Bolg

"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."

- The actions of Beorn, in The Clouds Burst, chapter 18 in The Hobbit.

Bolg (d. TA 2941) was a Goblin/Orc leader of the Misty Mountains during the late Third Age.

History
In The Hobbit, Bolg was the son of Azog of Moria, and succeeded him after his death in the Battle of Azanulbizar (the last battle of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs) in TA 2799. He had resettled in the old refuge of Mount Gundabad after the kingdom of Angmar was abandoned, and apparently ruled Goblins of the Misty Mountains from their capital at Mount Gundabad during the Battle of the Five Armies.

Bolg ruled the northern goblins for about 150 years and led the army of goblins, Wargs, and Bats in the Battle of the Five Armies, in which he took his bodyguards with him. In that battle he was crushed by the mighty Beorn, avenging Thorin Oakenshield who had just been fatally wounded.

Etymology
The meaning of the name Bolg is uncertain. As discussed in the book The History of The Hobbit, the word bolg is listed as meaning "strong" in the vocabulary list for Mágol, one of the languages constructed by Tolkien. Mágol seems to have been based on Hungarian, and Tolkien seems to have worked on in the years he was writing The Hobbit, or even earlier. The History of The Hobbit also cites bolg as being a word of unknown meaning in the language of the Iverni, a people of early Ireland mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography.

Portrayal in Adaptions
In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, Bolg is played by Conan Stevens. He is portrayed as a huge, pale, bearded orc clad in armour and bones. Bolg's father Azog has a greatly expanded role in the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first film of the trilogy. It has been hinted from descriptions released that Bolg may too have an extended role and work as the torturer in the dungeons of Dol-Guldur where he is described as sadistic and cruel. In the book, Bolg led the goblins in the Battle of Five Armies; it's not yet known whether Azog's character will have been killed off by then in the film.

Bolg first appears in the film trilogy where he is seen participating in the Battle of Azanulbizar in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Bolg is seen for the first time shortly after his father Azog is forcibly removed from the battle by the other orc soldiers after losing his left forearm after his duel with Thorin Oakenshield. With their leader out of action, the orcs begin to lose ground and are forced into the retreat. Bolg is seen dueling Dwalin before he is seemingly killed by the dwarf warrior. As Bolg is expected to have a much larger role in the final two films, his fate after the Battle of Azanulbizar is unknown.

Bolg is sold as an action figure in a two-pack with Gandalf the Grey. From the size of the figure compared to Gandalf, it appears that Bolg, like his father, will be massive for an orc. Conan Stevens, who is portraying the orc warlord Bolg, is 7 feet (2.13m) tall.

Books

 * The Hobbit

Films

 * The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
 * The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
 * The Hobbit: There and Back Again
 * The Hobbit: The Clouds Burst (Chapter of the Battle of Five Armies)
 * The Hobbit: The Return Journey