Characters / Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Allies

The allies encountered in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

Beware of spoilers!

Introduced in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Gollum

Sméagol / Gollum

Race: Hobbits (Stoor) (formerly)

"The Bright Master is kind!"

Voiced by: Liam O'Brien

A terrifying, pitiful creature that used to be a Hobbit, centuries of exposure to the One Ring have mutated Gollum and given him a burning desire to always be with his "Precious." He assists the "Bright Lord" and Talion by retrieving artifacts that help the former remember who he is, and thus, bring him closer to reuniting with the One Ring.

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• Big Damn Heroes: In Shadow of War, he attacks an Olog who is about to crush Talion. The Olog makes quick work of him, but it's the opening Talion needs to retaliate.
• The Cameo: His voice is briefly heard during Shadow of War's Golden Ending when he inadvertently destroys the One Ring.
• Continuity Nod: Gollum is Shelob's minion in Shadow of War, which foreshadows his actions in the books.
• Deadpan Snarker: Gets in a few jabs at Talion while singing a tune on the way to recover an artifact.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Gollum hides when Uruks and Caragors come around and tries to bash Talion's head in when he learns Celebrimbor also wants the Ring for himself. By the time of Shadow of War, he's become a minion of Shelob, whom he refers to as the Dark Mistress.
• Hobbits: Gollum was once a Stoor Hobbit who lived on the banks of the Anduin River, but 500 years of exposure to the One Ring's power have changed him into a monster.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Talion runs into him again at the beginning of Shadow of War and confronts him about his attempted murder of him at the end of Shadow of Mordor:
  Gollum: But we didn't! We would never hurt the Bright Lord! We makes up for it now, yes?
  • Exact Words: He considers Celebrimbor, not Talion, the "Bright Lord".
• Mr. Exposition: While he doesn't provide any traditional info dumps, it turns out that he knows a lot of things that aid Talion and Celebrimbor in their quest, like the locations of Celebrimbor's artifacts or the command structure of the local orc army.
• Split Personality: His two sides bicker occasionally, but the schism between the two isn't as emphasized as it usually is. Justified since Gollum's Sméagol persona only emerges due to the kindness of Frodo Baggins in the books; the Wraith is barely civil towards Gollum (and Talion is flat-out antagonistic towards him), so Sméagol has no reason to appear during the events of the games.
• True Sight: Due to his bond with the One Ring, Gollum can see and communicate with Celebrimbor and the Wraith World.
• Was Once a Man: Poor Sméagol was a Hobbit until a certain gold ring came along.

Ratbag

Ratbag the Coward

Race: Uruk-hai

"Ummm, backstabbing bodyguard! Eh?"

Voiced by: Phil LaMarr

An ambitious but useless excuse of an orc, Ratbag attempts to advance through the ranks of Uruk society via underhanded means but consistently fails due to his complete lack of combat prowess. After Talion rescues him (against the Ranger's better judgment), he teaches him "the ways of the orc" with how promotions and power struggles work; in return, Talion gets him installed as a Warchief. While seemingly executed by one of the Black Captains, Ratbag winds up becoming the Overlord of Núrnen in Shadow of War, whereupon he and Talion cross paths again.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: According to his Appendix entry, one of the reasons Ratbag became an Overlord was self-delusion and inability to realize what he was incapable of.
• Ascended Extra: Ratbag originally started out as simply one of the possible generated orcs in the initial demo of the game for the purposes of highlighting the Nemesis System. In the game proper, he's been promoted to an actual story character.
  • And he made it into the next game as well! And survived it too!
• Anything but That!: In Shadow of War, Ratbag has gotten tired of being Overlord, after realizing just how tiring it is to feed, train and make sure you don't get killed by your troops. Then Brûz announces that HE's the new Overlord and Ratbag does a complete one-eighty, loudly declaring that Brûz can't be Overlord. Only the Valar know why Ratbag is opposed to that idea.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Has aspirations for ascending to the rank of Warchief, although it's made painfully clear that he wouldn't have the slightest chance of accomplishing that goal were it not for Talion's intervention. It's especially obvious when he makes big talk about his plans to infiltrate the Black Hand's inner circle — right before he and Talion stumble upon some enemy grunts and he starts yelling for them to leave him alone and target the Ranger.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: In Shadow of War, he's basically the Master part of the game's Master Blaster in the first Overlord mission. The "two-headed Olog" is actually just him atop a really big but otherwise completely normal Olog.
  • Brains and Brawn: Ratbag sees himself as this in his relationship with Ranger. In truth, Ranger is actually quite articulate and intelligent (almost certainly moreso than Ratbag), but since he usually doesn't speak Common Tongue and Ratbag doesn't know Black Speech, Ratbag can't understand a word he says and just assumes Ranger is typical Dumb Muscle.
• Body Horror: Far from the worst ailment among the Uruks, but Ratbag has a grotesquely large case of Skull Bossing. And, of course, there's the scar on his head from when the Hammer clobbered him.
• Boisterous Weakling: He is listed as a Coward, but you have to admire his willingness to mouth off to Orcs who could happily kill him effortlessly.
• Born Lucky: According to his Appendix entry, his biggest superpower. It's the reason despite being the scrawniest Uruk whom nobody likes due to his Motor Mouth, he survives and even thrives. Think of his being brained by The Hammer — had he not been knocked into the next land, he'd have been Brainwashed and Crazy, with Talion likely being forced to kill him off. And the next game reveals that he was lucky enough to even survive that!
• Bullying a Dragon: Tries to mouth off to Talion in their first encounter. He ends up crumpling under the latter threatens him.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Gets absolutely zero respect from anybody. This is reflected in his power rating when Captain or Warchief, as his is far lower than freshly appointed Captains who haven't even tried to increase their power. The only captains that start out as weak as Ratbag are the ones specifically called Weak or Timid as their titles.
  • One of his anecdotes involve Ratbag being thrown into a caragor pit for the other uruks' amusement. The caragor, instead of ripping the runt limb from limb, proceeded to bat Ratbag around like a ball of yarn.
• Character Development: Ratbag started out desperately wanting to become a Warchief, and it gets him (nearly) killed. By the events of War, Ratbag has actually promoted himself beyond Warchief as an Overlord, but realizes it's Lonely at the Top, isn't fond of Klingon Promotion, and has matured to valuing friends over power. He's still a Motor Mouth, though.
• Chekhov's Gun: When Talion's recently-captured fort in Núrnen is besieged, a panicked Ratbag announces that his escape tunnel is jammed. Ho-ho, the Coward (and his incompetence) strikes again, right? Cue the next mission, where Brûz has betrayed Talion and seized control of the fortress; Talion suddenly remembers the tunnel's existence and uses it to sneak himself and a handful of loyalists back into the fortress's keep for a climactic showdown.
• Cowardly Sidekick: Ends up serving as this to Talion, much to the ranger's chagrin. While he's arguably less cowardly in Shadow of War, he still makes sure to stay as far away from the action as possible.
• Climactic Battle Resurrection: If the player brands all captains and warchiefs in both regions before playing the Lord of Mordor mission, Ratbag will appear in the mission's opening battle to give a rousing speech to Sauron's forces, as seen in this video. This is a glitch in the game, as Shadow of War confirms this appearance to be non-canon.
• Defector from Decadence: While he shares his race's more violent tendencies, such as being a Nightmare Fetishist and In Love with Your Carnage and engaging in Klingon Promotion, he and Ranger prove that Orcs really aren't Always Chaotic Evil. He actually learns empathy and compassion for others, at least other Orcs and Ologs, and he considers himself to be friends with Talion.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • It somehow never dawns on him that being a Warchief is a hazardous enterprise when Talion is in the picture. Even if Talion doesn't kill him himself, his superiors would undoubtedly demand to know why he's allowing the ranger to run amok.
  • He also never seems to consider that he might not actually want the position that he's jockeying for.
• Distressed Dude: He somehow manages to find himself in hot water at the start of every single one of his story quests. No points for guessing what happens when Talion is too late — or too uninterested — to bail him out. Actually, you do get some points if you guessed that he's Not Quite Dead.
  • Averted in Shadow of War, where Ratbag's distress is due to Brûz kidnapping Ranger.
• Dumbass Has a Point:
  • When Ratbag discovers that Bruz is working for Talion, he immediately distrusts him and argues against making Bruz the overlord. Ratbag tells Ranger to watch him in case he does anything suspicious "Like, you know, kill me." True enough, once Talion defends the tower, Bruz decides to betray him and tries to kill him.
  • When Talion shows reluctance to waste time and effort trying to free Ranger, Ratbag calls him out, claiming that he and Ranger somehow got rid of Brûz and asking why they or any other Orc in his service should support him if he won't do the same for them. Celebrimbor admits that Ratbag has a point; they will lose the loyalty of their followers if they don't prove that attacks on the Bright Lord's soldiers won't go unpunished. Humorously, Ratbag himself doesn't seem terribly convinced with his own argument:
    Talion: You may have a point.
    Ratbag: I do? (Beat) I mean, yeah, I do!
• Embarrassing Nickname: Ratbag's sobriquet, "the Coward," which describes him quite accurately. He seems to have managed to drop it for good in Shadow of War, even after his survival becomes common knowledge in Mordor; appropriately, this coincides with his taking a level in badass as mentioned below.
• Epic Fail: In Uruk form. Every step of Ratbag's planned ascension goes awry. Aside from commanding absolutely no respect from his underlings, he fails miserably in his attempt to duel Brogg the Twin — and then, after Talion kills Brogg, Ratbag claims credit for the kill and attempts to infiltrate the ranks of Brogg's superior...who also happens to be Brogg's twin, which Ratbag somehow wasn't aware of ahead of time. Finally, after Talion saves him from that fiasco, Ratbag's ill-gotten promotion to Warchief only makes him The Scapegoat for the Hammer's wrath when the Gorthaur is destroyed and Ratbag's the only Warchief in Udûn who's still alive.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even though he is a member of the resident Chaotic Evil race, he seems horrified to see what happened to Brûz after Talion/Celebrimbor completely breaks him — though he also may just be in awe at Talion's ability to break minds. invoked
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Downplayed since, in true Ratbag fashion, he only realizes that Brûz used him to lure Talion into a trap after Talion has escaped said trap.
  Ratbag: Was it a trap? I saw Brûz double back and then I heard a bunch of explosions and then you killed a bunch of... oh right. It was a trap.
• Failed a Spot Check: Somehow manages to get caught completely flat-footed by the fact that the Warchief whose ranks he's trying to infiltrate is the twin of the captain whom Ratbag (allegedly) killed to open up a vacancy for his infiltration. Becomes a bit of Fridge Humor when you consider that, assuming that the Sauron's Army screen is Talion's Memory Palace of the local orc army hierarchy, Talion knows exactly whom Ratbag is gunning for but doesn't bother sharing that information with him...probably because he figures that Ratbag would at least make an effort to do his homework on the Warchief whom he's trying to backstab.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Talion and Ranger. While neither initially like him (the former is just using him to get to the Black Hand while the latter owes him a Life Debt), both soon learn to appreciate him. Ranger even likes him in a gruff way. Part of it is that Ratbag is a Harmless Villain who's Too Funny to Be Evil, and the other part is that Ratbag learns loyalty in a world of Klingon Promotion.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: All the other Orcs tend to not like Ratbag due to his cowardly nature, so much so that the Overlord of the second fortress Talion attacks might start his speech by mocking Ratbag.
  Overlord: Look what we have here! The little Ranger think's he's proved something now that he's taken Sharkhburz away from Ratbag. Well, this isn't Sharkhburz, and I'm not Ratbag!
• Gilligan Cut: In a sense. The first Ratbag story quest ends with him bragging to a couple of grunts that "an old friend of [his] is about to lose his head." The next Ratbag story quest begins with said "old friend" prepping Ratbag to lose his head instead.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: In Shadow of War, careful eyes will notice the massive scar that has stitches down the right side of his face. To listen to Ratbag, it was a love tap, but the wound indicates the entire side of Ratbag's face was split open like a cantaloupe. Iron Butt Monkey indeed.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Ratbag has always been completely hopeless in combat, and he always will be (bear in mind that this guy cowers when confronted by grunts); however, he's a good tracker and decent at stealth, and in Shadow of War, his skills prove to be useful in locating the missing Ranger and enabling Talion to get the drop on Brûz.
  • He's also a surprisingly good and loyal friend. He is utterly dedicated to getting Ranger back after the Olog is captured and is one of the only Orcs to be loyal to Talion without being dominated.
• I Owe You My Life: Ranger, the Olog whom Ratbag teams with, doesn't like him at all — but he honors a Life Debt to Ratbag.
• I Resemble That Remark!: When Brûz tries to block his way to Talion and disparages him as a whinger, Ratbag reacts... by whinging.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Anyone's carnage. Even though he despises Brûz and admires Talion, for instance, he still gleefully recounts the way Brûz impaled Talion during his betrayal — right in front of Talion. It seems to be standard for most Orcs, though.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Yes, he's a tool. Yes, he's pitiful. Yes, he has zero friends. And yet he can take a swing from Sauron's own mace, yet receive nothing worse than a short-term blackout and a headache — and an absolutely massive head wound.
• Irony: In a game about branding and control, Ratbag is the only Uruk Captain Talion doesn't brand over the course of two games^note Talion did subject Ratbag to the Facepalm of Doom almost immediately upon meeting him, but that was just to extract information from Ratbag's mind, since Branding wasn't unlocked at that point in the game. Rather, he voluntarily throws in his lot with Talion and remains loyal to him, even coming to see him as a friend.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ratbag might be a slimy coward, but genuinely cares for those he considers his friends, like Talion and Ranger.
• Klingon Promotion: Par for the course for Uruk society, but Ratbag takes the cake by being completely and hopelessly inept at it...but somehow managing to survive long enough to get Talion to kill his enemies for him. So...Double Subversion maybe?
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Significantly downplayed: Ratbag quickly cedes being Overlord to Talion, but while he knows that he wouldn't survive if they came to blows (and probably suspects that Ranger won't either, since Talion just killed or dominated the fortress's entire defense force), it also turns out that he hates the job and sees Talion's invasion as a golden opportunity to abandon it.
• Let Me at Him!: When Brûz kidnaps Ranger, Ratbag insists and insists on hunting him down on his own when he and Talion hit a dead end searching for them. He seems all set to enter a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to fully realize his Character Development in the sequel... until he checks himself and says he'll come and fetch Talion when he finally locates the two Olog-hai. To his credit, Talion has to pursuade him not to, informing him he's not right for the task; it's a rare time he's stopped by a moment of self-awareness and not cowardice.
• Made of Iron: Considering how puny he is for an orc, turns out he survived being hit by Sauron's Hammer and was only knocked out. He even lampshades the incident by saying that decapitation is the only proper way to kill an orc ("does the job every time — well, almost every time").
• Minion with an F in Evil: Qualifies as this, given that all Uruks are ultimately Sauron's Mooks. He never manages to kill a single one of his targets or do anything remotely evil (or do anything, period), at least in Shadow of Mordor — though not for lack of effort, bless his cowardly little black heart.
• Mole in Charge: He's eventually promoted to Warchief thanks to Talion slaying his rivals and serves as his first Orc at the top. Unsurprisingly, he manages to accomplish exactly nothing before the Hammer of Sauron shows up and almost literally whacks him out of the game.
• Motor Mouth: The primary reason why other Uruks dislike him.
• Mr. Exposition: He explains the Uruk command structure to Talion, notably introducing the notoriously reclusive Warchiefs. He also winds up being an object lesson for other aspects of the Nemesis System.
  • Downplayed in Shadow of War, but his mention of the Headhunter is the only in-game reference to the Market. Ironically, while the Market — and, by extension, the Headhunter — were eventually removed from the game, Ratbag's monologue was not changed, so his talk about the Headhunter no longer makes any sense.
• Not Brainwashed: Which is particularly notable in a game series where Heel–Face Brainwashing is a key gameplay mechanic. Having been bullied by the other orcs so often, and having seen Talion in action, Ratbag is well aware that remaining in the Ranger's good graces is objectively his best chance of survival, to say nothing of the promotion that he so desperately craves. By the time of Shadow of War, Ratbag genuinely considers Talion to be a friend and interacts with him on the basis of their relationship rather than ambition; in fact, he's quite the opposite of ambitious by then.
• Not Quite Dead: Ratbag turns out to be alive in Shadow of War, having only been knocked out by the Hammer in the previous game. He explains that only decapitation can really (usually) make sure a orc stays dead.
• Oh, Crap!: When his minions throw him in front of the Hammer of Sauron to explain why, as the only surviving Warchief in Udûn, he failed to prevent the destruction of the Gorthaur.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Heavily implied, because let's face it, the only way that Ratbag could ever have become a captain in the first place is if he'd found a dead captain and stolen his gear and rank.
• Pet the Dog: In Shadow of War, it is shown that he genuinely cares about his Olog friend whom he named "Ranger", and even asks Talion to rescue him. Furthermore it shows Ratbag genuinely cares for Talion in his own way.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The most consistent source of humor in the game, due to his cowardice and pathetic attempts at climbing the Orc ranks. In Shadow of War, he retains this role despite having taken a level in badass, mostly due to the sheer amount of idiocy that comes out of his mouth.
• Pragmatic Villainy: One of his main reasoning behind allying with Talion, the enemy of his master. If he decided to be hostile towards Talion on sight, he'd likely be slain with ease. But if the two allied, not only would the Warchiefs be weakened, but Ratbag could rise in the ranks. Talion and Ratbag are allies by convenience, but Ratbag still has dreams to join the Black Hand's inner circle, and he's willing to use Talion for his own schemes. Eventually, his respect for Talion becomes more genuine and amicable.
  Ratbag: We have similar goals, Ranger. See, you want to kill the Cap'n, and somebody's got to take his place. Somebody like Ratbag.
  Talion: So this Goroth is in charge?
  Ratbag: Of this camp, yea. But he's no Warchief. They answer directly to the Black Hand. I'll show them all when I'm in the Black Hand's inner circle. Becoming a captain is just the first step of Ratbag's plan to become a Warchief.
  Talion: Then prepare to step hard on his neck.
• Quest Giver: For the latter half of the Brûz quest line. Brûz exploits this as part of his quest of revenge against Talion, usually by sending messages to Ratbag that he's meant to convey to the ranger.
• Running Gag: He starts every single one of his story quests as a Distressed Dude.
  • Downplayed in Shadow of War, but he's the Quest Giver for the latter half of the Brûz quest line since he keeps bugging Talion to help him with this or that. Primarily to help him rescue Ranger.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: Downplayed in Shadow of War, since Tracker is an advanced class in the Nemesis System and particularly persistent Nemeses are capable of hunting Talion across regions, but Ratbag gets a chance to show off his tracking chops when Brûz kidnaps Ranger and he tracks the two all over Mordor.
• Scars Are Forever: Has a tangle of prominent black stitches on his right temple, likely where his skull was caved in by the Hammer.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Twice in Shadow of War:
  • Not only did he somehow manage to promote himself (and Ranger) to Overlord of Núrnen, he also grew to hate the position — so when Talion arrives to wrest control of the region from them, he's only too happy to give it up.
  • In a straighter example, he and Ranger ultimately end up deserting Talion in horror over Brûz's Shaming.
• Self-Serving Memory: While trying to persuade Talion to help him rescue the kidnapped Ranger, Ratbag claims that Talion owes them since they "got rid of Brûz" for him. (Fact check: Talion and some of his followers — including the former overlord of Sharkhburz, whom Brûz ousted — were the ones who actually "got rid of Brûz." Ratbag was cowering in a corridor, while Ranger was not present at all.)
  Talion: Not exactly how I remember it.
• Shoo Out the Clowns:
  • Downplayed in Shadow of Mordor, but he gets killed off by the Hammer (or so it seems) right before Talion finally begins executing the long-awaited revenge that has been his primary driving motivator throughout the game. In turn, this is shortly before Talion unlocks Branding, turning the name of the game from "kill everyone" to "Mind Control 'Em All" and adding new layers of Chessmastery to gameplay.
  • Also, he and Ranger vanish from Shadow of War just before it becomes noticeably Darker and Edgier.
• Shoot the Messenger: Surprisingly, Ratbag is actually on the giving end of this trope in Shadow of War.
  Talion: Isn't there an expression about killing the messenger?
  Ratbag: Yeah. Always kill the messenger.
  Talion: Well, that actually explains a lot.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Ranger hate the idea of answering to Brûz, and the resulting argument between the three gets them all in hot water with Talion. Why they hate each other is never elaborated on, though their first reactions to each other makes it seem that have met each other before.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: He wears a ribcage with a collar of tusks as a cuirass, for starters.
• Smarter Than You Look: In Shadow of War, he is the only Overlord to think of creating an escape tunnel in case of an attack. Of course, within the game, it's taken as yet another example of his cowardice rather than any sign of intelligence — and he apparently didn't have the foresight to maintain the tunnel, so it winds up being jammed and useless when the enemy comes calling. However, it does wind up being a Chekhov's Gun for Talion; see that trope above for details.
• Third-Person Person: In Shadow of Mordor, Ratbag usually refers to himself in the third person. He does use personal pronouns once in a while, though. Averted in Shadow of War, where Ratbag uses personal pronouns more consistently, although he occasionally relapses.
• Token Heroic Orc: Averted, as he's not motivated by any noble cause (stopping the Black Captains, freeing the Outcasts, etc...), he wants to be Warchief because he wants to be the one calling the shots. He decides to aid Talion because the latter is incredibly skilled at killing his competition, which he takes credit for (a popular way amongst Uruk kind to get promotions is to kill whoever is bossing you around). He's still courteous and respectful to Talion and cares deeply for Ranger(the Olog), but he's still an Uruk, and isn't afraid to kill for what he wants.
• Took a Level in Badass: And only one level. In Shadow of War, Ratbag backs down a lot less and gives bolder and (slightly) more intelligent comments and suggestions compared to the first game. He also at one point manages to overpower and decapitate a messenger grunt out of anger.
• Undying Loyalty: To Ranger. While one might think that Ratbag's simply afraid of losing a very big bodyguard, it turns out that he also genuinely cares about Ranger as a friend.
  • It's also worth noting that Ratbag is the also the only Orc in either game to serve Talion without being Dominated, and in War he actually looks up to and considers himself friendly with Talion.
• Unfazed Everyman: Traces of it creep into his characterization in Shadow of War. Being nearly crushed by Brûz only sees him take exception to the insults he throws at him. Talion holding his sword to his throat only cows him for a second before he gets distracted reminiscing about being Overlord. Surviving a full-force blow with the mace of Sauron seems to have knocked all sense of caution and insecurity out of the little blighter.
• Unwitting Pawn: Brûz uses him to lure Talion into a Death Trap.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Significantly downplayed, but Brûz's Death Trap that Ratbag unwittingly lures Talion into is the The Last Straw that pushes Talion to agree to Celebrimbor's proposal to inflict a Fate Worse than Death upon Brûz, whereas he'd previously rejected that notion in favor of simply killing the Olog for his betrayal.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Ratbag named his Olog companion "Ranger," after Talion.
• You Have Failed Me: In Shadow of Mordor, he is killed by the Hammer of Sauron for failing to prevent Talion from destroying the Gorthaur. Come Shadow of War, however, it turns out that he survived.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Failed example, sort of — Talion first finds Ratbag bound, and Ratbag offers to "tell him everything". Talion responds by placing his broken blade to Ratbag's chin. Ratbag yells at him to go ahead, because he'll know nothing if it does. Talion calls his bluff by suggesting he'll grant the request, quickly causing Ratbag to sputter a Rapid-Fire "No!" and claim that he was jesting. Talion, of course, lets Ratbag live, but it certainly wasn't because of Ratbag's attempt at bravado.

Hirgon

Hirgon of Tarnost

Race: Men (Outcasts, formerly Gondor)

Voiced by: Travis Willingham

A former Ranger of Gondor, Hirgon used to serve at the Black Gate until he met the Outcasts, stubborn, resourceful folk who made a living out of Mordor in spite of its harsh and brutal nature.

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• Androcles' Lion: In his backstory. He first encountered Eryn while on guard duty at the Black Gate, catching her attempting to steal supplies; however, instead of arresting or executing her for trespassing, he let her go and even encouraged her to take what she could. Later, after abandoning his post, he fell sick, only for Eryn to show up and nurse him back to health. It could've been a Contrived Coincidence, or it might've been a sign that she was beginning to return his feelings.
• Bullying a Dragon: As it turns out, blowing up the Gorthaur only served to get the Hammer of Sauron to personally attack his men.
• Defecting for Love: In his backstory, after meeting and falling in love with Eryn, an Outcast woman, he abandoned his post at the Black Gate and risked execution to be with her.
• Defector from Decadence: In his backstory, while his desertion was mostly motivated by his feelings for Eryn, he also expressed distaste for Gondor's Lack of Empathy towards the Outcasts. It's left up to the player's interpretation of how "decadent" Gondor actually was, but various artifact memories indicate that they had a history of mistreating the Outcasts.
  Hirgon: Duty clouds kindness in these parts.
• Going Native: He first showed mercy and sympathy towards an Outcast woman, then fell in love with her. After she saved his life after he abandoned his post to join her, he was adopted by the Outcasts and married her. Though he's a Ranger from Gondor, he considers the Outcasts his people now.
• Happily Married: To Eryn.
• Made a Slave: After Talion kills Gimûb the Slaver while looking for a slave who fought the Black Hand, Hirgon shows up and reveals that it was he (and that it was more "fled from" than "fought"). He had apparently been in the possession of the random Uruk who attacked Talion, being sold to Gimûb for a keg of grog.
• Monumental Damage: Plots to blow up the Gorthaur, a giant statue of Sauron, as a statement of defiance and to improve his men's flagging morale. Talion participates in this scheme and ultimately strikes the decisive blow himself; unfortunately, it turns out that the entire affair was simply Bullying a Dragon (see that trope above for details).
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Significantly downplayed, but as mentioned under Made a Slave above, he encountered the Black Hand of Sauron and lived to tell the tale.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being introduced as fairly unreliable. While he's never happy to hear Talion's dour predictions, he always listens to them. It's ultimately implied to save his life, and the lives of his followers.
• Rebel Leader: For the Outcasts.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Used to be a Ranger like Talion before deserting and joining the Outcasts. Talion encourages him to do this again after destroying the Gorthaur, as his adopted people stood no chance against the Hammer.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Doesn't really seem to have had much of a struggle with this — while he evidently started out as Lawful, he switched over to Good almost immediately when the chips were down.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: Dialogue from an Outcast artefact shows he taught the Outcasts Gondorian methods of fighting in order to combat the Orcs.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Talion, back when they were both Rangers of Gondor stationed at the Black Gate. It's quickly subverted: Talion volunteered to hunt down Hirgon after he abandoned his post, but only because he knew that any of their fellow Rangers wouldn't hesitate to execute Hirgon for desertion, and he wished to spare him that fate.
• What You Are in the Dark: As a Ranger of Gondor who was assigned to the Black Gate, he barely hesitated to spare a thief when said thief turned out to be a starving woman who was simply trying to survive.

Lithariel

Lithariel

Race: Men (Tribesmen of Núrnen)

Voiced by: Abigail Marlowe

Adopted daughter of Lady Marwen and first in line to her throne, Lithariel finds Talion on behalf of her mother Marwen, informs him of her mother's visions, and brings him to Núrnen to help her people resist the marauding Uruk-hai.

Meta-wise, Lithariel is a skin the player can use for Talion in Story Mode and the Trials of War DLC^note including the Tests of Speed, Power, and Wisdom, as well as Endless Challenge. She also gets her own Trial of War, the Test of Defiance (part of the free Power of Defiance DLC), which features different victory conditions.

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• Action Girl: She's capable enough to handle several Uruks and emerge unscathed.
• Aerith and Bob: An unusual In-Universe version. Her name isn't very out of place in Middle-earth, but it is rather unusual for a human.
• Defiant Captive: She doesn't tell the Tower anything, literally spitting in his face when he demands to know where Talion is.
• Damsel in Distress: She gets captured by the Uruks and subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture to the point that Talion has to carry her out.
  • Damsel out of Distress: She tries to become this, but her escape attempt sadly fails.
• Forced to Watch: As she tells Talion, during her time as a prisoner of the Uruks, they made her watch them kill her men one at a time.
• Gilligan Cut: Her introductory cutscene ends with her informing Talion that "the return [from Udûn] to Núrnen is long and treacherous." The very next scene shows them entering Núrnen.
• Glass Cannon: Is this in the Test of Defiance. She has higher melee damage, but lower armor — and she cannot die at all if you want to complete the challenge.
• Happily Adopted: As an infant, she was the Sole Survivor of a trade ship attacked by a Tribesman raid, Lady Marwen adopting her afterwards.
• Promoted to Playable: She's playable in the Test of Defiance, part of the Trials of War DLC.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Along with being first in line to the throne of the Tribesmen, she's also their military commander and a fine warrior.
• Ship Tease: She develops feelings for Talion, but Celebrimbor scolds him for even thinking about reciprocating them so soon after his wife's death, especially since he's undead and she isn't.
• Tomboy Princess: Downplayed. She's definitely a superb warrior and commander along with being princess of the Tribesmen, but it's clear that they need all hands on deck if they hope to resist the Uruk-hai that have overrun Núrnen.
• Uncertain Doom: She was ready to evacuate her people out of Núrnen in the first game, but when Talion checks her hideout, the place has been ransacked by orcs with signs of fighting, yet no bodies were found. It's unknown what became of Lithariel and her mother when Talion returns to Núrnen in the second game, although he goes as far as to wonder aloud about their fate.
• Unrequited Love: While it's obvious that she and Talion have some romantic feelings toward one another, Celebrimbor's interference (described in Ship Tease above) as well as Talion's insistence on fighting the Black Hand render her into this. The very last verbal interaction she has with him makes it obvious she's bitter about it.

Lady Marwen

Lady Marwen

Race: Men (Tribesmen of Núrnen)

Voiced by: Claudia Black

"Queen of the Shore," Marwen leads the Tribesmen of Núrnen, serving as a guide, a leader, and a visionary for her people. Having received visions of a powerful Wraith who can help the Tribesmen resist the Uruks who are overrunning their land, she sends her daughter Lithariel to seek him out and solicit his assistance.

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• Ink-Suit Actor: Once Lithariel frees her of Saurman's control and she reverts to her former age, Marwen looks a lot more similar to Claudia Black.
• Magic Staff: Deconstructed. She's a Seer with such a staff, but the staff is a tool with which Saruman controls her. Lithariel has to break it to release her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Exhibits this after being freed from Saruman's control, realising that her attempts to get help from the White Wizard resulted in her being turned into his puppet and left her people less than ready to face Sauron's growing power.
• Pirate Girl: Her backstory includes a quest for glory as a pirate queen, raiding in hopes of rebuilding the Corsair empire, until she adopted Lithariel and settled down in Núrnen.
• People Puppets: She's under the control of Saruman til Lithariel breaks her staff under Talion's instruction.
• Seers: Her visions help in guiding the Wraith to uncovering his past and unlocking his powers.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She gives Talion and Celebrimbor the idea of forming a mind-controlled army.
• Younger Than They Look: Courtesy of being Saruman's Meat Puppet like King Théoden. When released, she loses a lot of wrinkles and her hair regains its black colour.

Torvin

Torvin

Race: Dwarves

Voiced by: Adam Croasdell

A Dwarf hunter, he's either outstandingly courageous, incredibly stupid, or a mix of both. He used to hunt with his brother Gorvin, taking down a number of violent and dangerous beasts together, until a rare, incredibly deadly horned Graug proved too much for them and took the life of his hunting partner. For over a decade he's sought vengeance, even training Talion so that he may stand a chance of hunting the beast.

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• Badass Normal: The orcs have been trying and failing to tame/ride Caragors for seemingly years. Talion can only do it because the Wraith has Mind Control superpowers. Torvin can do it because he's just that awesome. In fact, he claims that he managed to break in his first Caragor in about the same amount of time that it takes Talion to break in his first Caragor — and, again, he did it without any supernatural assistance. He's also got the art of Graug-slaying down to a science, complete with step-by-step instructions.
  • Significantly downplayed in Shadow of War, as the orcs have figured out how to tame caragors so well that caragor riders are a common sight throughout Mordor. Still: Torvin did it first.
• Best Served Cold: As mentioned in the description above, he's been plotting his revenge against the Great White Graug for ten years. It's somewhat downplayed by the fact that Dwarves have longer lifespans than Men^note In the source material, King Dáin was considered elderly at 250 years of age, but at least one Dwarf (Dwalin) was known to have lived for more than 300 years, but it's still a very long time to hunt a specific beast.
• Big Damn Heroes: How he makes his entrance in both games.
  • Shadow of Mordor: Rolls a keg of lit blasting powder into a cave where Talion is desperately fighting off a swarm of Ghûls, killing many of the Ghûls, scattering the survivors, and bailing out the Ranger.
  • Desolation of Mordor: Kills a were-wyrm that had just managed to drag Baranor under the sands of Lithlad, saving the erstwhile Captain of Minas Ithil from a grisly fate.
• The Big Guy: He's certainly got the personality. He's also huge for a Dwarf, being less than half a foot shorter than Talion.
• Book Dumb: Significantly downplayed, but in the Lord of the Hunt DLC, he reveals that he doesn't know how his blasting powder works, although he's well aware of how to use it. However, his collectible journal entries reveal that he's actually a skilled writer.
  Talion: Do you even know how the powder works?
  Torvin: All I know is if you put a spark to it, exciting things happen!
• Brave Scot: Well, he is a Dwarf. You can't have a stereotypical Dwarf without a Scottish accent.
• The Bus Came Back: By the time of the Desolation of Mordor Downloadable Content, Torvin's back in Mordor, having heard rumors of a gargantuan were-wyrm lurking under the sands of Lithlad.
• Butt-Monkey: Only in his background, though, due to having a mildly-abrasive older brother^note Torvin was used as bait for one monster the pair hunted, and his brother depicted him acting as a coward in another fight.
• Demoted to Extra: In the Desolation of Mordor DLC, as he and Baranor aren't involved in each other's quests. He doesn't even seem to make much headway in his stated goal of taking down the Rumbler, although that's justified by his reputation as a patient hunter — and, as he reveals at the end of the DLC, he somehow managed to determine its sex.
• Dude, Not Funny!: While exchanging war stories about their battle scars, Torvin jokingly asks if Talion's scars were caused by splinters, or maybe from shouting at his troops too loudly. Talion, who is still in mourning for his family and the men under his command, coldly gives Torvin a look and a warning to tread lightly on the subject. Torvin, realising he's touching on a sore spot for Talion, wisely changes the subject.
• Foil: To Talion. Both of them lost family members in Mordor and are on a quest for revenge against their killers, and they tame native monsters to serve as mounts and acquire allies to aid them in pursuit of their goals. (Not to mention that both of their names are six letters long, start with a T, end with an N, and include an I and an O.) However, Talion's quest involves explicitly supernatural elements and battling great evil using brainwashed servants of the Enemy; Torvin's is purely physical and much more petty in scope, and his sole ally (aside from tamed Caragors) is a more-or-less willing Talion.
  • Shadow of War adds new layers to the contrast between Torvin and Talion. Both of them are supporting characters in the game's story DLC, but Talion is fully on board Eltariel's goals, was a Hero of Another Story who worked with her in the past, and cooperates with her until his semi-involuntary Face–Heel Turn at the end of her DLC; on the other hand, Torvin has no such relationship with Baranor and never accompanies him in his quest, although the Dwarf saves his life at the beginning of the DLC and proves to be very helpful when it comes to upgrading his Númenórean gear.
• Gadgeteer Genius: In the Desolation of Mordor DLC, Torvin is something of a Q for Baranor. While he doesn't invent anything per se, he managed to reverse-engineer the Númenórean gauntlet and create a duplicate, which is why he gave the original to Baranor. He also repairs the broken pieces of Númenórean kit that Baranor finds scattered around Lithlad and uses them to upgrade Baranor's gauntlet.
• Genius Bruiser: Say what you will about his intelligence in some senses, but he definitely knows a good deal about hunting. And gadgetry.
• Great White Hunter: About as straight of an example as you can get.
• History Repeats: Gets knocked out by the Great White Graug during both of their battles, forcing his hunting partners to deal with the monster by themselves. Celebrimbor name-drops this trope while lampshading the situation. Fortunately, Talion proves to be more adept — and/or luckier — than Gorvin was at Graug-slaying.
  Celebrimbor: The Naug has fallen. History repeats itself.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: He has these instead of a traditional Dwarf beard.
• Informed Flaw: He makes self-deprecating jokes about the size of his gut — which is as flat as a board — and Talion joins in purely to humor him. Torvin likely knows it's not remotely true, but how often has he had hunting partners to banter with?
• It's Personal: With the Great White Graug for killing his brother.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Downplayed, but in a collectible journal entry in the Lord of the Hunt DLC, he reveals that he's aware of the Black Captains and earnestly hopes to never cross paths with them, and Talion — who has already killed the Hammer and the Tower by this point in the story — approves of his cautiousness.
• Malaproper: Torvin hasn't really had much book learning (though he's a suspiciously good writer). During his conversations with Talion in the Lord of the Hunt DLC, he comes to believe that 'redundant' means 'poisonous' and 'hypocritical' means 'brilliant.' Talion never bothers to correct him, and it's not hard to guess why.
• Mr. Exposition: In the Lord of the Hunt DLC, he alerts Talion to the presence of the Beastmaster Warchiefs and suggests methods to draw them out. He's also the author of the journal entries that the Ranger can discover over the course of the DLC, which detail his thoughts on various game elements, such as Mordor's wildlife, the Black Captains, and even Talion himself.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's a Dwarf, but in damned good shape, and all of his appearances are Walking Shirtless Scenes to show off his physique.
• My Greatest Failure: He feels his brother's death to be this, as Torvin believes had he heeded his brother's teaching on hunting, he might not have made the arrogant mistake that got himself knocked out, and his brother killed.
• Nice Guy: After killing the were-wyrm that was about to kill Baranor, he goes the extra mile of dragging him to his camp rather than leaving him to bake in the hot sun of the Lithlad desert, which is particularly notable since he wasn't even sure whether the former Captain of Minas Ithil was still alive. He apologizes for not being able to save Baranor's compatriots, gives him a bunch of absurdly powerful Númenórean gear, and gives him directions to the home base of the Vanishing Sons Mercenary Company — and the only thing he asks in return is that Baranor not inform them of his whereabouts. (Remember that he still knows practically nothing about Baranor.) While it's established that he's aware that Baranor is Gondorian, and he does seem to have good relations with Gondor, his actions still go well beyond the standard of courtesy.
• Noodle Incident: Much of his backstory, due to the titanic clashes inherent in his profession: the fight with the Mûmak, the first battle with the Great White Graug that cost the life of his brother, how he managed to determine the Rumbler's sex...
• One Degree of Separation: Retroactively, and it's easy to miss since the game doesn't call attention to it. Outcast leader and Talion's ex-army buddy Hirgon casually mentions (in a roundabout fashion) that his men stole blasting powder from a Dwarf^note Quoth Hirgon, "We took his powder and left him our footprints — pretty fair if you ask me."; Torvin later makes his Dynamic Entry into the story by rolling a keg of the stuff into the mass of Ghûls that Talion's fighting, saving the Ranger. A bit of Fridge Brilliance exaggerates it, as a collectible journal entry in the Lord of the Hunt DLC mentions Torvin's thoughts about the Gorthaur — guess what the Outcasts used the blasting powder to blow up in the main game? invoked
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Downplayed. In Shadow of Mordor, Torvin is simply a hunter, rather than a miner, craftsman, and/or warrior like all the other Dwarves in Middle-earth. Shadow of War reveals that Torvin is a Gadgeteer Genius, much like his kind, but it's still quite odd that gadgeteering seems to be what he does when he's not hunting, rather than the other way around.
• Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: He has a bunch of scars from his hunting days, but his two most prominent scars came from the Legendary Graug that killed his brother.
• Put on a Bus: Torvin returns to his homeland after having defeated the Great White Graug and the completion of Lord of the Hunt DLC, which explains his absence from Shadow of War when Talion and Celebrimbor return to Núrnen. However, see The Bus Came Back above.
• Serious Business: Regards the hunt as this, and takes offense when others don't share his opinion.
  Talion: You didn't bring me here just to hunt another wild cat, did you?
  Torvin: JUST to hunt a... (sputters)
• Skewed Priorities: In the Lord of the Hunt DLC, when his camp gets raided by Uruk-hai, he's more concerned with the theft of his brother's axe than that of the blasting powder, which Talion calls him out on. Surprisingly, it's arguably Played for Laughs.
  Talion: The Uruks have your explosive powder? How did this happen?
  Torvin (flustered): Forget about that, didn’t you hear what I said? They took. My Brother’s. Axe!
• Talking to the Dead: Downplayed. In the Desolation of Mordor DLC, Baranor can overhear Torvin addressing Gorvin (whom Shadow of Mordor players will know to be his deceased brother, although Baranor probably doesn't know that), commenting that he'd have loved Lithlad's were-wyrms.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: Doesn't play any role in Talion's quest, and while his monster-hunting training can come in handy on occasion (not to mention unlocking the extremely useful Shadow Mount skill), they're ultimately unnecessary when it comes to defeating the Black Captains^note Talion rides into the Final Battle atop a Caragor, but the fight would've played out exactly the same had he entered it on foot.
  • Averted in the Lord of the Hunt DLC, where his goal of taking down Núrnen's Beastmaster Warchiefs roughly dovetails with Talion's secondary objective of diminishing the Uruk threat...however, the DLC is arguably an extended Big-Lipped Alligator Moment within the context of Shadow of Mordor's greater story. invoked
  • Downplayed in the Desolation of Mordor DLC of Shadow of War, as he's singlehandedly responsible for Baranor surviving the opening cutscene. While his involvement in the story diminishes significantly afterwards, he's the one who identifies potential locations of Númenórean artifacts and upgrades Baranor's gadgetry to make him even more of a One-Man Army than ever.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He's constantly bare-chested, exposing his muscles and his scars.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Torvin has something approaching love for caragors, and even bears great respect for graugs. He respects and is in awe of all creatures of nature, even those of Mordor...except ghûls. He can't stand ghûls. When he speaks of them, he makes it clear that even the thought of the crawling creatures makes him want to scrub the inside of his skin. He's very hesitant — and later nauseated — when he comes up with the idea of having Talion control them.

Galadriel

Galadriel

Race: Elves (Lothlórien)

The Dark Lord and the Bright Lord are one.

Voiced by: Jennifer Hale

"Lady of Light" and bearer of the Elven ring Nenya, she provides the narration at the beginning of the game, and narrates "The Bright Lord" DLC. She gets a bigger role in the second game as an ally to Eltariel during the Blade of Galadriel DLC.

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• Book Ends: In a meta sense, as she provides the opening narration of Shadow of Mordor and also the closing narration of Shadow of War's Blade of Galadriel DLC^note although the campaign's final lines are uttered by Eltariel, which is set after the fall of Sauron and Talion's death.
• The Cameo: Makes an appearance in one of the Wraith's flashbacks in Shadow of Mordor.
• Dramatic Irony: Her task to Eltariel is an impossible one even if both Elves do not know it; as long as the One still survives, Sauron, the Nine, and the Nazgul will endure. The irony is strengthened when she chastises Eltariel in the Blade of Galadriel DLC for forgetting that her job was to go after the Nazgûl, not to defeat Sauron.
• Good Counterpart: To Celebrimbor. She also serves as a voice in Eltariel's mind in the same way he was to Talion's. However, Galadriel is firmly on the side of good rather than being a Knight Templar like Celebrimbor.
• Good Is Not Nice: She can be very brusque and critical of Eltariel's decisions during her DLC campaign, but that is because she has Middle-Earth's well-being in mind. She also forbids her servant from returning home until she completeds her quest, but allows her to do so even when it appears Talion is still not dead.
• Light Is Good: Her main power, which she provides as source to Eltariel's.
• Mission Control: Can become this to Eltariel in the Blade of Galadriel DLC if any of her Uruk allies suffers Permadeath.
• Opening Narration: Provides this as shadow literally falls upon the Black Gate.
• Really 700 Years Old: Well over 7000 years old by the time of the game.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: She is modeled closely after Cate Blanchett's interpretation of the character from the Peter Jackson films.
• Riddle for the Ages: Why did Galadriel tell Eltariel she could leave Mordor and go to the West after dispatching Talion?
• The Unseen: She appears in person exactly twice over the course of the games, both in the opening cutscenes of DLC campaigns: The Bright Lord DLC opens with her and Celebrimbor spying on Sauron's creation of the One Ring via her Mirror, while in the Blade of Galadriel DLC, she appears to Eltariel in a vision. Most of the time, she appears in the games as The Voice.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Most of the Bright Lord DLC has her admonishing Celebrimbor for taking possession of the One Ring and forsaking all else to take Sauron's place.
  • She chastises Eltariel in the Blade of Galadriel DLC for forgetting that her job was to go after the Nazgûl, not to defeat Sauron.

Introduced in Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Shelob

Shelob

Race: Unknown

As a human

As a spider

Voiced by: Pollyanna McIntosh

A monstrous spider-like creature who dwells in Cirith Ungol (Sindarin for "Spider's Cleft") near Minas Ithil/Morgul.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Shelob can shapeshift into a human female form in this game to communicate with other beings, whereas in the books, it is never established if she could actually change forms. This even extends to her true form, which is considerably sleeker than the fat, hairy tarantula she's portrayed as in the films. On the other hand, it also has creepy spikes and vicious teeth which the film version of Shelob did not have.
• Adaptational Badass: In the books, Shelob was sentient but couldn't care less about Sauron, who refers to her as his "cat" — a creature that isn't entirely his, but still falls under his domain. In the movies, she was merely an oversized, yet functionally normal bug. Here, she's a shadow-weaving spider-shaped eldritch monster who challenges Sauron for control of Mordor, and Sauron considers her to be dangerous enough that when he learns she has the New Ring, he sends all of his Nazgûl other than the Witch-king against her (and she turns out to be more than capable of fighting all eight of them at once in her spider form).
• Adaptation Expansion: In the novels she was sentient and it was indicated that she could somehow communicate due to Gollum having sworn fealty to her, but she merely functions as a particularly threatening monster who incapacitates Frodo before being badly wounded by Sam. Here, she is a supporting character and powerful ally of Talion's, seeking to take Mordor back from Sauron. Word of God states that they expanded on her to make for a better story, giving her more motivations for her actions than found in the books. invoked
• Adaptation Species Change: The mobile version of Shadow of War calls her a Maia, while Tolkien only states that Ungoliant — and by extension Shelob — is an all-devouring spider-shaped abomination from the darkness outside Arda.
• Adaptational Heroism: The Shelob we see in the books and movies is a savage monster that attempts to devour Frodo and Sam. This version on the other hand turns out to be surprisingly well-intentioned: everything she does is to prevent Celebrimbor's rise as the Bright Lord due to one vision she has where he successfully dominates Sauron and uses him to conquer Middle-earth. This is why she kidnaps him at the start of the game and holds him ransom for his Ring of Power. She also never turns on Talion and provides him with assistance and advice whenever she can. She is also the one to tell him he must prevent Sauron from uniting his armies to defend Middle-earth from within Mordor. It could be argued, however, that she's not heroic, just exhibiting Pragmatic Villainy in not wanting someone like Celebrimbor or Sauron in power.
• Affably Evil: She's genuinely polite and cooperative to Talion. Doesn't stop her from using him to her end and calling him a puppet in their first meeting.
• Animalistic Abomination: Shelob's mother, Ungoliant, was an ancient spirit of darkness who preferred a spider-like form, while her father was an actual Giant Spider. Shelob herself is somewhere in between.
• Armour-Piercing Question: "How much are you willing to sacrifice?". Also serves as her Arc Words.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Sauron, Zog the Eternal and Celebrimbor. But it’s later subverted when it’s revealed that she is well-intentioned.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: When betraying Shelob, Sauron/Annatar tells her "Sacrifices must be made". She later repeats it several times to Talion.
• Casting a Shadow: Has the ability to weave darkness how normal spiders use webs, and is often surrounded by shadow. Sharp-eyes will notice her black dress is actually smoke and shadow.
• Composite Character:
  • According to Word of God, Shelob's design and character was partly based on Thuringwethil. invoked
  • Her shadow-weaving and antagonism toward Sauron call to mind Shelob's own mother, Ungoliant, who briefly fought with Morgoth, Sauron's master, over the silmarils.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Sauron betrays her to save his own skin and Suladân's men storm her chambers, Shelob tears them apart with her fingernails and teeth before making her escape.
• Dark Action Girl: Shelob is a force to be reckoned with. She stands her ground against 8 of the Nazgûl.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: In her human appearance.
• Enemy Mine: She has no love for the two leads, particularly Celebrimbor, as she kidnaps him to force Talion to surrender their ring to her. But she hates Sauron more than she does them, so Shelob assists the heroes whenever she can.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She's disgusted by Celebrimbor trying to take Sauron's place, whom she already despises for his general nature. And she's the more fundamentally evil one in terms of origin, being spawn of a pure evil Eldritch Abomination. Turns out that Sauron sold her out to Suladân (and discarded whatever their relationship was) out of wanting to try out a Ring of Power rather than, you know, tearing the invading humans apart like he dang well can. This probably explains her emphasis on "dealing only in truth."
• Evil Counterpart: She's close to being an evil Galadriel; in her human form, her mannerisms and tone are almost a mocking take on the Elf Lady's, as are her powers as a Seer.
• Evil Versus Evil: Sauron contemptuously viewed Shelob as a pet but dissolved their alliance and banished her when she let her children prey on his armies. Shelob in turn hates Sauron and is willing to ally with Talion, but Celebrimbor warns him that she is not their ally.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: After their initial meeting, she's careful to always appear to Talion in her human form.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: She isn't exactly nice, manipulates Talion, and has no problem feeding on orcs and humans alike; but she doesn't want Middle-earth under a tyrant.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In an interview, the developers stated that the reason she attacked Frodo and Sam in The Lord of the Rings — sustaining possibly-mortal wounds in the process — was not to eat them, but because she foresaw that Frodo would succumb to the One Ring and wanted to hasten their journey to Mt. Doom so that Gollum could unwittingly do what Frodo could not: destroy the One Ring and end the threat of Sauron's dominion once-and-for-all.
• History Repeats: In The Silmarillion, Sauron's master Morgoth denied Shelob's mother Ungoliant the titular Silmarils and his great servants the Balrogs came to his rescue when she attacked him. Shelob herself was betrayed by Sauron, and when she was in possession of the New Ring, Sauron sent all but one of his great servants the Nazgul to rob it from her.
• Humanoid Abomination: Despite the ability to take a human form, she is still the offspring of the dark, monstrous entity that is Ungoliant and part of her true nature still shines through in certain parts.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Her flashbacks strongly imply she wanted to have a normal, human (form) relationship with Annatar.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Modelled after her voice actress, Pollyanna McIntosh.
• It's Personal: She seeks revenge on Sauron because Sauron betrayed her by stealing Mordor from her.
• Madness Mantra: After Sauron's betrayal and her escape from Barad-dûr, Shelob retreats into Cirith Ungol, repeating the same thing over and over as she devolves more and more into her spider form.
  Shelob: The Great Deceiver will pay for his betrayal...he will suffer...he will suffer!
• Metaphorically True: Word of God states that while she has Brutal Honesty, she chooses her words carefully to further her own goals. invoked
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: In her spider form, Shelob has a mouth full of needlepoint fangs in addition to chelicerae.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her human form. Justified since she previously used it as Sauron's bride and uses it now to interact more easily with Talion.
• Multiple-Choice Future: She sees possible futures, rather than just one.
• No-Sell: She wears the New Ring with no desire to use it, and she gives it back to Talion without hesitation. Even though Celebrimbor claims the New Ring isn't tainted like Sauron's, it seems like Shelob is completely unaffected by it.
• Physical God: The mobile version of Shadow of War classifies her as a Maia, akin to the Wizards, Balrogs, and Sauron. She's clearly something on that order in any case and makes short work of anything less.
• Primal Stance: At the end of the Web of Fate cutscene she is shown in a half-human form, crawling to Cirith Ungol on all fours like a spider.
• Really 700 Years Old: She is at least over 7000 years old, but neither of her forms looks particularly elderly.
• Red Baron: The mobile version of Shadow of War gives her the sobriquet of "the Shadow Spider", an ability that boosts her power for every Evil-aligned ally present.
• The Reveal: Talion accuses Shelob of being unable to stop Celebrimbor's ascent. Shelob replies with a combination "The Reason You Suck" Speech and Rousing Speech.
  Talion: See the future you have wrought. A Bright Lord instead of a dark one.
  Shelob: You pitiful Man. I gave you sight and yet you still do not see.
  Talion: You showed me a fate I could not change!
  Shelob: You are wrong. When you and Celebrimbor forged a new Ring of Power, I saw where your path ended. Locked in battle against Sauron at the top of Barad-dûr.... and you won. Sauron was enslaved and the Bright Lord rose in his place. The armies of Mordor marched forth under his banner and Middle-earth fell under his heel. That is the future I fought against. The future you prevented. Because you saw Celebrimbor for what he was.
  Talion: No.
  Shelob: Your war is not yet ended. Talion. Whether a Bright Lord or a Dark Lord rules Barad-dûr, the balance of power must be maintained or all of Middle-earth will fall.
• Seductive Spider: For a Giant Spider her humanoid form is rather attractive. Mainly so it is more appealing for some.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: She clearly prefers her giant spider form. Though she avoids showing it to Talion after their first meeting, she's often hiding as a spider when he comes to call, and she shifts back to a woman before he can see her. Even in Tolkien's notes, it's not quite clear what Shelob actually is, and there are some implications that she and her mother are just formless evil and darkness. Regardless, it's quite clear that the spider is her preferred form.
• Spanner in the Works: Her entire involvement revolves around manipulating events to foil Sauron and Celebrimbor.
• Spiders Are Scary: She is the offspring of spider-shaped ancient spirit and a regular giant spider, and the game's interpretation of her arachnid form looks like it was designed by H. R. Giger.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Annatar's betrayal caused her to forsake her human guise.
• True Sight: Can see both Ringwraiths and Celebrimbor. She also has the ability to foretell or sense events that have yet to happen.
• Unholy Matrimony: Used to be Sauron's lover in his Annatar form until he decided to betray her.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: But, it seems, only from her normal spider form to human.
• Weakened by the Light: When Eltariel uses the Light of Galadriel to repel the Nazgûl, Shelob cringes in pain — a Call-Forward to Sam using the Phial of Galadriel to fend her off in The Lord of the Rings.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Friends might not be the accurate word, but artifacts from Shadow of Mordor suggest there was a time when Sauron and Shelob were (albeit grudging) allies, with Shadow of War revealing that they used to be lovers. However, when Sauron came to feel that Shelob was taking liberties with the terms of their arrangement (namely by letting her offspring prey on his minions), he rescinded whatever alliance existed between them and ordered her to get out of Mordor or face the consequences, which may explain why she is willing to work with Talion against Sauron.
  • Shadow of War also indicates that Sauron used her as a scapegoat to save his own skin when Suladân's army threatened to storm Barad-dûr.
• With Friends Like These...: Celebrimbor is openly wary of her, and constantly insists to Talion that Shelob cannot be trusted and whatever benefits they'd gain from an alliance with her aren't worth the cost.
  Celebrimbor: She is not our ally!
• Woman Scorned: The Web of Fate cutscene reveals that Shelob and Sauron were lovers, prior to him backstabbing her to be attacked by Suladân's forces.
• Zerg Rush: Talion can summon a horde of her offspring to harass enemies.

The Gondorian Army

The Gondorian Army

Race: Men (Gondor)

The defenders of Minas Ithil. Talion and Celebrimbor help them defend the city during Act I, Talion because it's the right thing to do, while Celebrimbor is more interested in what it's guarding. Baranor isn't listed here due to his role as a DLC protagonist.

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• Big Damn Heroes: During Act I, unnamed captains may save you from orcs about to strike the killing blow.
• Fate Worse than Death: Like Castamir, several are turned into wights, and are forced to follow Nazgûl!Isildur's will. For better or worse, they later end up serving Dark Talion.
• Red Shirt: Tarandor and Herion both have some backstory but seemingly die when the city is lost to the Witch-king early on. They pretty much exist only to fill out the spots reserved for warchiefs on the army screen.
• Red Shirt Army: Unnamed Gondorian soldiers serve as fodder during some nemesis missions during Act I, presumably because the orcs are focused on capturing the city instead of killing each other. Once Act II begins, they are removed from the system and orcs instead begin capturing and slaughtering each other.

Castamir

General Castamir

Race: Men (Gondor)

Voiced by: Travis Willingham

The Gondorian general in charge of the defense of Minas Ithil, and Idril's father.

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• All for Nothing: Castamir betrayed all of Minas Ithil and gave the Palantir to the Witch-King in the hopes of saving his daughter, Idril. The Witch-King casually tells him that Idril is free to die with her people before killing him.
• Came Back Wrong: When Isildur raises him from the dead, Castamir is a barely sentient monster who has only the vaguest recollection of his daughter and his past life.
• Despair Event Horizon: A likely explanation to Castamir's motivation to betray Minas Ithil to the Witch-king. Sauron is known to use fear and despair to destroy his enemy's will to fight even before battle is joined, and it seems that Castamir had succumbed fairly early on in Act I, possibly even earlier. It's telling that his bargain with the Witch-king includes no provision for Castamir's own freedom or safety, probably because he's well aware that Gondor would execute him for treason even if he did make it out of Minas Ithil alive. Unfortunately, his actions set up something of a Disaster Dominoes effect, since (in the books, at least) it's heavily implied that Sauron used the Palantír that was seized from Minas Ithil in a successful bid to demoralize Castamir's boss Denethor and drive him insane — also at a time when an army from Mordor was at his gates.
• Distressed Dude: Is made out to be one, when the Witch-king's agents apparently take him hostage. Ultimately subverted, in that he was never in danger; the Orcs merely claimed he was to force a confrontation with Talion.
• Fate Worse than Death: He is raised as a wight by the Witch-king and he is still barely sentient during the whole time.
  Celebrimbor: He serves the Dark Lord still.
• Frontline General: Averted, which is particularly notable in a universe where kings and nobles serve as military commanders and fight at the head of their troops.
• Genre Blindness: He seems to genuinely believe — or at least hope — that the Witch-king will honor his end of their deal. He doesn't seem to remember whom the Witch-king serves, and what tends to happen to the people who cooperate with Sauron.
• Honor Before Reason: Inverted (depending on one's definition of "reason"), much to Idril's furious disbelief.
  Idril: But what of our people? Of our honor?
  Castamir: There is no honor in death.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He thinks Minas Ithil is doomed and is ready to abandon it. He probably genuinely believes that, which makes his betrayal easy for him.
• Manipulative Bastard: During her mission to rescue him, Idril finds him talking with an Orc commander. However, her sudden appearance allows him to kill the Orc while it's distracted and then claim he was being interrogated.
• Meaningful Name: Shares a name with a Gondorian of royal blood who started the Kinstrife and betrayed the rightful king and whose followers after his death would flee south and eventually become the Corsairs of Umbar and allies of Mordor. This Castamir also betrays Gondor to the Witch-king but only does it in a faint hope of them sparing his daughter.
• The Mole: He's the traitor responsible for Sauron's forces conquering Minas Ithil, although the city arguably would've fallen anyway. Since he's the highest authority figure in the city as the commanding general of Minas Ithil's garrison, he also qualifies as the Mole in Charge.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After rescuing Castamir from captivity, Talion again requests that he turn over the Palantír for safekeeping. Castamir dismisses Talion's concern in a rather upbeat manner, assuring the Ranger that Gondorian armies will soon arrive to relieve them. Idril immediately realises something is wrong, as she informs Talion that they've been sending requests for aid to Minas Tirith for weeks with no reply.
• Papa Wolf: He will do anything to keep his daughter alive. Including treason.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Talion initially believes that Castamir is this, as he agrees with Castamir's assertion that the best way to secure the Palantír is to secure the city that holds it. As the siege of Minas Ithil wears on with no end in sight, however, Talion again requests access to the Palantír, which Castamir flatly denies — followed directly by the O.O.C. Is Serious Business moment described above.
• Reforged into a Minion: Isildur raises Castamir as a wight and forces Talion and Eltariel to fight him.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: His deal with the Witch-king is to grant his daughter's freedom in exchange for the Palantír. The Witch-king scoffs that she's free to die with the rest of her people, right before he executes Castamir with a single blow from his spiked mace.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Despite the fact he betrayed the city he was charged with defending, his death hurts Idril so much Talion has to hold her back from making a futile attack on the Witch-king, and Talion is appalled when Isildur raises Castamir as a wight.
• Too Dumb to Live: One wonders how stupid (or despair-filled) he was to think the Witch-king would actually honour his end of the bargain.
• Walking Spoiler: A lot of information about him spoils important details regarding Act I, which is why his character sheet is almost entirely whited out. It's also why he's listed under Allies instead of Enemies.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Witch-king wastes no time in killing Castamir after he's handed over the Palantír.
• You Sound Familiar: Talion never seems to notice that Castamir sounds nearly identical to his ex-army buddy Hirgon.

Idril

Second Captain Idril

Race: Men (Gondor)

Voiced by: Nicole Tompkins

An army officer in the Gondorian city of Minas Ithil whom Talion befriends.

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• Action Girl: She can handle an arming sword well enough to carve a swathe through a horde of Orcs.
• Badass Bookworm: In addition to her military duties, she's also the narrator for the Gondorian artifacts, where she demonstrates an aptitude for Middle-earth history and a love of reading in particular.
• Broken Pedestal: While her exact relationship with her father is never clearly described, she obviously respects his authority and obeys his orders as her commanding officer. Finding out that he betrayed the city and people that they had both sworn to protect, even if it was done for the express purpose of guaranteeing her safety, does not sit well with her. Downplayed in that, while she's hurt and furious by his actions, she still clearly cares for him as a person — as seen when the Witch-king brutally executes him in front of her.
  Idril: You betrayed us!
• Cute Bruiser: She's about a foot shorter than her male comrades, but that doesn't stop her from carving through Orcs like paper.
• Damsel in Distress: Averted. So far as Talion (and the player) sees, Idril is never captured by the Orcs.
• Death Seeker: Hints of this, as Talion notes that Idril is a little too eager to fight the Orc army.
• Do Wrong, Right: After her mother was killed in an Orc raid when she was eleven, Idril used to sneak into the pass of Cirith Ungol, looking for Orcs to kill in revenge. After her father got tired of the soldiers there bringing his daughter back for her own safety, Castamir enlisted her in Gondor's army so that when she did encounter Orcs, she'd at least have a fighting chance.
• Has a Type: Several artifacts have her almost gushing about her fantasy of being courted by a dashing Corsair, and she seems to have a much higher opinion of Haradrim than Orcs. It helps that she admires Baranor, the only Haradrim whom she knows personally.
• Hidden Depths: She is a second captain in the army of Minas Ithil, but her primary interest is in the city's history, which she seeks to preserve against Sauron's efforts to conquer and destroy it.
• Honor Before Reason: She knows staying in Mordor means certain death, but she is unwilling to leave return to Gondor and intends to make her final stand there.
• I Have Your Wife: During the siege of Minas Ithil, Idril's father Castamir (who is also the commander of Gondor's forces in the city) is taken hostage by the Witch-king's agents to force a confrontation with Talion. Idril panics when the Witch-king's messenger holds up a dagger belonging to her father as proof.
  Talion: We cannot know—
  Idril: That the Orcs are incapable of mercy? That my father is likely already dead?
• It Gets Easier: Despite already being an accomplished soldier, Talion and Celebrimbor both note after her father's death, she's a lot harder and colder.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Baranor is saved from getting executed by the Orcs, Idril finally concedes that remaining in Mordor is a lost cause and agrees to flee with him.
• Put on a Bus: The Desolation of Mordor DLC reveals that Idril led a band of wounded survivors to the secret Gondorian outpost of Henneth Annun while Baranor and a detachment of surviving soldiers traveled to Lithlad to open a new front in the war for Mordor.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Subverted. Idril tries to go after the Witch-king following her father's death, but Talion stops her and urges her to join Baranor and the others in retreat, as there are four Nazgûl between her and the Witch-king and she has no chance of defeating one such creature, let alone their leader.
• The Scream: Screams in horror after Castamir's body lands in front of her.
• Spotting the Thread: When Castamir confidently remarks that reinforcements from Gondor will arrive soon, Idril immediately realizes that something isn't right; as she reveals to Talion, they've been sending requests for aid to Minas Tirith for weeks with no reply. Interestingly, she may not have actually pulled on this thread, as her stated reason for confronting her father is to reiterate Talion's request that Castamir hand the Palantír over; this is rendered moot, however, when she learns the Awful Truth.
• Uncertain Doom: She is determined to stand her ground in Mordor and is last seen marching with other guards and Baranor, who makes it clear they will face their doom together.
• Vague Age: She is noticeably shorter than the other characters and looks pretty young, but is still allowed to fight with the rest of the Gondrorian army, and her status as a warchief implies she is good at it. This makes it difficult to say what her relationship to Baranor is.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After Castamir is revealed to have been the traitor and plans on giving the Palantir to the Witch-King, Idril calls him out on this. However, Castamir only replies that there is no honor in death.
• You Are Not Alone: Idril fully intends to rescue her father alone, but Talion gently reminds her that she needn't assume her friends won't help her do it.

Dagor

Sergeant Dagor

Race: Men (Gondor)

Voiced by: JB Blanc

A Gondorian sergeant at Minas Ithil.

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• Eyepatch of Power: Over his left eye, which is a second characteristic that makes him stand out the most.
• Kill It with Fire: Dagor is caught in the blast when the Witch-king's drake obliterates the gate to the Upper City of Minas Ithil with a fireball; he is last seen writhing and burning on the ground, and since he is not seen again when Baranor and Talion call the retreat, it's to be presumed he perished in the flames.
• Red Herring: When Shelob's vision reveals that there is a traitor among the Gondorian guard that will open the gates to let the orc forces in, players would be naturally inclined to think he is The Mole because of his sinister appearance and name. Turns out he isn't, and Castamir is the actual traitor.
• Spear Carrier: He only appears to give one line of dialogue and stand silent in the background among the Gondorian officers.
• The Quiet One: He is a man of very few words.

Brûz

Brûz the Chopper

Race: Olog-hai

"Bright Lord, Dark Lord, same thing really!"

Voiced by: Gideon Emery

An Olog Tank of the Warmonger Tribe, who holds the distinction of being the first captain to be recruited by Talion after the latter retrieves the New Ring.

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• The Ace: As far as Mordor society is concerned, Brûz definitely qualifies. He's a powerful warrior and a skilled tactician. It's why Celebrimbor and Talion made him the initial commander of their forces.
• Actually Pretty Funny: After Brûz demolishes his pit fight opponent, Celebrimbor approves, "I like him!"
• Audible Gleam: When Talion conquers the first Stronghold, Brûz suggests himself as Overlord, smiling with an audible gleam.
• Awesome Aussie: Unlike the scruffy British hooligan accent common to most uruks, Brûz has a distinctly Australian accent.
• The Big Guy: Standard for an Olog, but he likes to reference it a lot.
• Black Speech: He can't speak a word of it, but nevertheless gives an approximate translation of what he thinks an Overlord who speaks nothing but Black Speech is yelling at Talion's forces during a siege. His translation ("You are all going to die...horribly.") is close.^note According to subtitles, he says, "You should not have come. This fort stands strong. We will kill you all!" To wit, in the original text, Olog-hai were only able to communicate in Black Speech. This means that either the Alternate Universe has omitted this detail, or Brûz has been raised in a part of Mordor that doesn't use the language.^note Admittedly, Tolkien wrote that Black Speech was of little use for anything besides insults, and that different tribes would communicate in Westron when in contact with one another.
• Blood Knight: Admits to like ripping out spines, and asks Talion to let him pop off both of the Warlord's heads. To say he enjoys bloodshed is a bit of an understatement.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He genuinely enjoys combat.
• Break the Badass: Introduces the Shaming mechanic with himself as the first example as punishment for going rogue on Talion. Should you later re-Recruit him, his portrait will show a depressed Brûz, and on missions he'll continue to sob to the other Orcs, "It's not my fort! It's his fort! Always has been!"
• Broken Tears: After being Shamed for his betrayal, Brûz is reduced to an inconsolably weeping wreck, and all his dialogue afterwards is delivered between sobs.
• But Thou Must!: Regardless of how you feel about him, you cannot appoint him as Overlord of Núrnen after taking it from Ratbag, which leads to his betrayal.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Dark example. After his quest arc is concluded, a Shamed and Deranged Brûz can be forcibly recruited again, but he's hard wired to have permanently high turnover due to his madness and resentment.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Well okay, Supporting Character, but Brûz is clearly a Foil to Ratbag in the role of tutorial specimen for Nemesis Minions. Whereas Ratbag in Mordor was an runtling Orc who cajoled his way into Talion's mechanisms and had to be rescued constantly to serve as a trial run for intervening in Power Struggles only to be killed in the cutscene introduction of the Disc-One Final Boss, Brûz in War is a huge Olog who's more than competent in a fight that Talion and Celebrimbor are so impressed with that they immediately decide to Dominate him mid-battle to become their first officer in their army, and he survives his quest line and is added to the Nemesis System afterwards. Appropriately enough, when he and Ratbag meet, they argue quite a bunch. Even more so at the end of Brûz's quest line, where Ratbag is still loyal to Talion without the need of branding while Brûz betrays the Ranger and is Driven to Madness as punishment.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In the introductory pit fight, he very quickly dispatches his opponent.
• Determinator: When he defines himself as an optimist. Cruelly averted after being broken. As the leader of an outpost, he'll say over and over, "I don't want the fort!"
  Brûz: Always said you were an optimist. Know what that is, mate? It's about sizing up a situation that's bloody impossible and saying "Yeah alright, I'll have a go!" I'm exactly the same way.
• The Dog Bites Back: He turns against Talion because he thought he deserved the fort after helping Talion rise in the ranks to get it.
• Establishing Character Moment: He responds to his pit fight opponent's death threat with a calm, eloquent speech. And then proceeds to utterly destroy said opponent, almost without trying.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After Shaming Brûz, at some point later in the game, his blood brothers Baz and Gaz will ambush you and attempt to avenge him. And if you kill both of them, his best friend Daz will ambush you to seek out his own vengeance.
  Gaz: Do you think you can terrorize and torture your way across Mordor and no one will take you to task for it? Well, that ends now. Ends good and proper!
• Fate Worse than Death: He receives one from Talion in order to make an example of what happens to those who oppose the Bright Lord. Fittingly, the quest that culminates in this event — which is also the final quest in Brûz's quest line — is named Worse Than Death, and completing it unlocks the Worse Than Death upgrade for Death Threat, which increases the number of levels that a Shamed Orc loses and increases the likelihood that he'll become Deranged or a Maniac.
• Faux Affably Evil: Even before joining Talion, he's quite the friendly chap... or so he seems. Becomes this after his Face–Heel Turn, at least towards Talion. When the resurrected Ranger — whom Brûz had personally killed earlier — invades Sharkhburz with an army at his back, Brûz greets him with a mocking "Welcome back, Boss." He continues to put on a veneer of friendliness towards Talion even as he sets up Death Traps for him and otherwise torments him.
• Foreshadowing: In one of his tutorial monologues, he questions why Warchiefs accept bodyguards based on how well they do in the fight pits, then says that you'd have to be an idiot to trust an orc either way. Brûz, who was chosen by Talion and Celebrimbor after an impressive showing in the fight pits, later stabs Talion through the back to take over his fort.
• Friendly Enemy: He seems to be affable and complimentary towards everybody, even people he's trying to kill. Notably, he doesn't exhibit any of the Fantastic Racism that orcs commonly display toward Talion; in fact, he even genuinely (and gleefully) compliments the Ranger's combat prowess during their first clash, although he soon changes his tune when the fight starts turning against him. After his Face–Heel Turn, he switches to being Faux Affably Evil, at least towards Talion.
• Genius Bruiser: He has a far better vocabulary than other Uruks, much less other Ologs.
• Heel–Face Brainwashing: Like other Orcs, he is recruited via Domination. However, he's faking it.
• Irony: The first thing Bruz says when you meet him reeks of this by the time he betrays Talion, the immortal wraithlord who could literally kill him with great ease.
  Brûz: I always said you were an optimist. Know what that is, mate? It's about sizing up a situation that's bloody impossible and saying "yeah, all right — I'll have a go!" I'm exactly the same way.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Charming as he is, Brûz did take over Talion's fort after literally stabbing him in the back. However, Talion and Celebrimbor shaming him into insanity is presented as crossing a line, and both Ranger and Ratbag, who had no love for Brûz in the first place, are genuinely disturbed by his miserable state after the protagonists are done with him.
• Madness Mantra: "I don't want the fort. I never wanted the fort. It's your fort."
• Make an Example of Them: Celebrimbor decides to Shame Brûz to the point of derangement rather than just killing him to send a message to any potentially treasonous followers. Talion initially refuses, but he comes to agree with Celebrimbor after surviving one too many of Brûz's Death Traps.
  Celebrimbor: Now every Orc in Mordor will think twice before betraying us!
• Manipulative Bastard: He shows no signs of branding after Talion recruits him; he was faking it the entire time, as Talion was his best chance to become the overlord. You can even briefly see him deciding whether to smash or go along with Talion during his "branding".
• Mind Rape: Celebrimbor inflicts this on him by Shaming him to the point of insanity, and the Olog is left a babbling, broken wreck for the rest of his existence.
• Motor Mouth: Even contending the much, much expanded line-pool available to the NPC Uruks of Shadow of War, Brûz is by leaps and bounds the chattiest Orc or Troll ever encountered by far, and when at your side simply will not stop talking. Before your recruit him, it even sounds as though his fellow Captains were out of patience for his jabbering.
  Enemy Orc: I've had enough of your mouth, Brûz.
  • In a rather dark way, after being Shamed, Brûz's dialogue becomes nothing but incoherently babbling his Madness Mantra, even during combat.
• Mr. Exposition: He gives Talion the lay of the land upon being Dominated, introducing the local overlord and walking you through the mechanics of army management as you gather followers. Later on, he hosts a pit fight and explains its function in orc society. Later still, he demonstrates betrayal from your ranks, and then after that, the Shaming mechanic and its effects on its victim's psyche. The latter two are downplayed since they can be experienced as soon as you gain the ability to dominate captains; in fact, the first captain that you dominate after Brûz seems to have a higher-than-usual chance of betraying you.
• No-Sell: With the benefit of hindsight, it seems likely that he was never under Talion's control to begin with and only played along to rise in the ranks.
• Punny Name: Brûz, Boisterous Bruiser. Additionally, when he introduces himself, it sounds like 'Bruce', befitting him as an Awesome Aussie.
• Shout-Out: In addition to his name explained above, his title "The Chopper" is an obvious reference to infamous Australian gang leader and criminal Mark "Chopper" Read.
• Smoke Out: When Talion storms Sharkhburz with his loyalists and has Brûz on the ropes, Brûz makes his exit by throwing a smoke bomb and disappearing. This is particularly notable since Smoke Outs are a Trickster trademark, while Brûz (a Tank) is pretty much on the opposite end of the combat spectrum; furthermore, it's never explained where and how Brûz acquired a smoke bomb that was powerful enough to camouflage an entire Olog, much less how he could manage to vanish completely in the split second before the smoke dissipated.
• Stealthy Colossus: As noted under Smoke Out above, he manages to disappear completely in the split second after dropping a smoke bomb that was powerful enough to camouflage an entire Olog.
• The Resenter: Brûz wanted to be the Overlord of the first fort Talion conquered, but is passed over. He doesn't take kindly to this, which is one of the reasons why he betrays Talion.
• This Cannot Be!: Nervously utters a variation of this when Talion starts beating him during their initial clash. It's arguably more justified than usual since he's a veteran pit fighter who's boasted a perfect winning streak thus far.
  Brûz: This has never happened to me before!
• Too Dumb to Live: For starters, literally backstabbing a Ranger known for his Resurrective Immortality and propensity to hold grudges isn't the brightest idea ever, but that one at least can be chalked up to irrational bitterness over having been passed over for the Overlord position. However, instead of cutting his losses and disappearing after Talion returns and recaptures the fort, Brûz continues to deliberately antagonize him by capturing Ranger, attacking Talion's other followers, and luring the ranger himself into ambushes and Death Traps. Unsurprisingly, after surviving yet another one of these death trap-ambush combos, Talion decides that he's had enough and gets on board with Celebrimbor's plan to make an example of Brûz, rather than killing him like he'd originally planned.
• Villainous Breakdown: Brûz experiences one when Talion unexpectedly shows up at his hideout with a freed Ranger in tow. It's the first time since Brûz's betrayal where he's caught by surprise, and he has no tricks up his sleeve this time.
  Brûz: What the bloody blazes are you doing here? And who said you could let Ranger out of his cage?!
• Walking Spoiler: In case you couldn't tell from all the whited-out entries. It's also why he's listed under Allies when he's Talion's enemy for more than half of the quests in his quest line.

Ranger

Az-Harto "Ranger" the Vicious

Race: Olog-hai

"You are a cruel one, Gravewalker."

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore

Initially thought to be the Overlord of Núrnen, this Olog is actually Ratbag's inseparable companion, which makes him a unexpected ally to Talion.

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• Actually, That's My Assistant: Ranger is believed to be in charge of Núrnen, but actually it's Ratbag (who posed as a second head).
• Badass Boast: When Talion rescues him, he asks Ranger if he can still walk. Ranger replies yes, he can if it means he can extract some revenge, and if Brûz is there, he'll run to face him.
• Badass in Distress: He is taken captive by Brûz during his storyline, but he is rescued by Talion. He makes it clear he is still ready to fight after being released.
• Berserk Button: Being held captive. It's one reason he owes a life debt to Ratbag.
• The Big Guy: According to Enemy Chatter and Ranger's entry in the Appendices, he's one of the biggest and strongest Olog-hai, making him one of the Big Guys in a race of Big Guys.
  Grunt: You know, I thought Brûz was a big one, but that glob he's torturing now... He's even bigger!
• Big Guy, Little Guy: With Ratbag, who is a runt orc in contrast to Ranger being a hulking Olog.
• Black Speech: Speaks it exclusively, which leads to interesting Language Barrier situations since none of the main cast understands it. He's perfectly capable of understanding Common Speech, and it turns out that he knows how to speak it as well.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: While the "brilliant" part is downplayed (although Ranger's entry in the Appendices mentions that he has a keen mind for strategy, and let's be honest, just about anybody's more brilliant than Ratbag), it turns out that Ratbag regularly fills a food bowl for Ranger, and the latter is apparently perfectly content to let Ratbag continue to think that he's a dumb beast to maintain easy access to his vittles.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's aware that no one else is able to understand Black Speech, and takes the opportunity to snark at both Ratbag and Talion whenever they fail to understand him.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Averted. He goes along with Ratbag when his companion surrenders Sharkhburz to Talion, but while he doesn't antagonize the Ranger, he's not particularly chummy with him either. And, of course, he insists that he's not friends with Ratbag — although he does so in Black Speech, which Ratbag can't understand.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Being a big and mighty Olog, Ranger is far and away more dangerous than Ratbag. Its said that he only became Overlord of Núrnen after Ranger killed their predecessor in single combat.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Like Ratbag, he's horrified at Brûz's state after Talion has him Shamed.
• Foil: To Brûz the Chopper. Both of them are powerful Olog-hai, but while Brûz is a talkative Boisterous Bruiser, Ranger is taciturn and more composed. Brûz has ambitions of becoming the Overlord of Núrnen and betrays Talion after the latter denies him the position. Ranger is first introduced as the Overlord of Núrnen with Ratbag, but he resigns without complaint when Talion finds them and Ratbag decides that he wants to throw in the towel.
• Genius Bruiser: Per his entry in the Appendices, Ranger is very intelligent, which leads to some Underestimating Badassery from Ratbag. Fortunately, they're allies and Ratbag has Undying Loyalty to him.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Talion chats with Celebrimbor in Ranger's presence, the Olog (who can hear Talion but not Celebrimbor) asks who the Ranger is speaking to and then complains when Talion doesn't answer him — but he's speaking in Black Speech, which he already knows Talion can't understand.
• Incoming Ham: His first lines are a hammy Badass Boast delivered to Talion's army (in Black Speech, no less):
  Ranger (in Black Speech): You should not have come. This fort stands strong. We will kill you all!
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Significantly downplayed. Ranger speaks exclusively in Black Speech, but his lines are subtitled for the player's benefit. It's possible that Celebrimbor understands him, but Talion definitely does not — and not only can Ratbag not understand a word that comes out of Ranger's mouth, he apparently doesn't even realize that he's talking. As it turns out, Ranger is actually capable of speaking in Common Speech, which makes sense because he understands everyone else's dialogue in Common.
• I Owe You My Life: He says the only reason that he hangs with Ratbag is because the latter saved his life. He even takes offense when Ratbag refers to him as a friend!
• Language Barrier: An interesting quirk of his interactions with others, as he's one of the only characters in Shadow of War to only speak a language other than Common Speech^note The only other character to do so is the Balrog Tar Goroth, and since his only interactions with the main characters are pitched battles, it's relatively unimportant to understand his dialogue. The barrier is only one-way since he understands Common Speech, and it turns out to be at least partially artificial, as he is capable of speaking Common Speech as well.
• Mythology Gag: During the defense of Sharkhburz, you can hear him yell "You shall not pass!" — in Black Speech.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Az-Harto. This never comes up except in the Appendices; even during story quests where Ranger appears, his name is given as "Ranger the Vicious."
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After seeing Brûz's fate, Ranger drops the Black Speech and tells Talion how that was cruel.
  Ranger: You are a cruel one, Gravewalker.
• Pet the Dog: Despite Ranger's insistence that he and Ratbag aren't friends. He's very appreciative of Ratbag getting help from Talion while he was captured.
• The Stoic: Ranger remains calm and composed, even when angry. The only time he ever shows anger is after Talion frees him from capture. Even then, he does a Skyward Scream then calms back down, ready to fight.
• Tsundere: Very subtly, but there are hints that Ranger actually doesn't mind Ratbag. The biggest is when he and Talion take down Brûz, Ratbag runs over and hugs Ranger, and Ranger pats him on the back with a smirk and softly chides Ratbag for relying on Talion to pull off the rescue mission.
• Villainous Friendship: With Ratbag, though he denies it, which also doubles as an Odd Friendship. You wouldn't think that this big brute would actually be genuinely friends with someone like him. Of course, we never see Ranger doing anything outright villainous, and Ratbag couldn't be a villain if he tried.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": He was named "Ranger" by Ratbag in Talion's honor, much to the latter's bafflement.

Carnán

Carnán

Race: Unknown

"Undeath will defeat undeath."

Voiced by: Toks Olagundoye

A mysterious protector of the forest of Núrnen.

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• Action Girl: One of the biggest in the series, even more so than Lithariel, Eltariel and Idril, considering Carnán can trade blows with a Balrog.
• Arch-Enemy: Gains one in Zog the Eternal due to his necromancy perverting the order of life and death. Interestingly, Zog never shares screentime with any of her avatars.
  • She was initially opposed to Talion due to his undead status, but she decided to ally with him when he pledged to fight her enemies.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Subverted in that she is the "bigger fish". When facing a Balrog, Celebrimbor is confident they'll defeat it because they have a spirit of Carnán by their side.
• The Beastmaster: As a master of the forest, all creatures, including caragors and graugs, bend to her will.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Some graugs can breathe fire, some graugs can breathe poison — and Carnán's graug avatar? It breathes balefire.
• Discard and Draw: With her avatars. Tar Goroth destroyed her caragor avatar? No problem, she'll just regenerate as a drake!
• Disney Death: She dies halfway through her questline, but returns alive at the end.
• The Dreaded: Celebrimbor is scared of her, and she's reportedly a match for Sauron himself.
  Celebrimbor: Talion! You cannot defeat her.
  Talion: What do you suggest I do?
  Celebrimbor: Throw down your sword and kneel.
• Elite Mooks: Played with: she can turn herself into elite versions of the bestiary of Mordor, including elite versions of graugs and drakes.
• Expy: A more violent version of Tom Bombadil from the books, being a personification of Mordor as much as Tom was of the Shire. Word of God says this might be who she is. invoked
• Fighting a Shadow: She has the ability to manifest various Mordor wildlife from the plant life of her forest, as she remains safe under her tree. That said, her wildlife forms are not totally expendable: you'll still fail her missions if she dies during combat, and after using her drake form to pin Tar Goroth under a frozen lake, she is visibly weakened the next time you see her.
• Good Is Not Soft: Ask any of the Uruks wandering into her forest. She does not fool around, and their deaths are slow since the forest is methodically consuming them.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. She spends much of her strength to trap Tar Goroth inside a lake and seemingly withers and dies slowly afterwards, but she reappears alive again when Zog is finally defeated.
• Homefield Advantage: In her forest, she is all-powerful and can even appear in her humanoid form; outside, she can only appear as tougher versions of Mordor's wildlife made of plants and bark.
• It's Personal: With Tar Goroth due to him burning down much of her forest during his rampage in the Second Age.
• The Juggernaut: Her graug form is capable of throwing down with Tar Goroth, although it's somewhat downplayed as it's ultimately no match for him and only lasts as long as it does due to Talion distracting the Balrog. For reference graugs are (normally) beasts, while Balrogs like Tar Goroth are Maiar, beings on roughly the same power level as Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron (all of whom are older than the ground they walk on). Justified due to her true nature.
• Mysterious Past: Even the developers have no idea who she really is. They postulate she could be an Entwife^note If she is, it would kind-of fit with Treebeard's description: "hair parched by the sun to the hue of ripe corn and their cheeks like red apples. Yet their eyes were still the eyes of our own people", a Tom Bombadil Expy, or something else.
  Michael de Plater: She is a spirit of nature. She could be a Maiar [sic]. I don’t think she is an Ent-wife, but I think she probably knows what happened to them. She definitely would be able to speak Entish, but she is definitely a representation of the spirit of nature and what would happen to that if it was in somewhere oppressed by darkness, industry and horror as Mordor is. invoked
• Nature Spirit: Her role as a protector of Núrnen. It's also why Celebrimbor thinks just trying to talk her down is pointless.
  Celebrimbor: One does not reason with the wind.
• Neutral No Longer: She initially doesn't really care about the war raging outside Núrnen. She kills almost all who enter her forest, which are mostly Sauron's scouts, who suffer a Fate Worse than Death. However, she aids Talion in some quests (marked with a Beast icon) as a ride-able mount when Sauron's Mystic tribes start screwing around with nature, including summoning a Balrog.
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: She has a noticeable bust for a plant creature.
• Really 700 Years Old: She was one of Morgoth's contemporaries, making her anywhere from 6500+ years old, to older than the universe.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: Carnán talks with what can only be described as a hissing drawl, elongating some syllables and hushing others for a disconcerting, almost atonal cadence. However, when teaming up with Talion on missions, all the excitement makes her voice rise and quicken, creating a contrasting accent of sorts.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Her body has the shape of a human woman wearing a dress or gown, and she's female.
• Unidentified Being of Kryptonite: Her drake form breathes balefire when fighting Talion, but it breathes ice when going up against the fire-demon Tar Goroth.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Actually averted. Those powerful Planimals that Talion fights, rides on, and so forth? They're her avatars, and she can replace fallen ones as necessary, although doing so appears to take a significant amount of energy.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: Is mostly this in terms of Shadow of War's story, although it's downplayed in that she's the main reason why Tar Goroth (a Wacky Wayside Tribe himself) gets shut down so quickly after he enters the picture.
• Who Are You?: She's has this attitude towards Talion, and she's not exactly enamored of what Celembrimbor has turned him into — something outside of nature and the life/death cycle. Even after Talion has done everything he can for her, she still doesn't entirely trust him, but she's also not ungrateful.
• Worf Had the Flu: She's supposed to be capable of going toe-to-toe with Sauron, yet needs Talion and Celebrimbor's help on multiple occasions (and her avatars are prime fodder for enemies). Just before the final mission of her questline however, it's revealed that she's going into a state of hibernation — she is plantlife, after all.
• The Unintelligible: Borderline. While she speaks in a language that Talion can understand, she has an incredibly thick accent. The player will either need to listen extremely carefully, or play with the subtitles on.

Forthog Orc-Slayer

Forthog Orc-Slayer

Race: Uruk-hai (possibly)

"Your day will come, Ranger -- but not today!"

Voiced by: Nolan North^note Uncredited; game audio files reveal that Forthog's lines are of the Professional 1 voice type, which is voiced by Nolan. Also, some of Forthog's lines use the generic Professional 1 voice rather than his unique voice.

A legend among the Orcs of Mordor, Forthog Orc-Slayer is an unstoppable warrior who saves Mordor’s mightiest heroes at their moment of greatest need.

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• Alternate Company Equivalent: He functions as Middle-earth's Mysterious Stranger: there's a chance he will appear to save Talion from death, much as the Mysterious Stranger will suddenly appear to One-Hit Kill an opponent.
• Badass Boast: Has a few.
  Forthog Orc-Slayer: Orcs around here know my name because I burn the light away!
• Big Damn Heroes: His role in the game is to save Talion from being killed every so often.
• Blood Knight: His only reaction to seeing an enormous horde of Orcs bearing down on him is to give a little smile.
• Body Paint: An elaborate patterned tattoo covers his back.
• The Drifter: Of the Walking the Earth variety.
• Foreshadowing: Forthog knows what's in store for Talion. One of his particularly subtle lines is "You must travel the long road, Ranger. The long road will get you home."
• Half-Human Hybrid: He's designed after Mike "Forthog" Forgey, who died of cancer in 2016. Lore-wise, the character appears to be a half-orc, like the Squint-eyed Southerner, due to his human skin tone, facial hair, and orc ears.
• Icy Blue Eyes: The Doylist reason: he's an Ink-Suit Actor of Mike Forgey. The Watsonian reason: he's a natural ally of Talion, even though he's not Branded.
• Ink-Suit Actor: As such, the character strongly resembles◊ Forgey, especially the beard. He wielded an axe, too.◊
• Instrument of Murder: Wields a crude lute-like instrument with a blade attached.
• Memorial Character: The character is based on Monolith's executive producer Mike Forgey, who was nicknamed "Forthog". He passed away during development from cancer in 2016. The character is being released as part of a free story DLC.invoked
• Mysterious Protector: His official title is "Mysterious Savior". His role is to randomly show up to save Talion from death. He can even take out Overlords.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Forthog, being directly modeled on a human, has very little resemblance to any of the other Uruks in-game with his relatively fine facial features and full-grown, fair-haired beard. Possibly he might even be a Goblin-man/Half-Orc.
• One-Man Army: He doesn't even blink when surrounded by Orcs — and the Orcs know it.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Lore-wise, he appears to be a half-orc and he's famous for protecting Talion and killing every orc he encounters.
• Shrouded in Myth: As described above, his exploits have made him The Dreaded among the Orcs of Mordor. Enemy Chatter reveals that some of them don't even believe that he exists.
  Grunt: Orc-Slayer's not even real. He's just a story every glob uses to cover up their murdering. "Wasn't me, I swear! It was the Orc-Slayer!"
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He comes out of nowhere to save Talion's life, trots away while uttering a pithy statement of advice or encouragement, and is nowhere to be found by the time Talion gets back on his feet.
• Theme Song: "Back Home" by The Cold That Lasts All Winter.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Forthog will always be lower leveled than the Captain he kills, often over 10 levels. This includes Legendary Captains and Overlords.
• What Could Have Been: One of Forthog's lines after saving Talion: invoked
  Forthog Orc-Slayer: In another time, we could have been friends!

Akoth Slayer of the Dead

Akoth Slayer of the Dead

Race: Uruk-hai

Voiced by: Nolan North^note Uncredited; Akoth uses the Professional 1 voice type in-game, which is voiced by Nolan

An orc who serves as Talion's overlord in Cirith Ungol in the Blade of Galadriel DLC.

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• Berserk Button: Undead, hence his name. He witnessed his blood brother's death, and once the latter returned as a revenant, he performed a Mercy Kill on him. From that point onwards, he dedicated himself to killing any and all undead creatures he could find, which eventually led him to Talion. Sure enough, he has the "Enraged by Undead" trait in gameplay.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: His fate in Blade of Galadriel is somewhere between this and Put on a Bus. After Eltariel successfully defends Cirith Ungol and gets a visit from the Rogue Nazgûl, Talion orders Akoth to go to Minas Morgul and ensure that it is secure. Akoth is nowhere to be seen when Talion and Eltariel return to Minas Morgul themselves at the end of the story; presumably he returned to Cirith Ungol in the interim, but the region ceases to be relevant to the story after the defense of its fort. Interestingly, he always shows up in Cirith Ungol's Army screen as its overlord throughout the story.
• Determined Defeatist: Going off of his bio's quote, he's well aware that fighting a war against the undead is an impossible task — and yet he does so anyway.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: He's a Marauder Commander, but his bio claims that he used to be a Mystic Trickster. In-game, orcs cannot change tribal affiliation or advanced class^note Undead orcs lose their tribal affiliation, but that's arguably a special case.
• I Know A Guy: His main narrative purpose in Blade of Galadriel's story is to point her to several "unique" locals who can possibly help bolster the fort's defenses. Justified in that, as Cirith Ungol's overlord, he can't exactly be running around on the field.
• In the Hood: Wears a black hood just like Talion.
• Irony: His hatred for the undead led him to seek out the Gravewalker, which in turn led to him becoming a servant of an undead fiend.
• Heel–Face Brainwashing: His bio mentions that Talion dominated as recruited him after trying to kill him. As Eltariel refuses to dominate orcs, Akoth is the only notable ally in Blade of Galadriel who was subjected to this.
• Hero-Worshipper: Seems to have a bit of that as he dresses like Talion does.
• In-Series Nickname: Talion calls him "Slayer."
• Number Two: To Talion himself, as the overlord of Cirith Ungol, Talion's last remaining stronghold inside Mordor after he loses Seregost.

Eltariel's Army

Eltariel's Army

Race: Orcs (Uruk-hai, Olog-hai)

A collection of allies that Eltariel recruits to assist Talion's forces during the Blade of Galadriel DLC. They are static characters instead of the randomized orcs Talion meets, consistent no matter how many times you play: Ar-Kaius the Architect, Ogg Bow of Morgoth, Ar-Baruk the Thrall, Mâku the Fixer, Flak "Flint" and Torz "Tinder", Krimp the Enchanted, and Golm the Digger.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Krimp the Enchanted is rather taken with Elven culture and Eltariel in particular, always calling her "My Lady". However, since he's an orc, she's less than pleased by his infatuation. To his credit, he is not a Stalker with a Crush. He tries to be as genuinely civil and chivalrous as possible to her, outright electing himself her Bodyguard and renouncing the lordship of both Sauron and the Bright Lord to follow her.
  • And he isn't THAT hideous either. Aside from being a little rotund and his yellowing skin, he's not the most revolting orc in the game.
• Affably Evil: They happen to be some of the nicest orcs in the whole game. It speaks volumes that they are like this naturally instead of being branded by Eltariel.
• Always Identical Twins: Flak Flint and Torz Tinder are mirrored versions of one another, notable in that their Appendices entry points out that they are not actually related.
• The Beastmaster: Ar-Baruk the Thrall is a follower of Shelob, and he controls her spiders. Golm the Digger can control ghûls.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Sure, you may laugh at the quirky nature of these orcs, especially the Enchanted and Flint and Tinder, but remember: they're still orcs who can still skewer, stab, brutalize, and blast away any who get in their way.
• Bodyguard Crush: Krimp declares himself the Bodyguard to Eltariel the moment he meets her and wears his admiration for Elves on his sleeve. Unfortunately for him, the feeling is not mutual.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Ar-Kaius the Architect with his hammer, the Boneshaker, who is also a Violent Glaswegian.
• Canon Immigrant: Once you complete the DLC, these guys will be added to your garrison in the main game, and can thus be added to Talion's army as well. However, unlike in the DLC, they will follow the normal orc AI, and thus can betray you, die, etc.
• Cool Old Guy: Ar-Kaius has very noticeable white hair and beard and acts like a Boisterous Bruiser.
  • Ogg is even older (See Time Abyss below) and just so happens to be able to headshot orcs around a mile away.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • While they all have extra lines if added to the main game, Krimp, who has a huge crush on Eltariel, isn't nearly as nice to Talion, who he is more willing to criticise.
  • If they die during the DLC, they obviously can't appear later during it, and Galadriel gives Eltariel her objectives instead.
• Establishing Character Moment: Several of them get this.
  • Ar-Kaius the Architect walks in with a hamtastic Badass Boast followed by a mighty swing of his trusty hammer Boneshaker.
  • Ogg Bow of Morgoth shoots everyone in sight from his sniper's nest atop a haedir tower. You don't even see him until relatively late in the quest — just his victims.
  • Flint and Tinder meander onto the scene, Finishing Each Other's Sentences while excitedly discussing the large "BOOMS!" that have recently rocked the area.
  • Krimp the Enchanted approaches Eltariel with a big smile on his face and offers a lot of flowery compliments as he appoints himself to be her bodyguard.
  • Golm the Digger pops up from under the ground.
• The Faceless: Mâku always wears his mask, even if he is captured by hostiles in the main game; every other orc in the game loses their headwear if this happens.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Flint and Tinder often talk like this.
• The Fixer: Mâku's entire shtick. While his "solutions" typically involve murder (this is Mordor, after all), he makes his introduction by offering a solution to Eltariel's problem — a lack of followers — by pointing her to some possible recruits.
• Friendly Sniper: Ogg is pretty friendly and sociable for a follower of Morgoth and is a skilled shot with a crossbow. Eltariel notes the irony that Morgoth would be furious at one of his followers working with an Elf.
• The Fundamentalist: Ogg the Bow of Morgoth is an orc (implied to be one of the first, in fact) staunchly loyal to Morgoth, considering Sauron to be a pretender and usurper of the title of Dark Lord.
• Heel–Face Brainwashing: Averted. Eltariel dislikes the idea of dominating orcs, so she recruits these guys by helping them (or in the case of Mâku and Krimp, they join on their own accord).
• I Call It "Vera": Ar-Kaius has a massive hammer he calls "Boneshaker".
• In Love with Your Carnage: Flint and Tinder love how Eltariel makes things go "BOOM!"
• It's Personal: Ogg, a former follower of Morgoth, despises Sauron on a personal level, believing him to be an inferior Dark Lord, which is why he's willing to aid an Elf in fighting against him.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Ar-Kaius the Architect likes building more than he likes destroying, which is apparently an extremely rare occurence in orc society.
• Mad Bomber: Flint and Tinder are Orc sappers who love blowing stuff up.
• Mook Carryover: A notable aversion with Ogg, who, unlike most other orcs who were around at the time, staunchly refused to give his allegiance to Sauron when he replaced Morgoth.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: The Digger and the Architect are directly opposed to one other. Eltariel will have to side with one over the other.
• Number Two: Mâku acts as one to Eltariel, helping her find Orcs to recruit and formulate plans to sabotage forts. In fact, he's the one who sought her out to serve her.
• Permanently Missable Content: You can only recruit them once in your save file. If they die, they are gone unless they cheat death, and the only way to get them back is to restart the DLC. As of July 2018, however, they can be unlocked in the main game more than once by replaying the DLC.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: An Olog architect, an ancient sniper, an Olog with the ability to control spiders, a fixer orc whose face is never seen, two brothers who like to blow stuff up with matching burn wounds, a chivalrous bruiser with a crush on Eltariel, and a half-naked orc who lives underground. This group is pretty colorful.
• Really 700 Years Old: As one of the original followers of Morgoth, Ogg is several millennia old, and can pretty much claim to be the oldest orc in Mordor, probably in all of Middle-earth. He's probably even older than Celebrimbor.
• Siamese Twins: It's strongly hinted that Flint and Tinder may have been joined at the head, as they wear a half-head of hair on opposite sides, and there are stitches on the hairless side, as if their heads were joined at that point.
• Smarter Than You Look: Despite his somewhat goofy appearance and personality, Krimp knows that Talion is not the Bright Lord and about what happened at Barad-dûr. If you insert him into the main game and fight him for one reason or another, he actually taunts him that he was a terrible choice for the Bright Lord's host; naturally, he thinks Eltariel would be a better one.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: Ar-Kaius is frustrated by the fact Orcs love to destroy, while his own love is building.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Flint and Tinder's favorite hobby.
• Taking You with Me: Flak "Flint" blows himself up along with his captor during the siege of the Rogue Nazgûl's fort. Eltariel herself doesn't react, but his blood brother screams his name in agony.
  Flak "Flint": Got one word for ya, maggot: Boom.
• Time Abyss: As stated above, Ogg is several millennia old in being a servant of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord.
• Unexplained Accent: The Architect somehow has a Scottish accent in being a Violent Glaswegian.
• Was Once An Elf: Ogg, maybe. He wears Elven armor and is the only Orc encountered with remains of long, flowing white hair, which might be an allusion to the fact that some believe Orcs to have originated from corrupted Elves.
  • The fact that he claims to have been around since Morgoth seems to lend credence to this. It would mean he was old enough to have been among the elves originally captured by Morgoth, or at least their close descendant, and it would make him immortal, which elves are while orcs are not.
• White Mask of Doom: Mâku wears a mask with a white skull painted on it.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Ar-Baruk is fully aware that even as a willing Thrall, his future is to be a meal for Shelob — and is perfectly fine with it.

Serka

Serka the Unkillable

Race: Men (formerly Harad)

Voiced by: Usman Ally

The charismatic leader of the Vanishing Sons Mercenary Company, who also happens to be Baranor's long-lost older brother.

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• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Serka is unlocked as a skin for Talion after the player completes the Desolation of Mordor DLC with a gold rating.
• Bad Boss: The first time we see anyone question Serka's dominance, they end up with a crossbow bolt in the shoulder and wyrm teeth everywhere else. According to Serka, this level of ruthlessness is part of the job description of a mercenary leader. Of course, as "questioning Serka's dominance" translates to "betraying Serka to the orcs and leaving him to get butchered by them," Serka is understandably not in a forgiving mood.
• Call-Back: A twofer.
  • Serka offers Baranor a "family discount" on hiring mercenaries if Baranor will assist him in raiding a treasure caravan. Later on, after Baranor saves Serka from the Circus, a grateful Serka makes good on his word, and all mercenaries are cheaper to recruit from then on.
  • Also near the beginning of the story, when Baranor reiterates his desire to conquer Lithlad's fortress, Serka voices a sarcastic hope that Baranor's got a "great plan" to do so. Later, when Baranor outlines his plan of attack to Serka, the latter sincerely compliments it.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was separated his brother while they were still boys, and not too long afterwards, his parents (and presumably the majority of his village) were murdered by marauding mercenaries, who kidnapped and raised him. After a successful but bloody defense of the Oasis, he also confides to Baranor that this isn't the first time he's lost everything, although it's unknown whether he's referring to losing his family and home or to another incident.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has his moments.
  Baranor: It seems you have better eyes than I do.
  Serka: And looks too, but who's keeping track.
• The Determinator: As he tells Baranor after a hard-fought battle, he is called the Unkillable not because he has never lost, but because he never stops fighting.
• Head Swap: Like Baranor, the Serka skin replaces Talion's head and arms, but the available equipment will not change.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Narrowly subverted, at least from Zhója's perspective. Apparently, Serka would turn unwanted mercenaries over to the Circus for disposal, which is exactly what Zhója does to him when he overthrows him. Unfortunately for Zhója, Serka survives the ordeal.
  Baranor: That Zhója's quite inventive, sending you to the fight pits.
  Serka: Who do you think he got the idea from?
• I Did What I Had to Do: How he justifies working for orcs.
  Serka: Look, in this line of work, I can't choose where my coin comes from.
• Large Ham: He's nothing if not an excellent showman.
• Leave No Witnesses: An essential component of his raids of orc treasure caravans, since he can't have any of them revealing the Vanishing Sons' involvement in the robbery of the caravans that they're being paid to protect.
• Long-Lost Relative: He is Baranor's older brother Jagai.
• The Magnificent: Serka the Unkillable, Serka the Insufferable, Serka the Destroyer. He has many of these.
• The Quisling: Baranor considers Serka this for being hired by Marauder Orcs to protect their plunder of Gondorian gold. That they looted from Baranor's beloved home of Minas Ithil, no less.
• Raised by Orcs: His and Baranor's parents were killed by the very same mercenaries he now rules over.
• Sole Survivor: Per the Appendices, Serka (Jagai at the time) was one of three boys captured by the Vanishing Sons when they razed his village; the other two boys died within a few months of their kidnapping.
• Supporting Leader: Notably, he's the one who yells orders to the mercenary army during the conquest of Shindrâm, rather than Baranor as might be expected. Possibly justified in that it's very likely that Baranor didn't hire the entire army, and thus they're following Serka's lead rather than Baranor's.
• That Man Is Dead: In a conversation with Baranor, Serka claims that he let Jagai die, since Jagai can be killed while Serka cannot.
• The Trickster: Serka's been making quite the pretty penny literally robbing the caravans he's been hired and paid by the orcs to protect.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Angrily calls out Baranor after Baranor triggers a cave-in that blocks the treasure caravan's route.
  Serka: What have you done?!
  Baranor: Cut off the enemy's supply line.
  Serka (furious): That was also MY supply line!
  • He later gives a calmer one to Baranor that doubles as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
    Serka: I've seen two kinds of mercenary, brother. One of them fights for gold, and the other seeks death in whatever way he can find it. I'm starting to think you're the second kind.

The Vanishing Sons

The Vanishing Sons Mercenary Company

Race: Men (formerly Rhûn and Harad)

Voiced by: Dave B. Mitchell, Andrew Morgado, Tom Taylorson, Kirk Thornton

A company of Easterling mercenaries, currently operating in Lithlad.

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• All There in the Manual: Per the norm, most of the Vanishing Sons' backstory can only be found in the Appendices.
• Badass Normal: The are just normal humans but are capable of going toe-to-toe with Nemesis Orcs. Downplayed when you consider that Nemesis Orcs are also Badass Normals^note Mystic Orcs can technically be considered Empowered Badass Normals due to the short-range Teleportation granted by their Mystic Blades, but the power differential is negligible.
• The Beastmaster: Like orcs, some mercenaries command packs of loyal caragors or even dire caragors. Others have the Caragor Tamer trait that automatically converts nearby enemy caragors into friendlies.
• Berserk Button: They can have most of the same rage triggers as orcs, as well as some exclusive ones: Enraged by Allies Attacked (causes them to get Enraged when a nearby mercenary is attacked) and Gondorian Pledge (causes them to get Enraged when Baranor is attacked). Baranor can also acquire a gear augment that causes all nearby mercenaries (including Serka) to get Enraged when he's attacked.
• Blood Knight: While fighting orcs, some mercenaries will enthusiastically shout, "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this!" Some mercs are almost disturbingly eager to kill orcs.
• Canon Character All Along: Significantly downplayed, but the orcs have standing orders to not attack the mercenaries unless provoked; according to Takra the Sandspider, this order comes straight from Barad-dûr itself, since the mercs will be needed for the upcoming war.
• Cold Sniper / Friendly Sniper: While mercenary archers do not possess the Sniper Shot trait of Orc Marksmen, they are still capable of playing this trope completely straight when ordered to attack an enemy from stealth. An archer with the right combination of traits^note Preferably some combination of Explosive Shot, Devastator, and the Epic Trait of Backstabber (inflicts greater damage for 15 seconds after being given a stealth command) can take down an unaware Olog captain in a single shot! Naturally, whether the sniper is Cold or Friendly depends on his personality type.
• Consummate Professional: They will never betray Baranor since he paid for them. More specifically, one merc personality type is a former soldier in the Easterling army, and mercs with this personality often bemoan other Company members' lack of discipline and refer to Baranor as a superior officer.
• Cool Mask: To a man, every mercenary wears a veil over their nose and mouth. Partly to avoid breathing in sand and other hazards while out and about, and partly so that the devs don't have to synchronize mouth movement animations to voice lines.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Per the Appendices.
  • The Vanishing Sons were created by the survivors of an Easterling military company who survived a Suicide Mission skirmish with the Rohirrim. Rather than returning to the country that betrayed them and left them to die, they struck out on their own and began offering their fighting prowess to the highest bidder.
  • The current incarnation of the Vanishing Sons has a similarly bloody history: the Vanishing Sons routinely annihilated villages (Easterling and Haradrim alike) but kept boys alive and raised them as fighters. Over time, the Easterling mercenaries died off and were replaced by their erstwhile captives; their current leader Serka is one of those former captives.
• Desert Bandits: One of the story missions has Baranor assist Serka and his men in raiding an Orc caravan containing gold and treasure. The way Serka describes it, this is a regular occurence.
  Serka: The Overlord can't know that this is us. After all, he is paying us to keep these deliveries straight.
• Dual Wielding: Notably averted. Unlike orcs, mercenaries don't ever wield weapons in both hands.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: If the Gondorians and Rohirrim are standard European Kingdoms and the Haradrim are North Africans, then the Easterlings are based on Middle-Eastern and Central-Asian nomads.
• Ironic Nickname: Some mercenaries have titles that are rather unimposing or even effeminate (the Dancer, Star-Gazer, of the Flowers, etc.), but they're just as capable as their brothers when it comes to cutting through orcs. Possibly even more capable, depending on their strengths.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: A staple of Defenders, just like their orc counterparts. Aside from defense, some mercenaries can even use their shields to launch Baranor into the air when he vaults over them, enabling him to glide on his Kite without needing a natural vantage point.
• Mirroring Factions: Orcs, as Serka lampshades:
  Baranor (to Serka, referring to the orcs): How do you work with these beasts?
  Serka: Oh, they're not much different from mercenaries. They like to drink, to sing, and to kill.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Inverted, which is awesome in its own right. Mercenaries can have certain orc epic traits as normal traits, sometimes under different names. Examples include Devastator (Great Strength), Thick Skinned, Knife Thrower (Epic Throwing Knives), and Leader: Elite Defenders (Gang of Elite Defenders).
• Only in It for the Money: Some mercenaries talk endlessly about the Coin that they're making. Occasionally, a bodyguard will ask Baranor if he'll pay him extra for arriving so promptly, or if he's bleeding out, he'll warn Baranor that he's losing his investment.
• Palette Swap: Subverted. Mercenaries have the exact same function as orcs have in the main game, but these guys have human-unique traits and never betray Baranor. They also have custom animations and can be commanded in both combat and stealth. (Orcs can only be commanded from stealth.)
  • Notably, unlike orcs, mercenaries use bows instead of crossbows. Humorously, while Talion and Celebrimbor never use crossbows, Baranor only uses a crossbow in Desolation of Mordor.
  • Played somewhat straight with some of their traits, which are renamed versions of orc traits. Aside from the examples listed under Mundane Made Awesome above, one notable example is the weakness Uninspired (Infected by Fear).
• Sour Supporter: One mercenary personality type does nothing but complain: complain about the heat, complain about the desert, complain about the Company, complain about Baranor, complain about fighting. They're no less loyal — or lethal in combat — than their brothers.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Some Archers have the Explosive Shot trait. One possible Combat Command is Balefire Cluster Bomber, where the merc throws explosives that trigger balefire explosions all around him. Some mercenaries also throw bombs during combat. Finally, one possible mercenary Epic Trait is Corpse Exploder, which causes anyone killed by the merc to have a chance of exploding with no friendly fire to Baranor or his allies.
• Taking the Bullet: The Beloved Command legendary armor augment causes a nearby mercenary to sacrifice himself if Baranor takes damage that would kill him.
• Undying Loyalty: Mostly averted. As Serka informs Baranor, mercenaries are ultimately only loyal to coin. They're certainly not terribly loyal to their leader; apparently, almost none of them blink when Zhója usurps Serka's rule and sends him to the orcs, aside from possibly a handful of loyalists who are condemned to die alongside him — and they also don't blink when Serka returns, forcibly reclaims his position, and orders Zhója's execution. However, see Taking the Bullet above as well, and in gameplay terms, they will never betray the player as mistreated Orcs might.
  Serka: You see those men back there? Those are not soldiers. Their loyalty is bought, and when they stop getting paid, their blades are no longer under my control!
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Mostly averted. You cannot hit mercenaries, even if you want to. Swing your sword in their direction all you like; it'll just go through them, and they won't even flinch. Your crossbow, on the other hand...