I can't remember if the other eight ringwraiths at the Battle, or whether some might have been still elsewhere at Dol Guldor or not, but some were there, and I can't imagine any of them to be under the command of a man or orc. And if this Gothmog were a Maia or other notable such as the Mouth of Sauron, I think Tolkien would have made more of it.
Seeing as he didn't, I think after the death of the head ringwraith and Morgul Lord (sometimes named as Angmar) that his place was certainly filled by another ringwraith. They were the Eye's favorite, and certainly would not have been led by any other than their own kind.
If Khamul was the overall second amoung the nine, and was present, the only reason that he might not have been charged as the new leader was that unlike Gothmog he'd have been mostly at Dol Guldor and not familiar with the Morgul forces that dominated the army there.
__________________
The hoes unrecked in the fields were flung, __ and fallen ladders in the long grass lay __ of the lush orchards; every tree there turned __ its tangled head and eyed them secretly, __ and the ears listened of the nodding grasses; __ though noontide glowed on land and leaf, __ their limbs were chilled.
|