History VideoGame / MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor

* WhyWontYouDie: Uruk Captains and Warchiefs who killed Talion will sometimes say this after they've already killed him. Others speak a variation, eagerly killing to kill him ''again''.

* FixFic[=/=]ExternalRetcon: An infamous alleged PlotHole in ''Lord of the Rings'' (more of an AdaptationInducedPlotHole for the movies due to certain changes or stuff being left out) is "why not just ride the eagles to Mt. Doom and air-drop the One Ring there?" The Appendix entry on Hell-Hawks says that the creatures attack eagles on sight; rather like crows instinctively attacking owls.

* FixFic[=/=]ExternalRetcon: One major PlotHole in ''Lord of the Rings'' is "why not just ride the eagles to Mt. Doom and air-drop the One Ring there?" The Appendix entry on Hell-Hawks says that the creatures attack eagles on sight; rather like crows instinctively attacking owls.

* YourHeadAsplode: Talion can explode the heads of uruks with his branding powers, be it through the Wraith Finisher or remote detonation of branded uruks.

** It is possible to come across a warchief with the combat master perk (can't be harmed by ''any'' traditional combat strikes or finishers), immunity to stealth finishers and immunity to ranged attacks. At that point the battle becomes about luring him into an area where you can take advantage of his one vulnerability. Alternatively, Wraith Flash grows stronger the higher the combo meter goes, so building that up and repeatedly using it can inflict more damage than your non-finisher sword strikes. Explosions will decrease his health fast, if you can find a fire source nearby, and you can still brand his uruks to turn them against him anyway (them doing still damage, strangely).

* WarpWhistle: There are spectral towers that Talion and the Wraith have access to, serving as both respawn and fast travel points.
* TheWarSequence: If the alarm goes off in a stronghold, several dozen Uruks arrive as reinforcements. There's nothing preventing you from taking them all on.

* MonsterSobStory: There are a few conversations and artifacts that give the orcs some driving motivation, showing that they have suffered as much as any race. But even in those, they are still depicted as virtually AlwaysChaoticEvil, {{sadist}}ic and [[LackOfEmpathy uncaring about anyone's pain]] [[MoralMyopia besides their own]].

** In a bit of a recursive adaptation with ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' the Rangers on the Towers of the Teeth and the Outcast bear a strong resemblance to the Night's Watch (an organization that guards over a massive wall overlooking a deadly wasteland) and the Wildlings (a resourceful tribe of humans that insist on living on the other side of the Wall). Also Lithariel bears some physical resemblance to Daenerys Targaryen.

* BadassGrandpa: Old orc captains you fight might remark that you only live long enough to be an old orc by being a total badass.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Celebrimbor in the ''Bright Lord'' DLC has a significantly different moveset from Talion. While the game informs the player that Celebrimbor can mass Brand orcs and cannot slow time while aiming with his bow, the game ''doesn't'' inform that Celebrimbor cannot do two special attacks while his Hit Streak is charged, nor can he stun enemies after vaulting over them. All these, combined with his lower health and Elf-shot capacity, require the player to employ different strategies.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Played with. Part of the game's appeal to Tolkien fans is, much like the Peter Jackson movies, they remind people there's some pretty dark stuff to Middle-earth already. Still, this is the first game where you are playing something halfway between Aragorn and a ringwraith.

[[caption-width-right:300:''When you stare into the [[BadPowersGoodPeople Abyss]], the Abyss stares [[HeWhoFightsMonsters back.]]'']]

The game was followed up with multiple pieces of DownloadableContent, ranging from extra challenge maps, to alternate skins for Talion, to two major quest packs - the first, ''Lord of the Hunt'', has Talion working with Torvin to eliminate several Beastmaster Warchiefs, who have taken control of the local wildlife. The second, ''The Bright Lord,'' tells the story of the wraith and his battle with Sauron. A GameOfTheYearEdition has been released which compiles all of the DLC.

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Graugs (full name Olog Graugs, with Olog being the BlackSpeech word for troll) are massive, lumbering beasts found in Mordor's wilderness who have a terrible temper and are prone to eating people, including other trolls and especially Uruks. They have variants of their own (including one who can projectile vomit as a form of combat in the DownloadableContent), and are cross-bred by Sauron to create sun-resistant Hill Trolls. You learn to ride them late in the game, and they [[TakenForGranite turn into stone]] before [[LiterallyShatteredLives crumbling into dust]] when they die.

** As expected, there are numerous shout-outs to Tolkien's works, including a mission where Talion must defend a bridge against a swarm of Uruks. The mission is titled [[Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing "They Shall Not Pass"]]. Other sidequests refer to chapter titles from ''The Lord of the Rings'' novels; examples are "The Scouring of the Shadow" and "A Knife in the Dark".

* MenAretheExpendableGender: All the slaves seen in gameplay are men. While Uruks periodically talk about capturing and gutting "She-slaves" none are actually seen by the player. And the only "She-slave" that we see is a named character that gets rescued during an early story mission, so it's possible they were referring to her.

* ShooOutTheClowns: [[spoiler: Ratbag is killed halfway through the game by the Hammer of Sauron for failing to stop Talion from destroying a monument to Sauron.]]

The gameplay is a mix of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' style traversal and stealth with combat very similar to the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''. The standout feature in this game is the Nemesis system, which keeps track of ranked members of Sauron's army and their advancement through it. It also keeps track of the player's relationship with them, where the uruks will remember their previous encounters with the player and respond accordingly. If a random enemy happens to defeat the player, then he will rise through the ranks, gain a name and a title, and will endeavor to continue his own personal rise towards the rank of Warchief. The player can then encounter them in later events or just randomly happen across them while exploring the world. As they rise through the ranks, they gain strengths and lose weaknesses, so repeatedly losing fights against a specific uruk can end up creating a rather threatening enemy.

* BackToBackBadasses: Sometimes two uruks attack at once; countering them causes Talion to deal with one while the wraith briefly steps out of Talion's body to take care of the other.

* BossInMooksClothing: Depending on how much power and support an uruk has, a "mere" captain can prove a greater challenge than a warchief or a story boss.
** Some of the captains even look very much like ordinary uruks if one isn't paying close attention or checking for them in the wraith world. Seeing "Combat Master" or "Invulnerable to Stealth" unexpectedly can be quite the OhCrap moment.

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The wraith is capable of brainwashing uruks, graugs and caragors into his service.

* CallARabbitASmeerp: Talion makes the distinction of "They're not orcs, they're uruks" during the introductory sequence, although the only noteworthy difference between uruks and basic orcs is that uruks can endure more punishment. Talion even colloquially refers to uruks as "orcs" at times.

* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:One of the final bosses is your nemesis; the game tracks your victories and defeats, and chooses the one uruk who either had the best chance of putting you down, or the one who hates you the most.]]

* CreateYourOwnVillain: Whether from incidental deaths or deliberate enhancement through mission successes and death threats, the Nemesis system allows the player to cultivate practically any uruk into your... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin nemesis]]. There's even an achievement called "Rise and Fall" for dying to a no-name grunt, helping him get promoted to Warchief, ''then'' cutting him down at the height of his power.

* DeathIsCheap: Some uruks can survive what seems like a fatal blow (up to and including [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain being stabbed in the face]]) and return for a rematch. OffWithHisHead is the only assurance that they won't come back. According to the source material, uruk medicine is ''very'' good, though also [[HarmfulHealing painful]], so it's probably a JustifiedTrope. Also, Sauron isn't called a ''necromancer'' for nothing.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the opening cutscene, Talion says that their foes [[InsistentTerminology aren't orcs, but rather uruks.]] "Uruk" is just the BlackSpeech word for "orc" (''uruk-hai'' translates as ''orc-folk'').

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Each step of Ratbag's efforts to ascend in uruk society completely ignores that absolutely nobody respects him [[spoiler:and that allowing Talion to freely run amok would inevitably [[YouHaveFailedMe bite him in the ass.]]]]

* DynamicEntry: Unlike regular stealth kills, Brutalize kills are noisy and attract the attention of nearby uruks. However, they also build up your hit streak to five and it causes a few uruks to panic and flee. Beginning a combat encounter by bursting out of stealth with a Brutalize kill therefore gives you a head start on your hit counter (possibly allowing you to perform an execution immediately) and makes the attacking group a little smaller.

* EvilVersusEvil: It's hard to remember that uruks and orcs are opposing forces between Saruman and Sauron.

** Every uruk in the game has the potential to be this. If a random foot-soldier manages to kill you, he'll get a promotion to Captain and his name will be revealed. It's possible for him to eventually become a Warchief.

** Ratbag will tell [[spoiler:the Hammer of Sauron that he's the only warchief left alive. In reality, Talion only has to kill four of the five warchiefs, including the one needed for Ratbag to ascend to in rank; the last one is, in gameplay terms, a BonusBoss.]]

* GargleBlaster: The Orcs' grog, which is described by one slave as tasting "[[TastesLikeFeet like old, wet Dwarf hair]]". According to Talion, it also reeks. It's also ''spectacularly'' [[StuffBlowingUp flammable]].
* GhostAmnesia: The Wraith can't remember his life, and regaining his memories increases his powers. He only remembers his own name by the end of the Gollum missions.
* GoodCounterpart: The elven Wraith is not that different from the ringwraiths, but is a force for good. [[spoiler:Or is he?]]
* GoodIsNotNice: The wraith not only looks like an evil ghostly zombie and possesses powers one would expect from a villain, he's also completely ruthless and willing to use said powers mercilessly to thwart Sauron's forces as much as possible. Not even the suffering of the Outcasts elicits any kind of sympathy from him. When a prisoner gets chased down, savagely beaten, and dragged away by a pair of uruks, Talion is horrified, whereas the wraith only sees this as a useful distraction.

** It's possible to Stealth Kill one uruk only a few feet away from ''and in front of'' other uruks, without alerting the rest- at least for a few seconds. They will leave their friends to investigate your suspicious noises, thereby letting Talion ambush them individually. Entire groups can be eliminated by stealth without drawing attention from other nearby orcs, despite all the gurgling and thrashing noises. You can also hide and move around very easily by crouching on ledges above the uruks, who almost never look up. [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity Does this sound familiar?]]
** This trope is averted in stealth missions which you must complete without being spotted; during these, the enemy suddenly and inexplicably seem to have eagle eyes. Be prepared to restart these missions over and over.
* HardModePerks: You can brainwash uruks into sending death threats against captains. While this gives them a large gang protecting them, they drop better runes and have a higher chance of dropping the best kind.
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: The fight with Sauron at the end of the Bright Lord DLC. [[spoiler: Unlike most cases, you are still shown to be winning the fight after it's over. It's just that the One Ring slips off Celebrimbor's finger and back onto Sauron's.]]

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Essentially what Branding does to Uruks. They will fight on Talion's side and Branded warchiefs/captains can be commanded to engage in power struggles with those not under his controls.

* HeroicSecondWind: When Talion's hit points fall to zero, if the blow that did so was not an explosion, he will fall to his knees and one of his enemies will have a chance to finish him off. If nobody takes the chance after a while, or if you succeed at a QuickTimeEvent, Talion will get back to his feet and recover some of his hit points. Subverted in that orc captains and warchiefs also have the ability to do this: If you don't finish them off with an execution, you will have to succeed at a QuickTimeEvent after their hit points fall to zero in order to kill them.

** Some captains have the No Chance ability, which denies the player the chance to use recover, killing them automatically.
** Some captains have the Humiliator ability, rather than try finish you off they taunt you and stroll away leaving you alive but giving them the power boost from the victory
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The whole game has this value. The methods the Wraith uses, through Talion, would under most circumstances be considered excessively cruel and morally repugnant (e.g. brainwashing, torture, brutality, deceit) - Talion's willingness to wield such powers starts out reluctant, pragmatic, but overtime this aspect disappears and starts flying in the face of Tolkien's core values. Watching Talion's humanity deteriorate as he embraces his enemies' character can help illustrate Tolkien's main points... but also, the one ''truly' embracing the powers + nudging Talion to use them is [[spoiler:the Wraith, as he formerly tried to use the One Ring against Sauron]].
** Referenced by some Orcs when fighting Caragors.
-->'''Orc Captain''': If I kill the Monster, do I become the Monster? Oh I do hope so!
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the ''The Bright Lord'' DLC, [[spoiler:this is attempted by Celebrimbor using the One Ring to directly fight Sauron, and ends up averted in a crowning example of why no one else ever tries it: the One Ring is ''partly sentient'' and wants nothing more than to return to Sauron. When it looks like Celebrimbor has Sauron on the ropes, the One Ring ''slips itself off of his finger and'' '''right onto Sauron's'''. [[CurbStompBattle This ends about as well as you'd expect.]]]]
* HumanoidAbomination: In the introduction, the Black Hand of Sauron is a man with glowing red irises, rumored by the orcs to be made out of the wind. [[spoiler:Turns out he's Sauron himself, in human form or demonically possessing a human.]]
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Torvin's reaction towards The Black Gate, Talion's previous post.

* InjuredVulnerability: Any orc captain or warchief whose health is low enough is vulnerable to becoming grabbed (and subsequently domination).
* InterclassRomance: Talion and Ioreth, as well as Hirgon and Eryn. Both are instances of Gondorians of the accepted "pure" Numenorean blood marrying someone who, not being descended from Numenor, was part of the exiled Outcasts.
* InvincibilityPowerUp : You can unlock the final tier of weapon abilities, which grant you an unlimited number of executions, one to become invisible and serial stealth kill, and one allowing to fire an unlimited number of arrows, each time for 20 seconds or so. runes increase the duration by ten seconds. In the DLC "Bright Lord", these powers are combined in the "Ring mode".

-->'''Talion''': This is a trap. It's silence taunts us.
* JokeItem: The Throwing Daggers initially seem to be this way-they do a little damage, build up the combo meter, and can interrupt an enemy. The Brace of Daggers allows Talion to throw three at once. While it seems easier to just charge in and slice everything up, the Brace becomes a LethalJokeItem when you realize that the little damage they do is more then enough to kill Ghuls. It's perfectly possible to kill an entire mob of Ghuls by just spamming throwing knives.
* JustifiedTutorial: Most of the quest-givers are there to tell you how to do stuff you should already be figuring out, or will soon: Ratbag the orc gives you missions to introduce you to gaming the Nemesis system and get orcs fighting each other, the Outcasts give you a bunch of introductory stealth missions, the dwarven hunter shows you how to get the most out of riding a caragor (as well as teaching you a new way to subdue them) and late-game you are encouraged to learn how to mind-control orcs directly to get the whole army under your control.
* KingOfBeasts: Caragors aren't wargs, and WordOfGod compares them more to lions than the wargs' SavageWolves.
* KlingonPromotion: If an orc that kills Talion is not part of the current hierarchy, it will (attempt to) kill one of the captains to claim their place. A BodyguardBetrayal can also result in the Warchief being replaced. Three different types of power struggles involve one captain trying to murder another captain for some reason.
* [[KungFuProofMook Kung-Fu Proof Captain]]: Any one of the randomly generated captains or warchiefs may be immune to one of Talion's usual attack types.
** As their power increases a captain may acquire additional immunities. Its not unheard of to find one immune to every attack type altogether. Requiring you to exploit one of his few weaknesses to take him down.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: It never appears outside of the Appendices, but it's mentioned that a giant, tentacled creature of the same species as the Watcher in the Water outside of Moria has been encountered in Mordor's waters.
* LargeAndInCharge: Zigzagged. Uruk captains and warchiefs have randomized appearances so they can bigger than common uruks or smaller than Talion. The Hammer and the Tower however, are taller than any of the uruks, while their superior the Black Hand is the size of a normal man. Sauron himself towers of over any of his servants in this game.

** Nemeses with the "Blood Thirsty" trait will recover health from striking Talion.
** Caragors and Graugs when ridden by Talion can be commanded to use an eating move on Uruks to recover their health.
* LightIsNotGood: Sauron is seen in flashbacks [[spoiler: in is his fair disguise, Annatar, which appears as a blonde elf in white robes.]] It's also revealed that [[spoiler:Celebrimbor isn't necessarily a good guy himself]].
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Talion and the Wraith, respectively, particularly in terms of their skill trees. Talion's skills focus on methodically taking individual or small groups of Uruks and mostly just gets slightly better at it by the endgame. The Wraith starts out un-impressively but quickly picks up lots of crowd control and domination abilities, including most of the hit streak attacks. In fact, one could argue that Talion's primary skill contributions at that point are the ones that build the combo meter faster.

** The developers were aware of possibly long loading times and play audio fragments from Talion's past during, ranging from his wife singing to him to sadly grieving the loss of his family. When loading is done, these play out unless the "SKIP" button is used.
** Played straight in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/Xbox360 versions of the game, which feature lengthy (around 10 to 15 seconds) blank loading screens every time the player closes out the map or the pause menu, when they go into the Nemesis system, etc. This is probably due to the game taking longer to load the environments due to being ran on less powerful hardware.
* LovableCoward / DirtyCoward: Ratbag falls under this with his various antics.
* LovableTraitor: Ratbag is this to the Orcish race. Played with as only the audience loves him. Talion and the orcs hate him.

* TheMagnificent: Nemesis orcs have relevant titles to their accomplishments or traits. Examples include "[[OffWithHisHead The Beheader]]", "[[AxeCrazy The Crazy]], "[[DirtyCoward The Coward]]", "[[BadassBookworm Literate One]]", "[[{{Plaguemaster}} Plague-Bringer]]", and many more.

** Hirgon and Eryn have the reverse situation, a "pure-blooded" Gondorian fell in love with an Outcast woman.

* MoleInCharge: A late game mission is to [[spoiler:Brand all five warchiefs in the Nurnen region]].
* MonsterSobStory: There are a few overheard conversations and recovered artifacts that give the Orcs some driving motivation, showing that they have suffered as much as any race. But even in those, they are still depicted as virtually AlwaysChaoticEvil, {{sadist}}ic and [[LackOfEmpathy uncaring about anyone's pain]] [[MoralMyopia besides their own]].
* MonumentOfHumiliationAndDefeat: The Gorthaur, a statue of Sauron towering over chained slaves. [[spoiler: Talion and Hirgon blow it up to draw out The Hammer of Sauron.]]

* MookPromotion: If a non-captain mook orc managed to slay Talion, they will claim a free slot (or [[KlingonPromotion kill a captain to make that slot]]) and ascend to the ranks of the Nemesis roster.

** When escaping from the Graug lair during a Gollum mission, the Wraith says "Fly, you fool!" to tell Talion to escape.
** One of the achievements is also named thus as it involves dropping Morgai Flies hives on Uruks to make them disperse.
** The sword mission "They Shall Not Pass" counts as this, as well as a ShoutOut to Gandalf's other famous line.
** The Wraith reminds Talion that "not all those who wander are lost" after the Ranger points out that Torvin is far away from home hunting in Mordor.
** After learning to dominate, the Wraith notes that it is "a gift." And that they should "use the enemy's weapon against him," foreshadowing Boromir's argument in ''Fellowship of the Ring.''
** The platinum trophy for the game notes 'One has walked in Mordor', an answer to Boromir's line of "One does not simply walk into Mordor."
** In ''The Lord of the Rings'', Frodo and Sam overhear a fighting-orc and a tracker discussing the various theories of who caused trouble at the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Among these theories include the work of a ''Tark'' (Orkish slang for "Man of Gondor"), a great Elf-lord, a dwarf-man, a pack of rebel Uruk-hai, or even [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs the whole lot put together]]. And whom causes trouble for Mordor in ''this'' game? A ''Tark'' (Talion), a great Elf-lord (The Wraith[[spoiler:, who is later revealed to be Celebrimbor]]), A dwarf-man (Torvin, a Dwarf that almost looks like a human), ''and'' a pack of rebel Uruk-hai (the various Uruks that are Branded by the Wraith over the course of the game).

* NamedWeapons: All three of Talion's weapons are named. His sword is Urfael, his "dagger" is Acharn, and his bow is Azkâr.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Zigzagged. The Nemesis system creates a lot of fearsome titles by default. It also, however, assigns sobriquets that aren't terribly intimidating on the surface, but could well be for ''you'' personally depending on their strength and trait loadout.
* NemeanSkinning: A common form of armor for certain Orcs.
* NintendoHard: Can happen thanks to the Nemesis system, but more this term fits more towards ''The Bright Lord.'' Despite having the ''One Ring'', which lets you do some crazy shit (turn invisible, slow time to a crawl, unlimited executions and stealth kills, as long as the ring is charged), the game balances this out by the fact Celebrimbor has limited Runes and doesn't have Talion's highest level upgrades, and also by throwing possibly the largest quantity of orcs in the entire game at you, makes the war chiefs extremely powerful, makes ''basic captains'' absurdly powerful for their rank and ends in the toughest fight in the entire game- [[spoiler: Sauron first turning your warchiefs against you, and then forcing you to kill ''all five of them at once'', after which he'll revive one or more of them to fight you again while also fighting you directly.]] Be killed by a random Uruk and you'll see his power level going from 1 to ''18''.
* NobleDemon: Thanks to the Nemesis system, some orc captains can have quite a few positive traits.
* NocturnalMooks: Ghuls will only appear during the night.
* NoKillLikeOverkill: During the first half of the game, Talion's method of disposing interrogated Orcs is to stab them [[EyeScream through the eyes]], ''then'' [[OffWithHisHead decapitate them]]. Given [[UnexplainedRecovery how much punishment Orcs can seem to recover from]], this may be {{justified|trope}}.

->''"In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie..."''

''Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor'' is a WideOpenSandbox ActionRPG, released on September 30th, 2014, and developed by Creator/MonolithProductions and set in Creator/JRRTolkien's [[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Middle-earth]]. It is available on the [[MultiPlatform PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.]][[note]]MacOSX, SteamOS GNU/Linux, *and* Windows[[/note]]

The game takes place in an AlternateTimeline between Literature/TheHobbit and Literature/TheLordOfTheRings and stars Talion (Voiced and motion-acted by Creator/TroyBaker), a ranger of Gondor responsible for guarding the Black Gate of Mordor, who is killed alongside his family by Sauron's forces to celebrate the Dark Lord's homecoming. Fortunately ([[FateWorseThanDeath or unfortunately]]) for Talion, he is revived by the Elven wraith that the Black Hand was attempting to summon with the [[HumanSacrifice ritual killing]] of Talion and his family. Together they head into Mordor to exact revenge.

The gameplay is a mix of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' style traversal and stealth with combat very similar to the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''. The standout feature in this game is the Nemesis system, which keeps track of ranked members of Sauron's army and their advancement through it. It also keeps track of the player's relationship with them, where the uruks will remember their previous encounters with the player and respond accordingly. If a random enemy happens to defeat the player then he will rise through the ranks, gain a name and a title, and will endeavor to continue his own personal rise towards the rank of Warchief. The player can then encounter them in later events or just randomly happen across them while exploring the world. As they rise through the ranks they gain strengths and lose weaknesses, so repeatedly losing fights against a specific uruk can end up creating a rather threatening enemy.

The game was followed up with multiple pieces of DownloadableContent, ranging from extra challenge maps, to alternate skins for Talion, to two major quest packs - the first, ''Lord of the Hunt'', has Talion working with Torvin to eliminate several "Beastmaster Warchiefs," who have taken control of the local wildlife. The second, ''The Bright Lord,'' tells the story of The Wraith and his battle with Sauron. A GameOfTheYearEdition has been released which compiles all of the DLC.

* AintTooProudToBeg: Sometimes when you're about to finish off an uruk Captain he may beg for his dear life before Talion tries to deliver the coup de grâce. On the other hand other captains will simply [[DefiantToTheEnd verbally flip Talion off]].

** One drinking song heard during "Feast" missions has them naming grog as their one comfort. "When [something bad happens to them], Grog is there!"

* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Graugs (full name Olog Graugs, with Olog being the Black Speech word for troll) are massive, lumbering beasts found in Mordor's wilderness who have a terrible temper and are prone to eating people, including other trolls and especially Uruks. They have variants of their own (including one who can projectile vomit as a form of combat in the DownloadableContent), and are cross-bred by Sauron to create sun-resistant Hill Trolls. You learn to ride them late in the game, and they [[TakenForGranite turn into stone]] before [[LiterallyShatteredLives crumbling into dust]] when they die.
* AlternateContinuity: According to WordOfGod, Shadow of Mordor is separate from ''The Lord of the Rings'' canon and combines elements of the films and the books. Though in practice it fits into the untold backstory of the films much better than that of the books, which ''is'' told.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Averted. Some artifacts are from the POV of an orc that made a HeelFaceTurn, acting as a spy for the wizard Saruman.
* AnnoyingArrows: Averted for both Talion and the Orcs -- archers and spear-throwers will be the bane of early-game Talion's existence, due to interrupting the combat multiplier and doing a fair amount of damage. Played straight, however, for orc bosses that are Immune to Projectiles, where shooting them directly won't damage them at all.

** Should you kill a captain but die before you can pick up their rune, the rune will remain on the map once you respawn. They even have their own icon. [[note]]Be careful about leaving them laying around, though. Too many of them on the minimap can start causing crashes[[/note]]
* AntiGrinding: Thinking of allowing them to call reinforcements so you can cut down waves of low-level mooks at 10XP apiece, plus XP for each kill type, from 5XP bonus to 40XP bonus each kill? Yeah, good luck with that -- reinforcement orcs are worth a whopping one XP.

* BadassAbnormal: Talion and the Wraith make an epic one of these.

** The game doesn't distinguish between enemy orcs and orcs under your control while in combat (unlike Outcasts, which will never be auto-targeted), so it's very easy to accidentally hit or even execute your own guys in a pitched fight. There's also absolutely nothing stopping you from torturing your own orcs in a variety of different ways, while they just stand there and take it without resistance. Justified as Talion doesn't particularly like his branded orcs and the Wraith sees them as tools.

** Theres a chance Ork Captains may survive a fatal injury like a headshot, or being set on fire. Coming back with some new scars.

* BloodierAndGorier: it's basically an R Rated ''Lord of the Rings'' without the name since the fights are bloodier, gorier, much more violent, and much more graphic.

* BerserkButton: Some Uruk Captains / Warchiefs will go into a rage that increases their stats when something that angers them shows up or occurs, such as caragors, flies, the presence of a rival or even just being damaged.
* BilingualBonus: For those who speak [[ConLang Elvish]], one of the Wraith's otherwise atmospheric proclamations upon collecting an ithildin [[spoiler: clues you in almost immediately about his ultimate purpose.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Yes, Talion has defeated the Black Hand, but anyone who knows the mythology will be disturbed when he says that he wants to make a ''new'' Ring for himself. There can only be ''one'' master of the Ring, and he seems to be Sauron's next vessel... or perhaps it's Celebrimbor's doing after all. As well, most of Talion's allies have left Mordor, either fleeing for their own safety or having been pushed away by Talion's single minded obsession with his revenge.]]

--> Ash nazg durbatulûk, Ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul!

** Can double as an OhCrap moment as this happens most often when your cutting through a random pack of orcs when suddenly one blocks you, introduces himself, and tells you to SayYourPrayers.
** If you have certain abilities and are able to perform multiple executions in a row as long as your meter is full, it can be fairly irritating to find a captain, activate your meter, and start merrily hacking away, only to have him lock blades with you, deliver his quote, and then move away from you...all while the meter drains.

** Burned Orcs will be covered in bandages. And if they're seriously wounded, they'll actually appear with bags over their heads. The descriptions may even mention that their face is scarred, making it painful to eat.

* BoringButPractical: Fighting a high ranking Urk with a mob of melee based enemies all around you? Wraith stun the captain. Any Wraith stunned enemy will get attacked faster, thus building the combo faster, and even with stopping to parry an attack, you can still build a combo quickly allowing you to switch between renewing the stun on the high ranking Urk and using him to build up a combo and parrying/executing the mob that's surrounding them.

** Some of the captains even look very much like ordinary uruks if one isn't paying close attention or checking for them in the Wraith World. Seeing "Combat Master" or "Invulnerable to Stealth" unexpectedly can be quite the OhCrap moment.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Queen Marwen is being controlled by Saruman in the same manner he controlled King Theoden in the second movie]].
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The Wraith is capable of brainwashing uruks, graugs, and caragors into his service.

* CameBackStrong: Talion is killed at the start of the story. Then revived after he becomes bound to the spirit of a dead elf lord, gaining wraith powers.
** Any Captain who survives a fatal blow from Talion will come back stronger then before. If he exploited one of their weaknesses, like a vulnerability to ranged or stealth attacks, they'll have become immune to it.

* CherryTapping: In the final boss fight of ''The Bright Lord'' DLC it actually is possible to defeat Sauron without using the One Ring just by using regular combat finishers (and[=/=]shooting him in the head a lot), but since he has ''so'' much health this takes a considerable amount of time, especially since Celebrimbor doesn't get 2 finishers per combat chain like a fully upgraded Talion can (it takes over 30 finishers to beat one of his phases, compared to just a dozen or so to beat the Hammer).

* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:After defeating the Black Hand, Celebrimbor tells Talion that it's time for them to pass on, but Talion convinces him that there is still work for the Gravewalker in Mordor]].

** According to the game, all Uruks have this since the society is based on KlingonPromotion. Uruk Warchiefs are never seen because of this, and always have one eye on their bodyguards for treachery. However, they are forced to confront serious threats because not doing so would make them seem weak and encourage backstabbing.
* ChunkySalsaRule: Uruk captains killed by Talion have a chance to survive and return to harass him, unless they were killed by decapitation or [[YourHeadASplode head explosion]].
* ClimaxBoss:[[spoiler:One of the final bosses is your "nemesis"; the game tracks your victories and defeats, and chooses the one uruk who either had the best chance of putting you down, or the one who ''hates'' you the most.]]
** Sauron in the Bright Lord DLC: [[spoiler:At first, it looks like he's an anticlimax boss with his pathetically low health, but that was just a distraction while he ''cancels your brainwashing on the five warchiefs you brought with you''! After you kill your former lieutenants, he comes back with his earth-shaking mace on fire (and proves he's a BadBoss by occasionally smacking his own minions for no apparent reason), and true to his title, he can resurrect the dead warchiefs as well. Frequently.]]

* ContinuingIsPainful: Time passes when you die, filling any power vacuums in the orcish hierarchy and allowing existing orc leaders to consolidate their power. The orc who killed you also gets in immediate promotion, so dying multiple times to the same enemy makes for a more challenging rematch every time.

* CowardlySidekick: Ratbag the Coward, a lowly Orc that Talion meets who teaches him the finer details of Orcish society that he ends up installing as a Warchief under his thumb.

* CruelMercy: Any Orc with the Humiliator trait will do those to do, refusing to deliver the finishing blow to Talion when he's down. This might sound good, but it denies you a chance to get your second wind, meaning that when Talion goes down for the first time, the fight is over and you have to find the Orc all over again.

* DayOldLegend: Invoked; several of the challenges are simply to set up heroic deeds that the Wraith wants to apply to the legends of Talion's weapons as he reforges them.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Played with. Part of the game's appeal to Tolkien fans is, much like the Peter Jackson movies, they remind people there's some pretty dark stuff to Middle-earth already. Still, this is the first game where you are playing something halfway between Aragorn and a Ringwraith.

** Gollum gets in a fair bit of snark, particularly with a mean-spirited but hilarious song against Talion (but not the Wraith).

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the opening cutscene, Talion says that their foes [[InsistentTerminology aren't "orcs," but rather "uruks."]] "Uruk" is just the BlackSpeech word for "orc" (''Uruk-hai'' translates as ''orc-folk'').
* TheDeterminator: See DeathIsCheap. Some Orcs can show up repeatedly, often with hideous scars or bandages, ready for a rematch with a supernatural spectral assassin.
* DevelopersForesight: When an Uruk stops to taunt you, he might reference your last encounter or the current situation. Try engaging the Uruk while riding a caragor, while a wild caragor is running rampant, or being seen riding a caragor but hopping off and triggering the taunt on foot. The taunt will be different in each case.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Each step of Ratbag's efforts to ascend in uruk society completely ignores that absolutely nobody respects him [[spoiler:and that allowing Talion to freely run amok would inevitably [[YouHaveFailedMe bite him in the ass]].]]

** As an additional gag, you may find Captains who ''fear the Ranger'' himself. You can't give them a decent fight, even if you want.

** Talion's efforts don't do anything to halt Sauron's overall plans; just slow them down. Being an AlternateTimeline doesn't change the fact that The One Ring is still in the hands of Bilbo Baggins, and Sauron's alliance with Saruman continues unhindered. It remains to be seen how [[Videogame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar the next game]] will affect said AlternateTimeline, but otherwise many elements are likely to stay set in stone.
** In addition, the Wraith's idea of using the enemy's weapons against him is also doomed to failure, since Tolkein made it explicit that [[spoiler:any attempts to wield Sauron's power would just result in another Sauron, literally]]. This forms one of the main themes of the sequel, showing that [[spoiler:the Wraith is NotSoDifferent from Sauron himself]].
* DoubleUnlock: Tiers of abilities are locked away until you achieve a lot of Power, which is accumulated by killing captains and initiating Power Struggles.

** One of the artifacts, "Old Scorchy", is just as feared. Uruks normally don't care about brands, but Old Scorchy is an enchanted brand that causes pain and damage on a ''mystical'' level, and is treated as an AnythingButThat torture device for Uruks.

* DynamicEntry: Unlike regular stealth kills, Brutalize kills are noisy and attract the attention of nearby Uruks. However, they also build up your hit streak to five and a few Uruks will panic and flee. Beginning a combat encounter by bursting out of stealth with a Brutalize kill therefore gives you a head start on your hit counter (possibly allowing you to perform an execution immediately) and makes the attacking group a little smaller.
* EarlyGameHell: The game, after the tutorial cutscenes, quickly drops you in the middle of Mordor and you will likely start encountering captains, who can kill you quickly, very soon. Even a mob of enemies can be troublesome. Once you start unlocking more Wraith powers though, the game gets much more manageable.
* EmergentNarrative: The Nemesis System dynamically populates and shuffles the enemy orc social hierarchy based on [[PlayerCharacter Talion's]] actions. Each orc is procedurally generated with random personality and appearance traits, remembers and references previous encounters with Talion (if he survive them), and gains further abilities and individuation (like [[RedBaron nicknames]]) as he climbs the ladder, ''especially'' if he manages to kill [[ResurrectiveImmortality Talion]]. Later in the game, Talion learns to brainwash orcs and then subtly orchestrate their rise to power from the shadows, producing highly memorable FromNobodyToNightmare narratives.
* EnemyChatter: Its possible to eavesdrop on Uruks chatting about mundane things (like grog or picking on slaves, etc.)

* EvilVersusEvil: It's hard to remember that Uruks and Orcs are opposing forces between Saruman and Sauron.
* {{Expy}}: The Black Hand for the Mouth of Sauron, Talion for Boromir and Aragorn, and Queen Marwen for Theoden.
* EyeColorChange: Happens twice to [[spoiler: Talion. [[http://i.imgur.com/o4gwgjl.jpg After Celebrimbor is bonded to him, his eyes turn light blue]] - the same shade that the wraith had in life. Second, at the very end of the game, and part of the WhamLine, they turn yellow...]]
* FacePalmOfDoom: The Wraith's branding involves placing his hand on the side of his target's face.
* FamedInStory: Talion becomes this as his legend spread throughout Mordor amongst both men as well as orcs.
* AFatherToHisMen: Some Uruks can somewhat be seen as this, especially those who become enraged if their bodyguards are attacked when they take the field. Though it could be down to their BlueAndOrangeMorality

* FixFic[=/=]ExternalRetcon: One major PlotHole in Lord of the Rings'' is "why not just ride the eagles there and air-drop the One Ring in Mt. Doom?" The Appendix entry on Hell-Hawks is that the creatures attack eagles on sight; rather like crows instinctively attacking owls.

* FluorescentFootprints: Some story missions require you to track people/creatures down by following their footprints, that glow blue in Wraith mode.
* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler: As it turns out, Celebrimbor managed to steal the Ring from Sauron while Sauron was holding it up with a pair of tongs. Celebrimbor later tries to use it as a weapon against the Dark Lord in order to save his wife and child. Unfortunately, Celebrimbor had to die to become the Wraith, or the game would not have been possible. Thus, it betrayed the Elf Lord the moment it got the chance and flew onto Sauron's finger. CurbStompBattle ensued.]]

** The Hammer was a no name medic who happened to pick up Sauron's mace when the latter fell in battle. Cue a few hundred years later....
** Every Uruk in the game has the potential to be this. If a random foot-soldier manages to kill you, he'll get a promotion to captain and his name will be revealed. It's possible for him to eventually become a War-Chief.