List of Middle-earth Orcs

The following is a list of the Orcs of Middle-earth, created by fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien and considered to be part of the Middle-earth canon, which were given an individual name or title by the author. While the Orcs tend to appear as an anonymous mass in his works, a few individuals among them were mentioned by name or other personal identifying characteristics.

Azog was an Orc chieftain who lived in Moria until his death in T.A. 2799. He is referred to in a single remark of Gandalf's in The Hobbit: "Your grandfather Thrór was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."

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 universal hatred of Dwarves, 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. The war Azog 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.

In The Hobbit film series, Azog is depicted as a seven-foot tall, pale white orc hailing from the city of Gundabad, and having a white warg as his steed. He is portrayed by Manu Bennett in all three films in an expanded role from the original tale, and is one of the primary antagonists of the films. Azog is also, unlike most orcs, shown to only speak in the Black Speech of Mordor and has sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He is killed during the Battle of the Five Armies, in which he and Thorin Oakenshield mortally wound each other.

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