Orcs are some of the most recognizable minions on the planet. Sauron’s most iconic servants, they form the bread and butter of any Dark Lord’s army in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. Created in the First Age — thousands of years before Frodo ever set out to destroy the Ring — Orcs were created by the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. And ever since, they’ve been wreaking havoc across Middle-Earth so long as there’s a bit of man-flesh or gold involved.
While a good number of the named Orcs in Tolkien’s books did make it onto the screen in some way or another, many had their stories or even their names changed. Read on to learn about the little-known lore behind some of Tolkien’s Orcs.
10 The Southerner
Early on in The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and his fellow Hobbits head to Bree after fleeing the Shire. At the Prancing Pony, they encounter an odd-looking Southerner who keeps to himself, but whose watchful gaze never seems to be far away.
The Hobbits and the barkeep, Barliman Butterbur, must have mistaken the Southerner for a man, or he would never have gotten through the town gates. After all, it’s later revealed that the Southerner was likely a Half-orc — a so-called Goblin-man — in the service of Isengard. The Southerner (and likely a whole host of other spies) provided intelligence that was instrumental to Saruman’s Scouring of the Shire at the end of Return of the King.
9 Grishnákh
Receiving a brief moment of screen time during Peter Jackson’s Two Towers, Grishnákh nonetheless gets more attention in the books. Leading a company of Orcs from Mordor, he rendezvouses with the Uruk-hai who captured Merry and Pippin from Amon Hen.
Hoping to bring Merry and Pippin back to Mordor for Sauron, he unsuccessfully barters with Uglúk — the Uruk-hai Saruman charged with taking the Hobbits to Isengard. In the books, the Hobbits think that Grishnákh might even know about the Ring, believing he may attempt to steal it for himself. Grishnákh is clearly a clever Orc, even if he ends up dead after the Rohirrim decimate Uglúk’s company.
8 Durthang Captain
This unnamed Orc nearly won the war for Sauron without even knowing it. In charge of a brigade of Orcs from Durthang (a fortress near the Black Gates of Mordor), this Orc captain encountered Frodo and Sam as they fled from Cirith Ungol. A brutal taskmaster, he nearly drove Frodo into an early grave by marching him along (Frodo was much more injured in the books than he appeared in the movies).
While Jackson’s Extended Editions do feature the Hobbits stumbling upon the Durthang orc horde, the encounter is brief. What’s more, it lacks the banging song “Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way” found in the much cheesier 1980 animated version of Return of the King.
7 Boldog
During the First Age, Sauron was just a servant to the original Dark Lord Morgoth, and Boldog was one of his highest-ranking Orc generals. Morgoth wanted to kidnap the Elf-maiden Lúthien (great-grandmother of Elrond), who at the time lived in the kingdom of Doriath.
Boldog besieged Doriath, but met his end at the hands of the Elf-king Thingol. While not much is said about Boldog after this, the name crops up time and time again in Tolkien’s writings. It seems that Boldog eventually became a title, sometimes referring to Maiar (powerful spirits) who took the form of an Orc.
6 Uglúk
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This Uruk-hai features prominently in The Two Towers, but Uglúk plays a slightly different role in the books. Portrayed in Jackson’s films as the de facto leader of the Uruk-hai following Lurtz’s decapitation by Aragorn, Uglúk was actually the group’s real leader in the books. Lurtz, while arguably one of the coolest Orcs to grace the big screen, is a Jackson invention.
Uglúk stood his ground when Grishnákh tried to divert the Uruks away from Isengard in order to bring Merry and Pippin to Mordor, but that didn’t stop the Riders of Rohan from massacring Uglúk and his troops.
5 Gorbag
In the novel, Gorbag made is first appearance at the tail-end of The Two Towers, much earlier than in the films. After finding Frodo poisoned by the spider Shelob, Gorbag brings the Ringbearer back to the watchtower of Cirith Ungol only to fight with Shagrat (another captain stationed at the tower) over the Hobbit’s mithril coat.
Interestingly, Gorbag looks to be a regular bow-legged Orc in Jackson’s film, but Tolkien describes him as an Uruk. In a bid to simplify the civil war at Cirith Ungol, Jackson also replaced another Orc, Snaga, with Gorbag. In the movie, Gorbag dies in a sneak attack by Sam, but in the books he is brutally murdered and desecrated by his former companion Shagrat.
4 Shagrat
The other captain of Cirith Ungol, Shagrat the Uruk wages a war against his fellow Orcs after rifling through Frodo’s possessions. The mithril shirt was probably the most valuable item to enter Cirith Ungol’s walls in its entire history, conveniently leading to the majority of its defenders killing each other.
Shagrat was absolutely savage. After Gorbag stabbed him, Shagrat throttled his fellow Uruk, leaving him for dead. When he realized Gorbag was still alive, Shagrat stomped and trampled his former comrade into the ground, then stabbed him before licking the blood off his knife. The Uruk eventually ran off with the mithril shirt, never to be heard from again — but not before he delivered it (alive or dead) to the Mouth of Sauron.
3 Snaga
Snaga was one of only two survivors of the massacre at Cirith Ungol during Return of the King. His name literally means “slave” in Black Speech, implying that Snaga belonged to one of the lowest castes of Orc society. Cowardly and sniveling, he ran from Sam as the Ringbearer’s companion climbed the stairs in Cirith Ungol.
Snaga was convinced that Sam was Gondorian special forces or an Elf warrior, as he believed only they could have passed unscathed through the Watchers — the birdlike haunted statues that guarded the gates to the tower. Eventually Snaga could run no further, and at the top of the tower he attempted to beat Frodo into submission. Thinking quickly, Sam lopped off Snaga’s sword-arm before pushing the Orc through a trap-door to his death below.
2 Gothmog
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In a bit of a twist, Gothmog actually gets more screen-time than he receives in the books, which is precisely what makes him so fascinating. Referred to only as the “lieutenant of Morgul” in the book, Gothmog (whose prosthetics were a total pain to work with) stepped up to command Sauron’s forces at the Battle of Pelennor Fields following the Witch-king’s defeat. Jackson made Gothmog an Orc, but Tolkien never mentioned what species Gothmog actually belonged to. Since he's second-in-command at Minas Morgul — home of the Nazgûl — it’s totally possible that Gothmog was actually a Ringwraith.
Gothmog is also named after an incredibly powerful figure: a Balrog. During the First Age, the Balrog Gothmog served Morgoth, vanquishing entire armies. Would the honor of carrying so significant a name fall to a simple Orc, or is Gothmog a name fit only for one of Sauron’s deadliest servants?
1 Golfimbul
What does Lord of the Rings have to do with golf? Everything, apparently. Few know it, but the Shire wasn’t always a peaceful, quiet place. A couple of hundred years before Frodo set off on his quest, an army of goblins led by Golfimbul descended on the Hobbits’ homeland. Standing in his way was Bandobras “Bullroarer” Took, the tallest Hobbit who ever lived (so tall that legends say he rode a horse instead of a pony).
At the Battle of the Greenfields, the Orcs from Mount Gram were defeated, but not before Bullroarer Took left his mark on history. Meeting Golfimbul head-on, a powerful blow from Bandobras’ club decapitated Golfimbul. The head apparently flew through the air until landing neatly inside a rabbit hole. And just like that, a Hobbit invented the game of golf.