Changes: Wargs

Revision as of 15:32, 2 October 2019

Wargs were a breed of wolves in Middle-earth who lived in the Misty Mountains and were captured and used especially by orcs of Isengard and Mordor in the Third Age. Though wargs were not specifically evil themselves, they were known to be exclusively used by or alongside Goblins, sometimes as their steeds. They appear first in The Hobbit, attacking Thorin and Company as they traveled east from the Misty Mountains.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, wargs attacked the Fellowship as they camped near Moria. That they were wargs, and not ordinary wolves searching for food, Gandalf remarked, was evident from the fact that their carcasses had disappeared by the next morning.^[1]

Later, during Théoden's retreat to Helm's Deep from Edoras a scout reported that "wolf-riders" were abroad in the valley, but wargs were not specifically mentioned.

History

In TA 2941, a pack of wargs planned to meet the goblins of the Misty Mountains and organize a raid on several nearby villages, in order to drive the woodmen out and capture some slaves. As the pack approached the meeting-place east of the mountains, they encountered by accident Thorin's Company, along with Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins, who had just escaped the same goblins. Gandalf, seeing the pack coming, suggested climbing up a nearby stand of trees. This was done, and Dori helped Bilbo out of the wargs' reach just in time.

The wargs, thinking that the Dwarves were allies of the woodmen, surrounded the glade and prevented them from descending. Gandalf then used his magic to light up pine-cones and hurl them against the wargs, until they were driven out. The wolves that had caught fire fled into the forest and had set it alight in several places, since it was high summer, and on this eastern side of the mountains there had been little rain for some time. However the guards left under the trees did not go away. Eventually goblins showed up and lit the trees the dwarves were hiding in, until the eagles came to rescue them.

Not long after the news of Smaug’s death spread throughout Middle-earth, wargs and goblins united to claim the Lonely Mountain as their own, but were defeated by an alliance of Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Great Eagles in the Battle of Five Armies.

The hobbit warg by jd1680a-d6tq79i — A Warg pack from *An Unexpected Journey*

Later, on January 13 of TA 3019, the Fellowship of the Ring was attacked by a group of wargs, presumably sent by Saruman to waylay them after the failed attempt to cross the Redhorn Pass. The wargs fled after their first assault, but returned with reinforcements. Eventually, this second assault also failed, and by morning the Fellowship noticed that the carcasses of the wargs slain had vanished.

Physical attributes

Wargs are described as being giant, intelligent, and malevolent wolves.

Etymology

The word warg comes from the Old Norse word vargr, meaning "wolf".^[2]

Portrayals in adaptations

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Peter Jackson's films

The Hobbit film trilogy

The wargs of Gundabad are wolf-like with grey fur, and are bred by the orcs of Mount Gundabad. Throughout the events of The Hobbit Trilogy, a pack of wargs are in the service of Azog, who had survived the skirmish at Moria. Among these wargs is a larger one with a white pelt that Azog rides, revealed in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey guide book to be the Warg Matriarch of the Gunbabad Wargs. Gandalf once stated in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that the Gundabad wargs are faster than any other breed.

White warg hobbit — Azog's female white warg

During the events of An Unexpected Journey, a warg pack under Warg riders led by Yazneg and Fimbul stalk The Company of Thorin II Oakenshield before making their presence known in the trollshaws. Though Radagast offers to distract their pursuers by riding on his sled pulled by Rhosgobel Rabbits, the warg riders see the Company and chase after them before finding themselves ambushed by the elves of Rivendell after the Company flees into the Hidden Pass. Azog later feeds Yazneg to the wargs at the orc camp at Amon Sûl. Azog later rides the Warg Matriarch to personally hunt Thorin, who manages to elude him with the aid of both the Great Eagles at the Misty Mountains and Beorn. The Gundabad wargs make fewer appearances in the The Desolation of Smaug, when Bolg and a small force of warg riders trail the company to Dale, and The Battle of the Five Armies, where Azog rides the Warg Matriarch on the march to Erebor before instructing Bolg to retrieve their reinforcements in Gundabad. In the extended edition of The Battle of the Five Armies, a company of forty Gundabad wargs, including between fifteen and twenty warg riders, are part of Azog's massive army and also participate in the final battle outside the city of Dale and the dwarven kingdom of Erebor.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Índice — A Warg as seen in *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*

The eastern wargs seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy are noticeably hyena-like in appearance. An eastern warg measures about five feet at the shoulder, and could be up to eight in length from snout to hindquarters. The head has a short muzzle full of huge fangs, small eyes set on the sides of the head and ears at the back of the skull.

Warg 2 — A Warg staring Gimli in the face

In The Two Towers film, Saruman sends the orc Sharku with a company of warg riders to attack the people of Rohan as they make their way to Helm's Deep. Sharku battles Aragorn, and his warg falls with Aragorn off of a cliff into a river. The wargs and orcs lose the battle, and the survivors flee.

In The Return of the King film, a warg serves as the mount for Gothmog during the Siege of Gondor, and several other wargs can be seen storming the city with their orc riders. In the commentary in the Special Extended Edition of the film, Jackson says that the scene was chaotic to shoot, and that 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.

Video games

In The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, 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 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.
In The Lord of the Rings Online, wargs can be found throughout the world. A warg-stalker is also a playable class in Monster Play.
In the Medieval 2: Total War: Kingdoms mod, Third Age: Total War, Warg Riders are used by the factions of Isengard, Orcs of the Misty Mountains, and Orcs of Gundabad as a light cavalry unit.
In LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, Wargs appear as enemies and can be ridden in the level "Warg Attack."

Translations around the World

Foreign Language		Translated name
Chinese (Hong Kong)	-	座狼
Czech		Vrrk
French		Warg/Ouarge
Spanish		Huargo
Russian		Варги

References

[1] The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

[2] Warg (Wikipedia)

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 == See also ==
-* [[Werewolves]], those under service of [[Morgoth]] and Sauron during the [[First Age]].
+*[[Werewolves]], those under service of [[Morgoth]] and [[Sauron]] during the [[First Age]].
 {{Races}}