The creature Gothmog at the Siege of Minas Tirith

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by obloquy

Why is the latter more likely? The Witch-King was never called Morgul. It seems more likely to me that lieutenant of Morgul should be taken to mean lieutenant of Morgul. Actually, why does it matter which is intended? Both would almost certainly be positions reserved for Nazgul.

The assumption that the second-in-command on the Pelennor was a Nazgul is a fairly reasonable one.

Yes I agree and I was merely quoting from A Readers Companion. However my own view is very similar. All the Nazgul were Kings of Men and probably at sometime in their life had military training of a degree far beyond the normal generals found within an army. There is the misconception that the Nazgul were just mindless automatons, without any memory of their previous lives. There is also The Will of Sauron to consider, once The Witch-king was nullified on the battlefield, the next best point of control over the Army would naturally be another Nazgul, due to their stronger link with him. Seniority on the battlefield was something that Lieutenant Tolkien would have understood, once The Commanding Officer is killed, The Senior Major takes over. I think that Tolkien calls Gothmog 'Lieutenant of Morgul', because he sees him as The Morgul-lords second-in-command.