Wargs

"Wargs" were beasts of Middle-Earth used by orcs of Isengard and Mordor in the Third Age. They were simply giant wolf-hyenas that roamed Rhovanion, also known as Wilderland, and the wilds to the east of the Misty Mountains. They appear first in the Fellowship of the Ring, attacking the Fellowship before their entrance into Moria, but in the book they are only called Wolves, from Isengard.

In a way they took the place of Werewolves in the Third Age. Like so many foul creatures, the Warg may have first been bred in Angband by Morgoth, the result of mixing two animals to produce a true monster. Wargs were said by some to have been very intelligent predators; it is rumoured that they had a crude understanding of some orc words and their Black Speech. Wargs appear in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, in which they attack Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, and the dwarves that are traveling to the Lonely Mountain (Erebor).

Physical attributes
Wargs measured about five feet at the shoulder, and could be up to ten feet in length from snout to the tail. Rohan tapestries show the wargs to have a bearlike face with a long muzzle full of huge fangs and a long, prehensile neck; its eyes were small and set back to each side of its head, its ears at the back of the skull. This arrangement gave greatest sensory range while keeping its vulnerable areas protected, and the long neck gave it reach, flexibility and power when biting into flesh. There was a large well muscled hump above its forelegs, that propelled it at high speeds, not only allowing the beast to run swiftly but also smash and tackle prey and foes.

Apart from its ruff, the warg had short dense fur, which would have kept injury from tooth and claw to a minimum. Not all damage could have come from the men and beasts it was attacking; wargs were ferocious and could quickly turn on other members of their pack as well as their handlers. Many warg riders displayed gruesome scars from encounters with their mounts. Coloration and patterning of the fur seems to vary throughout the breed, with mottling and other patterns appearing in shades of red, brown, fawn and liver, with harder patterning appearing toward the back. Powerful haunches and a dewclaw allowed the warg to climb. Wargs also hated and feared fire.

In the Two Towers
In The Two Towers film, Saruman sends out his wargs and their riders (lead by the orc Sharku) to attack the people of Rohan as they make their way to Helm's Deep. Wargs later appear as the mount for Gothmog during the Siege of Gondor in The Return of the King. In the commentary for the extended DVD, Jackson says that the scene was chaotic to shoot and the wargs were the only computer generated creatures he felt could have looked more convincing. He also thought the scene itself could have turned out better if his team had a more organized storyboard layout for the battle. Unlike most depictions of Tolkien's wargs and their fantasy derivatives, they are noticeably more hyena-like in appearance.

In An Unexpected Journey
The Wargs seen in the movie adaptation of the hobbit are different from those in the Two Towers film. In the movie, these wargs were bred in Gundaband and were in service of Azog, who had survived the skirmish at Moria. Throughout the film Azog and his troops followed the Company of Thorin across the Misty Mountains, and at the end they nearly killed Thorin before being driven off by Great Eagles.

Society
Not much is known about Warg society, but one can infer that warg packs are organized tribally, as in The Hobbit, Tolkien describes the wargs as having a sort of leader or chieftan. In the same chapter it is mentioned that Wargs sometimes form a sort of alliance with goblin tribes of the Misty Mountains. To their mutual benefit, Wargs allow Goblins to use them as mounts during raids on villages lying on the western edge of Mirkwood. This displays Wargs' ability to communicate and reason with one another, displaying their intelligence.

Trivia

 * In the The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age video game there is a small colony of wild wargs living in a hollow rock formation in northeast Rohan, one of which is particularly large and used as a mini-boss for a side quest.


 * In the books Wargs are barely mentioned in respect to Rohan except to say that occasionally a band of Wargs could be seen now and again raiding villages throughout Rohan when Theoden is retreating to Helm's Deep.


 * In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II and BFME 1 video games, the Isengard faction can train and use Warg Riders as a mounted unit.


 * It seems likely that Tolkien took the word warg from the Old Norse word "vargr", which means wolf in that language. Interesting enough the word "hound" which in English is used for a large dog is silimar to the Swedish word "hund" which means dog and the Swedish word "varg" means wolf, meaning that Tolkien might have used the same logic for his large wolves.

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Warge Варги