In nodern fantasy fiction, everyone knows what a necromancer is: a dark wizard who traffics in magic dealing with death, and specifically undeath, calling up the dead as servants, frequently as soldiers.
But that's not what we see in the foundation of modern fantasy fiction. In The Hobbit, a dark, shadowy figure called "the necromancer" is briefly mentioned as a reason not to take a certain route. Later, in The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf identifies this necromancer as Sauron.
But Sauron is never seen raising armies of the undead. There is in fact one point where an army of the dead is called up for military purposes, but it's Aragorn who does this, to fight against Sauron's forces!
It seems that "necromancer" meant something very different to Tolkien than the modern understanding of the word. Do we have any insight from his extensive writings and notes explaining what "the necromancer" did to earn that title?
