| ! | Non-canon alert The subject of this article originates from non-canonical sources. To learn about what is considered "canon", see LOTR:Canon. |
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Ratbag was an Uruk who was rescued from punishment by the Ranger Talion and began to serve him, as a secret traitor in Sauron's army.
Ratbag is non-canonical as he does not appear in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Biography[]
In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Talion first encounters Ratbag tied up on a pole, offering 'genuine' information regarding the Black Hand of Sauron. Questioning the legitimacy of his claims, Talion points Acharn at Ratbag's throat. Ratbag dares Talion to kill him and lose his info. When Talion ponders ending the Uruk's misery, Ratbag quickly drops the jest before promising to ensure the Ranger's plan seen through. Talion uses his wraith-powers to obtain Ratbag's information before cutting his ropes. While looting an Orc corpse, Ratbag proposes making himself Warchief. While Talion eliminates Uruks in authority one by one, Ratbag is on the way to becoming a Warchief, but is supposedly killed by the Hammer of Sauron before Talion fights him.
To the contrary, Ratbag is still alive in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Thanks to Orcish resilience and some Orcish medicine, he survived, but was captured by a band of slavers, and was placed in the same cage as an Olog-hai that could only speak in Black Speech that Ratbag named Ranger in honor of his human friend. This Ranger found Ratbag detestable, but noted that he retained a cunning survivalist instinct that the Olog could take advantage of. Together they formed an alliance and were able to overpower and kill all the slavers. Ranger found himself in Ratbag's debt and felt honorbound to follow him. Ratbag's ambition having not been diminished since his failed stint as Warchief concocted an outlandish scheme where he and Ranger would pose themselves as a two-headed Troll named the Ettin, and managed to successfully work their way up the ranks to Overlord of a fort on the Sea of Nurnen.
However his path crossed with Talion's once again who was now using the New Ring to liberate Mordor, with Ratbag's fort being his first target. Amassing a new Army of the Bright Lord the fort was taken in an assault, but when coming to defeat the Overlord with the Olog commander Bruz, 'the Ettin' recognized Talion, abandoning the disguise and greeting him warmly as a friend, de-escalating the conflict. Ratbag had in fact grown tired of his responsibilities as Overlord, and was happy to hand the reigns of power over to someone in Talion's army, on the condition that it was 'anyone but Bruz' for the two had a mutual animosity. Talion grew quickly tired of Ratbag's antics, but wasn't going to turn down a potential ally, and complied.
Ratbag's warnings that Brûz must not be overlord and that he will betray Talion were proven right. Sauron's forces attempted to retake the For, but after successfully breaking the siege Bruz literally stabbed Talion in the back taking it for his own. Ratbag's survival instincts saved him again, managing to flee the purges that Bruz was now enacting against the Bright Lord's loyalists, and reconvened with Talion to save his soldiers, and more importantly for Ratbag, Ranger who had been also been captured by Bruz. And thanks to an escape tunnel that Ratbag had installed in the fort, the Bright Lord's army was able to retake the Fort without a costly assault, however Bruz had managed to escape and Ranger had not been found.
Across Mordor Bruz would continue to harass the Bright Lords followers, with Ratbag having made it his personal mission to track Bruz to recover Ranger and informed Talion on Bruz's movements and actions. In order to put down any potential future turncoats, the Bright Lord rather than execute Bruz instead shamed him to the point of destroying Bruz's sanity. Such a gruesome act was unsettling even to someone as low as Ratbag, and with the newly freed Ranger, together the two quietly left the Bright Lord's service.
Personality[]
Ratbag is very cowardly, unable and unwilling to fight anyone stronger than himself, relying instead on words in such a circumstance. He is defined as an Uruk with more ambition than sense, wanting to climb the ranks of the Uruk hierarchy and more than happy to act as an infiltrator and spy for Talion, without considering the many enemies he would make along the way, or the responsibilities that such a rank would bestow on him. However Ratbag's strongest trait is his strong survival instincts, while it can easily be dismissed as cowardice, Ratbag has managed to survive multiple brushes with death, and even those who might otherwise detest him cannot help but find that skill his most admirable trait.
Despite his obliviousness to the disdain others show him, something that he brings out with almost anyone he interacts with (enemy or ally alike), he is warm and welcoming to those he considers friends and despite his typical cowardice finds an uncharacteristic determination to help an ally in danger.