[Rumil]

Evening all,

Squatter, I think I agree with most of your conclusions, but on heralds, Eonwe and Elrond come to mind as fairly high up the command chain [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I think the problems we have are that first, there's hardly any info on Sauron's senior 'officers', we only have the Nine, the Mouth, possibly Gothmog II and King of the Haradrim. Surely there would have been more? Secondly there's the 'imprecision' of military rank in LoTR, where captain appears to simply mean 'leader' and lieutenant 'subordinate leader', rather than the hierarchy of generals, colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants (etc) that JRRT was certainly familiar with. I guess this stems back to the Middle Ages and before, where troops weren't formally organised into regiments and such ranks weren't closely defined (in contrast to social ranks ie Duke, Count, Baron etc).

The lieutenants mentioned seem to be linked to specific fortresses, Khamul at Dol Guldur, Gothmog at Minas Morgul, The Mouth at Barad-Dur. Before the War of the Ring the Witchking had independent commands, first in Angmar, then at Minas Morgul (therefore presumably he was 'captain' of Minas Morgul?). I think even Sauron needed a high ranking 'officer' on the spot to make everyday decisions and react to local events. There was certainly not instantaneous communication between Dol Guldur and Barad Dur, as one of the Nazgul was used as a messenger, however there may have been between Minas Morgul and Barad Dur (the lightning discharge???).

On the relationship between Mouth and WK, remember that the Witchking had been 'killed' by the time of Mouth's conversation, where it's implied that he believed that he would become master of Isengard. I think a Nazgul could have done that job (as Khamul at DG), perhaps Sauron was toying with the Mouth, intending to snatch away the offer at the last minute (and presumably cackle maniacally)!

As Squatter says, maybe there was no designated second in command. Who ranks higher, the great general or the chamberlain of the palace? However, I don't reckon even the Mouth would relish standing up to the Witchking!