Cave-trolls



Cave-trolls are a race of Trolls found within the caverns of the Misty Mountains. Cave-trolls were discovered from an encounter with the Fellowship of the Ring as they passed through Moria, but were evidently found elsewhere in Middle-earth, too. These trolls, along with Orcs and perhaps other creatures, were originally sent to inhabit Moria by Sauron about five hundred years before the War of the Ring.

Appearance and First Discovery
Cave-trolls' heights can range from 11 to 19 feet. They retain dark-yellow skin with tinted blue hues and purple eyes. Their blood is black in color, and very hot. Their hides cannot be pierced by normal swords, and remain hard to pierce even when confronted by Elven blades.

Habits
Cave-trolls are unintelligent creatures. They use their sense of smell more often than sight, generally being brought into combat by a chain around their neck, led along by a goblin tamer. In combat, Cave-trolls usually kill the figures that foolishly get too close to them, friend or foe, strategy notwithstanding. Cave-trolls, of all the types of trolls, are fairly tall in stature, being taller than the trolls of Mordor.

Cave-trolls are omnivores, eating both meat and plants. Usually these trolls live with groups of goblins and fight alongside them or in groups of two or three in small caves. They are used by the armies of Sauron (though Sauron would typically forego these trolls in favor of Olog-hai, a stronger and smarter troll that could move in the sunlight without turning into stone). It is known that Cave-trolls turn into stone when exposed to direct sunlight. Cave Trolls have a very primitive form of language as depicted in The Hobbit.

Location
Cave-trolls dwell in such places as the hills on the feet of the Misty Mountains, or in its caves. The Elves prevent the cave-trolls from getting far in the north, so they thrive in places such as the badlands of Ettenmoors or the Trollshaws. These brutish creatures are often captured by the Goblins to be used in their armies.

Portrayals in Adaptations
In the book version of The Fellowship of the Ring there are many cave-trolls. The trolls are described as having long arms, dark green scales and toe-less feet.



In the Peter Jackson's 2001 movie version, there is one cave-troll which is killed by the Fellowship members who spear and hack at the cave-troll with no avail until Legolas dispatches it with an arrow. The arrow enters the roof of its mouth and goes straight through the troll's brain, emerging from the back of its head after becoming stuck in the troll's thick skull. In the movie made by Peter Jackson the cave troll is computer animated. Its movements were done by Randall William Cook, wearing a motion-capture suit. It also has a set of nostrils located higher than the space between its eyes, making its nose look almost like a "third eye".

In Ralph Bakshi's animated movie, the cave-troll has quite an inconsequential part. Gandalf says "Orcs and something else! A great cave-troll I think!" when he sees the orcs through the east gate. Boromir then closes the gates but they are barged open by a large creature covered all in fur apart from its hands and feet (Presumably the cave-troll). After this, Frodo leaps towards the creature, stabbing it through the foot, shouting "For the Shire!" as he does so, causing it to flee.

Games Workshop Character
Games Workshop produced three cave-trolls with different weapon options: one with a hammer & chain, one with a spear and another with its hammer rising up. A cave-troll was also included in their "The Mines of Moria" starter set.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
In the EA game, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, cave trolls are spawned from a cave. They are neutral and attack any units in the area. When your soldiers destroy the cave, a pile of gold can be found suggesting that trolls like to collect trinkets. This is supported in The Hobbit. After the trolls are turned to stone, Bilbo finds a large stash of treasure in their cave. Strangely, cave trolls in the aforementioned game are a brownish color instead of the Greyish-Green seen and described in the movie and book.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II they revert to their original greyish-green that was seen in the movies and books. The goblins can train them out of a fissure as a lesser siege unit, inferior to the mountain giant. The troll can throw rocks or fight with their fists. When using melee they can find an orc/goblin and throw it on an enemy. They can also fell a tree and use it as a giant club, this greatly improves their damage and it makes it possible to bash entire battalions. Disadvantages of this are that when the troll picks up a tree, he will keep it until his death. So he can't throw rocks anymore or throw goblins/orcs as ammo. All of this also works with the Mountain trolls that Mordor uses. The only difference is that they look different, and the Mountain trolls can eat the orcs for health instead of throwing them. Due to gameplay issues, these trolls can stay in sunlight without turning to stone.



The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
There are also cave trolls in The Lord of the Rings: Conquest by EA Video Game Company, but they are seen only briefly. They are based upon the Mordor troll catapult loaders in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and are wearing leather helmets. The Cave trolls are playable in Lord Of The Rings: Conquest, but they spawn randomly by type, so it is difficult to get to play as one in the game. They're also weak to head-shots, and grab like other trolls, but take more damage.