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posted by
LaminatorX
on Monday March 10 2014, @10:27AM
from the And-on-the-org-chart-bind-them dept.
from the And-on-the-org-chart-bind-them dept.
nobbis writes:
"From 'A Tolkienist's Perspective Blog' : a two part article part 1 part 2 about the military structure in Mordor. There is a hierarchy chart if you want a summary.
Was the rapid collapse of the military following the destruction of the ring indicative of the fragility of this structure , and its susceptibility to a decapitation strike ? Would a flatter hierarchy or something similar to the Imperial Military or Starfleet have been more resilient?"
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(Score: 4, Informative) by CoolHand on Monday March 10 2014, @04:14PM
There truly isn't enough detail from anything I've read to be sure, but from my perspective, I always considered the Nagul to be outside of the command structure completely. They would be a special case scenario - they commanded through fear - both from their own power, as well as Sauron's. Unless Sauron himself was around, you'd better obey them. Yet, they have no "direct reports", so I don't believe they should be listed as they are in his illustration. The Witch-king of Angmar being put in charge of all armies at the siege of Minas Tirith is more of a special case scenario, I believe, than a standing organization policy. I think maybe more accurate would be to put the 9 Nazgul in a cloud somewhat below Sauron, and pretty close on a level with the mouth of Sauron, and arrows from all three going to the captains of the armies. I don't think the captains were directly commanded from the Nazgul or the mouth on a normal basis, but if any of them gave a captain an order, the captain better listen..
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(Score: 3, Informative) by melikamp on Monday March 10 2014, @05:12PM
(Score: 1) by CoolHand on Monday March 10 2014, @05:57PM
Right... I had meant to put an exception in regarding Minas Morgul, and any "troops" based there..
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(Score: 1) by Rune of Doom on Monday March 10 2014, @06:30PM
Somewhere in the mass of additional materials that have been published over the years I'm pretty confident I recall a statement that Khamul was in charge of Dol Guldur for many years, much in the same way that the Lord of the Nazgul was in charge of Minas Morgul.
(Score: 2) by melikamp on Tuesday March 11 2014, @08:25PM
(Score: 1) by Rune of Doom on Wednesday March 12 2014, @07:41PM
Definitely. Given that Sauron founded Mordor in the Second Age and ruled it for about 2500 years before his realm was overthrown by the Last Alliance, then refounded it in the Third Age about 2000 years later and ruled for another millennia, talking about 'The' military structure of Mordor is like talking about 'the' military structure of the Roman Empire x 4 or 5. Still fun to think about though.
For example, in the 3rd Age, would Sauron have just attempted to rebuild his now-ancient force structures and tables of organization, or would he have modified them to reflect new realities, or just started from scratch? Did he even care about such things, or would he have just delegated such matters to the Nazgul and other lieutenants, worshippers, and lackeys? (In my headcanon he would have taken a keen interest, but YMMV.)