Azog was an Orc chieftain who lived in Moria until his death in 2799. He is referred to in a single remark of Gandalf's in The Hobbit: "Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."[1]
He precipitated the War of the Dwarves and Orcs in T.A. 2790 by killing King Thrór, who came to revisit the ruins of Khazad-dûm. By not only killing Thrór but torturing him for some days, beheading him and branding his name on the Dwarf's head Azog ensured he earned the hatred of every Dwarf who united in desire to kill him.
In the following years, he was the common enemy of all Dwarves. Gradually the Orcs were driven back through the Misty Mountains until they held only Moria and the war he started climaxed in the Battle of Azanulbizar, where he killed Náin, but while fleeing back to the gates of Moria he was caught and beheaded by Náin's son Dáin. After killing Thrór, Azog had given a small pouch of money to Thrór's companion, as payment for him to tell the other dwarves of the murder. The dwarves returned the insult by setting Azog's severed head on a stake and sticking the money pouch in his mouth.
His son, Bolg, inherited the rulership in Moria and continued it for another 150 years.
Films[edit]
Azog the Defiler is portrayed by Manu Bennett in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as the main antagonist. In the films, his role is greatly expanded. In the Return of the King appendices he is described as being fully protected by iron armor, however in the Jackson films he is bare-chested and scarred. He is known as Azog the Defiler, and is considered the most vile of all the Orc race.
In the Battle of Azanulbizar, he is not killed by Dáin (who appears to be absent). Instead he fights Thorin Oakenshield after beheading Thrór, having sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. During the duel, Thorin cuts off Azog's left forearm and the Orc army flees, dragging their wounded leader with them back inside Moria. Thorin later believes Azog to have died from his wounds. Unknown to the dwarves, he has survived. The missing forearm has been replaced by a clawed metal prosthetic. An alternative theory states Azog did indeed die from the wounds inflicted by Thorin, but the Necromancer brought him back to lead his army at the Battle of Five Armies.
When the dwarves set out on the quest to retake Erebor, Azog leads a large group of Orcs and Wargs in an attempt to hunt them down. In the climax of the film, Azog and his minions corner Thorin's company in the forest of the Misty Mountains. Thorin fights Azog again and is nearly beheaded. However, Bilbo Baggins saves him and appears ready to fight Azog, but Azog merely smirks and sets his minions on him. Bilbo defends himself and charges at Azog, who uses his Warg to throw him aside and nearly kills the Hobbit were it not for the Eagles' intervention. In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Azog appears as the secondary main antagonist. Azog remains in Dol Guldur to lead the Necromancer's army, leaving the hunt for Thorin to his son Bolg. When Gandalf enters Dol Guldur, Azog attacks him. Gandalf escapes the Orcs but is captured by Sauron.
Video Games[edit]
Azog is a hero for the Goblins in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II 's expansion pack The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king.
Balcmeg[edit]
Balcmeg was one of the Orcs killed in the Fall of Gondolin, according to The Book of Lost Tales. Tolkien wrote the story of the fall of the city in 1917 and never fully revised it, and Balcmeg does not appear in the published Silmarillion.
Boldog[edit]
Boldog is a formidable Orc-captain of a Host of Angband that is sent to attack Doriath and capture Lúthien mentioned in theThe Lay of Leithian in The History of Middle-earth Vol. III, Lays of Beleriand.
The name Boldog was used by several Orc chieftains during the First Age. In a note ca.1960 Tolkien suggested that it is possible that Boldog was actually a title, given to lesser Maiar, servants of Morgoth, who had taken an Orkish hröa.[2]
Bolg[edit]
Bolg, the secondary antagonist of The Hobbit, was an Orc chieftain who came to power in the Misty Mountains after his father, Azog, was killed in the war with Dwarves. Bolg ruled for some 150 years and led an army of Orcs in the Battle of Five Armies. He was killed by Beorn during the battle: "Swiftly he returned, and his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him. He scattered the bodyguard, and pulled down Bolg himself and crushed him."[3]
Films[edit]
Bolg is portrayed by Lawrence Makoare in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Much of the action from the book involving Bolg in An Unexpected Journey is instead given to his father Azog, who, in the films, survives the confrontation with the Dwarves. In The Desolation of Smaug, when his father is summoned to lead the Necromancer's Orc army, Bolg resumes the prominent role, taking over the task of hunting down Thorin's company.
Golfimbul[edit]
Golfimbul was a chieftain of the Orcs of Mount Gram, who led his band in an invasion of the Shire. He was defeated at the Battle of Greenfields by a force led byBandobras "Bullroarer" Took; the battle was the first of only two which were ever fought within the borders of the Shire (the second was the Battle of Bywater, the last battle of the War of the Ring, where Bullroarer's descendant, Pippin, fought). Bullroarer knocked off Golfimbul's head with a club and it soared into the air, finally falling into a rabbit hole. According to Hobbit folklore, this inspired the game of golf, which takes its name from the Orc. Golfimbul's name was probably specifically constructed for this pun; fimbul is Old Norse for "great".[4]
The Orc incursion in the northern Shire occurred during the reign of Arassuil as Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and the Orcs led by Golfimbul were but the most western pack of Orcs which had left the Hithaeglir. The only reason Golfimbul could make it all the way to the Shire was that the Rangers at the time were fighting many battles with Orcs, preventing them from settling all of Eriador.
Gorbag[edit]
Gorbag was an Orc captain in the service of Minas Morgul.[5] He and his company are based with the Nazgûl in the Dead City, but have been ordered to patrol towards the fortress tower of Cirith Ungol where the garrison is commanded by another Orc captain; Shagrat.
After Frodo was paralyzed by Shelob, a joined Orc detachment, led by Gorbag and Shagrat, came across his cocooned body. They take him back to Cirith Ungol where Gorbag suggests torture but Shagrat insists that their prisoner be sent to the city for interrogation. While sifting through Frodo's belongings, a dispute began between the two captains after Gorbag claimed ownership of Frodo's mithrilvest, which escalated into a fratricidal battle throughout the stronghold between the Morgul and Cirith Ungol companies of Orcs. In this fight Gorbag was slain by Shagrat[5] who then escaped with the Mithril shirt.[6]
In the live-action film, Gorbag and Shagrat have a major role reversal. In the book the locally stationed Shagrat informs Gorbag of the nature of Shelob's venom and how it functions, whereas Gorbag assumes this role in the film and explains it to his fellows upon finding Frodo. Also, Shagrat is the one to claim the vest for himself, while Gorbag insists it be taken to Sauron. After the fight, Shagrat flees to the Black Gate with the mithrilshirt while the wounded Gorbag is left for dead in the tower. He is in fact still alive and is about to torture Frodo when Sam impales him from behind.
Gorgol[edit]
Gorgol was an Orc chieftain, also called the Butcher, who lived in Middle-earth during the First Age. He was slain by Beren.
The Great Goblin[edit]
The Great Goblin was a Goblin leader who lived in the Misty Mountains during the Third Age, as recounted in The Hobbit. His followers captured Thorin Oakenshield, Bilbo and company during the Quest of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, and took them to their underground stronghold, Goblin Town. When he found the group was carrying an Elf-made blade which had killed many Goblins, he gave orders for them to be imprisoned and tortured. He tried to attack Thorin, but was slain by Gandalf. His death incites the Goblins to go after the company.
In letters written later in his life Tolkien suggested that the Great Goblin and other highly influential leaders among the orcs may not have been mortal orcs, but lesser Maiar who had taken orkish form, or "hröa".
The real-time strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, chiefly based on the Peter Jackson films, invents a successor called Gorkil the Goblin King.
The Great Goblin (called in promotional material the Goblin King) is portrayed by Barry Humphries in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Rather than being killed immediately when Gandalf enters the cave, the Great Goblin instead falls over the platform after Thorin blocks his staff with Orcrist. He later reappears to confront Gandalf and the dwarves, only for Gandalf to slash his neck and stomach, killing him. He falls down onto the dwarves after the bridge collapses.
Grishnákh[edit]
Grishnákh was an Orc captain in a group of Mordor Orcs that joined Saruman's Uruk-hai troops on the plains of Rohan.
After failing to convince Uglúk to lead the expedition east to safety in Mordor, he leaves and returns with 20-40 peers from Mordor, claiming a brotherly desire to help their fellow Orcs. However, Grishnákh's actual plans for the two captives, Merry and Pippin, were in conflict with Uglúk's orders to deliver them to Saruman unharmed. He was an Orc of considerable rank, as he had been to Barad-dûr itself and received specific orders from the Nazgûl. Grishnákh was also present at the torture and interrogation of Gollum, so he not only knew about the Ring, but suspected the Hobbits might have it after hearing them imitate Gollum's throat noise. Afterwards, while the orcs were attacked by Eomer's men he tried to smuggle the Hobbits away from the Uruk-hai and into Fangorn Forest, where he planned to kill them and take the Ring for himself, but a Rohirrim rider shot him in the hand before killing him with a spear.
In Ralph Bakshi's animated film The Lord of the Rings, Grishnákh is an Orc from Isengard with a fondness for the Uruk-draught that is force-fed to Merry and Pippin.
In Peter Jackson's movies, Grishnákh (played by Stephen Ure) is shown to be the captain of a band of Orc scouts, possibly from Isengard as they wear the attire of Saruman's warg-riders seen later in the film. He and his fellow Orcs meet Uglúk's group in the western Emyn Muil rather than at Amon Hen as in the book. That night he fights with Uglúk over the Hobbits, as he and his party want to eat the Hobbits instead of delivering them to Saruman. He is speared as in the book, but survives to chase Merry and Pippin into Fangorn Forest, where he is killed by Treebeard, who steps on him before he can kill Merry. His name is never actually spoken in the movie, and it is uncertain if he knows whether the captive Hobbits have the Ring. In the theatrical version of The Two Towers, it is not clear whether Grishnákh and his company have been sent by Sauron from Mordor or are workers from the mines at Isengard but there is an added scene in the extended edition explaining that Saruman sent them to push the Uruk-hai to hurry up with the halflings.
In Sierra Entertainment's War of the Ring real-time strategy game, he is a playable hero.
