[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I can't think of a single precedent either in history or in Tolkien's mythology for a herald inheriting his master's entire dominion. That's all the Mouth of Sauron appears to be, given the context of his appearance.

All this talk of a second-in-command for an immortal entity seems rather moot to me. We must ask ourselves what the point is in having a second-in-command. Surely it is to ensure that the leader's intentions cannot be thwarted by his own absence, sickness or death, and so that he can share the burden of command. Sauron is immortal, owns at least one Palantír and quite probably needs neither rest nor sleep. Also, if one's aim is personal world domination, as it was with Sauron, then that aim cannot be achieved if one has been succeeded in power. Therefore it's quite plausible that Sauron didn't care what happened after he was gone: what use is an army of conquest to a dead conqueror? If we add to that the fact that Sauron can never completely die, that he is superior to all of his minions in both power and wisdom, and that he does not share his authority, it becomes increasingly likely that he had a cadre of lieutenants who were considered equal in the hierarchy.

This arrangement would be to Sauron's advantage in that it would ensure that he had some followers who could be trusted to take charge of important functions that he would otherwise have to perform himself, whilst ensuring that none of them had enough authority ever to challenge him (doomed though such a rebellion would be it could still be damaging if it came at the wrong moment). By giving all of his immediate inferiors exactly the same rank and status, Sauron would have engineered a situation in which each of them would watch the others' power and loyalty jealously, saving the Dark Lord the trouble of doing so himself.

Sauron's ambitions are based solely on himself. He is god, king, high priest, general and cause embodied. Without him the entire arch of the Mordorian system collapses, which would leave little for a second-in-command to do. Given the situation after the fall of the Dark Tower, I'm not sure that any of his surviving lieutenants would have much fancied taking over Sauron's role, but I'm pretty sure that anyone who did would be chosen by the classic technique of uncontrolled competitive examination from among the more powerful of the old Dark Lord's commanders. In the end, though, it's not so much a matter of entitlement to the leadership, more one of who could possibly want it.

[ October 22, 2003: Message edited by: The Squatter of Amon Rûdh ]