Grishnákh was an Orc captain from Isengard who led a host of Orcs to join the Uruk-hai soldiers who were taking Merry and Pippin across the plain of Rohan to Mordor, in The Two Towers.
Grishnákh is described in the book as "a short crook-legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the ground" and as having a voice that was soft but evil-sounding.
Biography
Grishnákh's plans for the two captives, Merry and Pippin, were in conflict with Uglúk's orders to deliver them to Sauron unharmed. Grishnákh wanted to take them northward to the east-bank of the Great River where a Nazgûl atop a Fell beast would take them. After Uglúk refused his plan, Grishnákh slipped away while the Orcs and Uruk-hai argued amongst each other. Grishnákh soon returned with other Orcs like himself.
Grishnákh was somehow aware of the existence of the One Ring (having been implied to have participated in the torture of Gollum), and suspected the two Hobbits of possessing it. When the Orcs holding the two Hobbits were attacked by the banished Éomer's Rohirrim, Grishnákh used the distraction to search the Hobbits for the Ring. Pippin tried to negotiate with Grishnákh, asking for himself and Merry to be freed in exchange for information about the Ring, but instead Grishnákh tried to carry them away. When it seemed a Rohirrim rider had discovered him, Grishnákh drew his sword to kill the Hobbits lest they be rescued or escape, but before he could act he was shot in the hand by a Rohirrim arrow and dropped the sword, at which point he tried to run but was ridden down and run through with a Rohirrim spear.[1]
Portrayal in Adaptations
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
In The Two Towers, Grishnákh is played by Stephen Ure and is an Orc captain. He has more screen time in the Extended Edition, which shows Grishnákh and his Orc clan joining Uglúk to escort him and his Uruk-Hai to Mordor. When the Uruk-hai and the Orcs soon begin arguing amongst themselves over lack of food to eat, Grishnákh is vexed by Uglúk's insistence that the captive Hobbits not be killed or maimed. While it unknown if he knew of Uglúk's mission, Grishnákh attempts to kill the captive Hobbits before he is hit by a Rohirrim rider's spear. Though he survives to chase Merry and Pippin into Fangorn Forest, Grishnákh is crushed to death by Treebeard stepping on him.
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter III: "The Uruk-hai"