are of the host of Sauron his servant.
Deeper still into Tolkien’s writings, we find in an earlier version of the story of
Beren and Luthien, when Sauron’s name was Thu, he was called a Necromancer, who held
his hosts of phantoms and of wandering Ghosts in Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
So while Sauron’s time when he is known as the Necromancer is not marked by any obvious
instances of summoning or utilizing the dead, we can see as we dive deeper into Tolkien’s
works that Sauron was indeed a master of dark magic - an alternate definition of Necromancy.
And in the more commonly-used sense, using the souls of departed beings was something
Sauron most certainly could - and did - use for his evil purposes.
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