| ! | 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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- "He's dead. Took a little tumble off the cliff."
- —Sharku to Legolas and Gimli, about Aragorn
Sharku was a veteran Orc chieftain who led a pack of Warg-riders aligned with the Wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers film.
In J.R.R. Tolkien's books, Warg-riders or wolf-riders are occasionally alluded to, but no leader is specified. But while the character is unique to Peter Jackson's films, his name is derived from an original footnote in The Lord of the Rings stating that Saruman's nickname "Sharkey" was a corruption of the word sharku, meaning 'old man'.[2] He was played by Peter Jackson's friend Jed Brophy.
In adaptations[]
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy[]
Background[]
A battle-scarred veteran of the Goblin-wars, Sharku was the chieftain of a tribe of Warg-riding Orcs. During the War of the Ring, his pack supported the Wizard Saruman in his plot to conquer Rohan, more or less on behalf of his "dark master".[3]
In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers[]
After Théoden King and his people left Edoras, Saruman sent Sharku and his Warg-riders to ambush the Rohirrim on their way to Helm's Deep and slaughter them. In the ensuing battle, the women and children are led to safety while the Théoden's men fight the wolves of Isengard head on. Aragorn grabs hold of Sharku's Warg mid stride and the two proceed to struggle. Sharku is stabbed in the chest by Aragorn using his Elven knife before the Orc chieftain could use his own dagger. The Warg bounds towards the edge of a canyon as Sharku is launched off his saddle and sent tumbling carelessly across the ground. Meanwhile Aragorn, stuck to the saddle strap, falls off the cliff edge with the riderless Warg many metres below to his supposed death. Unable to find Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli confront a dying Sharku who gleefully reveals Aragorn's fate before expiring.
Character[]
Sharku, grinning sadistically.
As a typical Orc, he had green-grey skin, protruding, jagged, discoloured teeth and a tangle of thinning hair. But Sharku's most striking features were his deep facial scars, caused by Warg clawing which also claimed one of his eyes and part of his ear. His skull was held together by pieces of metal clipped to either side of these slash marks.
Like many of his kind, Sharku was cruel and vicious, and his brutality was easily harnessed and directed by Saruman against Théoden's people. The Orc chieftain took delight in the fear of his victims and allowing his Warg mount to feast on the fallen. When Saruman instructed him to send out the Warg-riders, Sharku barred his teeth in a twisted grin. Even when dying, Sharku displayed a sadistic nature, being amused at Aragorn's apparent death and jesting that "he took a tumble off the cliff".
Voice dubbing actors[]
| Foreign Language | Voice dubbing artist |
|---|---|
| Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD) | Mauro Castro |
| Spanish (Latin America) | Eduardo Fonseca |
| Spanish (Spain) | Lucas Cisneros |
| German | Reinhard Scheunemann |
In video games[]
Sharku in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II.
Sharku appears in the The Two Towers video game and in The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. He is also a hero in the game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II for the Isengard faction.
In other games[]
In the Top Trumps card game, Sharku is said to have been 5,000 years old and a veteran of the Goblin Wars.
References[]
- ↑ Jed Brophy at IMDb
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter VIII: "The Scouring of the Shire"
- ↑ The Two Towers, "The Voice of Saruman"