[Mithadan]

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary defines "necromancy" as "conjuration of the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events". It is a term that evokes images of pale, black-clad sorcerers rasing the dead to do their bidding. One thinks of ghosts, the animated skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts or the zombies from The Dawn of the Dead.

Sauron, during his pre-LoTR sojourn in Dol Guldur, becomes known as the "Necromancer" and he and his minions are widely feared. Yet nowhere in the Hobbit or LoTR are "spirits of the dead" clearly apparent. Yes, we have the images of the fallen in the Dead Marshes, yet they are not animated or put to use. Indeed it is not clear that these images are spirits of any sort. Yes, we have the Barrow-Wights, but they are not spirits of the dead buried in the Barrows, but rather undefined spirits that later inhabited the Barrows. Necromancy? Maybe, maybe not. Indeed, the only example we have from the Middle Earth mythos of the spirits of the dead being put to any use is Sauron's use of an image of Eilinel to ensnare Gorlim for the purpose of betraying Barahir. But even here, the Silmarillion tells that the image of Eilinel is a "phantom devised by wizardry", rather than the spirit of Eilinel.

So where are the dead? Why does the sorcerer of Dol Guldur gain fame as the Necromancer?