Half-orcs

Half-orcs
Other names	Goblin-men, Orc-men, Men-orcs
Dominions	Isengard Bree-land The Shire
Languages	Westron
Lifespan	Unknown

"But these creatures of Isengard, these half-orcs and goblin-men that the foul craft of Saruman has bred, they will not quail at the sun"

—Gamling, The Two Towers, Helm's Deep

Half-orcs, also called Orc-men, were a crossbred-race of Orcs and Men first conceived by Morgoth and Sauron, and used by the latter's agent, Saruman, during the War of the Ring.

They were probably devised through a hybridization process similar to, if not the same as that by which the Uruk-hai were bred.

History

"It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits; and then they would or could be made to mate with Orcs, producing new breeds, often larger and more cunning. There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile"

—Morgoth's Ring, Part Five: Myths Transformed

During the Elder Days, Half-orcs first appeared through some union of Orcs and of Men, the latter of which had been bent to an "Orc-level of mind and habits" by Morgoth and his agents, such as Sauron. Centuries afterwards in the Third Age, Sauron's treacherous servant, Saruman, replicated these methods, which he had learned from his master or otherwise rediscovered through his own researches, and made his own Half-orcs and Orc-men beneath Isengard; Saruman also bred Uruk-hai, possibly by the same foul craft. According to Treebeard and later Gamling, Saruman's creatures could endure daylight, unlike the common Orcs. The White Wizard used Half-orcs as warriors to attack Rohan on the Dark Lord's behalf, but also as his own spies throughout Eriador, especially in the Shire's vicinity, in hopes of capturing the Ring-bearer first. One of the latter kind was the Squint-eyed Southerner, an outcast from Dunland who looked "more than half like a goblin". He initially procured pipe-weed and acted as Saruman's most-trusted informant on the Shire's affairs, until he was discovered by the Nazgûl and coerced into becoming their spy in Bree.

During the War of the Ring, Half-orcs, together with Northern Orcs, Dunlendings and Uruk-hai, were part of Saruman's army that clashed with Théodred's forces in the First Battle of the Fords of Isen; it was one axe-wielding Orc-man that mortally-wounded the prince, accomplishing the special task given by the White Wizard. These creatures were later part of the 10,000 warriors sent against Théoden's people at Helm's Deep, as part of Saruman's attempt to appease Sauron by delivering him a defeated Rohan. Alongside the rest of Saruman's minions, the Half-orcs were crushed at the Battle of the Hornburg, being either slain before the fortress walls or in the Huorn forest.

Other Half-orcs perished with the remaining Orcs of Isengard in the pits, mostly because of the huge flood the Ents of Fangorn Forest made when they descended upon Isengard with wrath. But those who had been sent westwards were spared the corrupted Wizard's defeat. Banding together with Ruffians, they became enforcers for Lotho Sackville-Baggins, Saruman's secret ally in the Shire, and imposed his policies; following Lotho's death, they fell back under the authority of the exiled Saruman, whom they called "Sharkey", and helped him exact his petty vengeance against Gandalf by terrorizing the local Hobbits. The Half-orcs were slain, however, along with most of the vile Men in the Battle of Bywater by the oppressed halflings and buried in the Battle Pit.

Appearances

The first appearance of these Half-orcs occurs in The Fellowship of the Ring in describing one known as the squint-eyed Southerner, a spy for Sauron's chief agents:

In one of the windows he caught a glimpse of a sallow face with sly, slanting eyes; but it vanished at once. ‘So that’s where that southerner is hiding!’ he thought. ‘He looks more than half like a goblin.’

Further description follows in The Two Towers:

But there were some others that were horrible: man-high, but with goblin-faces, sallow, leering, squint-eyed. Do you know, they reminded me at once of that Southerner at Bree; only he was not so obviously orc-like as most of these were.’

In "The Scouring of the Shire", there is further mention of Half-orcs under Saruman's control, described as Men with squinty eyes and sallow complexion (a description used to describe the Southerner near Bree at The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as some Orcs in The Two Towers), seeming to suggest that they looked mostly human but share some of the features of Orcs.

they were disturbed to see half a dozen large ill-favoured Men lounging against the inn-wall; they were squint-eyed and sallow-faced. ‘Like that friend of Bill Ferny’s at Bree,’ said Sam. ‘Like many that I saw at Isengard,’ muttered Merry.

‘Of all the ends to our journey that is the very last I should have thought of: to have to fight half-orcs and ruffians in the Shire itself - to rescue Lotho Pimple!’

In adaptations

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

A Goblin-man in the New Line films

In the first film of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, Gandalf tells Elrond in Rivendell that Saruman has been "breeding Orcs with goblin-men" to make warriors that he can use both to do Sauron's bidding and to try claim the Ring first.

According to the film tie-in The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, the Uruk-hai were "first bred by Sauron in the Third Age, by crossing Orcs with Goblin-men" and were therefore able to endure daylight. The White Wizard later copied his master's methods to build his own army.