Azog Printable version

Azog was a strong military leader who ruled the empire of Moria in the Lonely Mountain between TA 2790 to TA 2799. During his rule, he faced strong opposition from King Thror and King Thrain. But Azog was a brave and strategist warrior and was able to crush both of his enemies to death.​

During the Third Age, the Dwarvish mines suffered from a great leadership crisis. They had no strong military leader for protecting the kingdom. Azog realized the opportunity and claimed the rule of Moria. Soon, he declared himself as the king of Goblins of Moria. King Thror used to visit the remains of the old dwarven Moria empire quite frequently. His frequent entries in Morian territory made Azog envious of him, and he started considering him as a future enemy. When King Thor was on such a visit during TA 2790, Azog killed him in a surprise attack. Due to this, Azog became the enemy of all dwarves. In the next year, Azog and Dwarves fought fiercely at the Battle of Azanulbizar. At the battle of Azanulbizar, Azog killed the Dwarves leader Nain. However, in the same fight, Nain's son Dain killed Azog in a fierce battle. Later, Nain's son Dain took the throne of the king of Durin's Folk. After the death of Azog, his son Bolg took the kingship of Moria and ruled successfully for the next 150 years until he lost his life in the hands of the enemy at the Battle of the Five Armies.​

During the Third Age, King Thror had an intention to restore the power of Khazad-Dum in the Moria region. Azog was entirely against it and sensed King Thror as an enemy who would take over the entire empire one day. Considering him a danger in the future, Azog kills Thror and engraved his name on Thror's head. He wanted to set up an example and discourage other Dwarves from creating a rebel in Morai. Azog did not allow Nar to take the body of King Thror and threw his body on the stairs. Azog ordered Nain to go back to people of Thror and convey the messages to the masses about the result of going against Azog. He wanted to humiliate Nain and branded him as a looter. So, he threw him on a small pouch of coins as a gesture of wealth.

But Nain fled away, taking the pouch of coins. When he looked back, the Azog's soldiers were visible on the gate and waving the flesh and body parts of King Thror. They threw the body's parts over to animals and crows. After killing Thror, Azog declared himself as the full king of Moria. Nain felt highly humiliated by their action of mutilating his king's dead body. The killing of King Thror made his son Thrain angry. He determined to avenge the murder of his father and started preparing for a big battle in the future. Both Nain and Dain started massive military preparations for attacking Azog and avenged the killing of King Thror.

The planning went on for three years, and they waited for the right opportunity to attack Azog surprisingly. Dain and Nain marched their armies of Dwarves and attacked on Moria. The battles and attacks ran for about nine years, and Azog was victorious most of the time. Nain and Dain fought with Azog at the battle of Azanulbizar. Azog killed Nain by beheading him, but soon after, Dain beheaded Azog. After killing Azog, Dain stuffed the same coin pouch in his mouth. Azog's army suffered heavy losses, and Dain's army killed a large number of orcs. Only Thrain tried to enter Moria to fight the Azog army. But Dwarves discouraged him from coming. The fierce battle destroyed most of the Azog's empire and his battle defenses in tunnels.

After the death of Azog, his son Bolg took over the leftovers empire and ruled for 150 years. Unfortunately, Bolg could not survive the Battle of the Five Armies Gandalf mentioned Azog in his writing the Hobbit stating that Azog was an orc. He told Thorin that Azog killed his grandfather in the mines of Moria. As per that version, Azog was a Goblin. But as per Tolkien's book Lord of the Rings, Azog was a high Orc. JRR Tolkiens did not mention Azog as a high Orc and Goblin by mistake. He used the Orc and Goblin terms as a synonym of each other.​

Peter Jackson put a significant discrepancy in the Hobbit about the fate of Azog. He mentioned that Azog lost one arm to Thorin in the battle of Azanulbizar and survived the battle. There was no mention of Dain beheading Azog. Thus, Azog joined the group of four antagonists with Bolg, Smaug, and Sauron. According to Peter Jackson, Azog survived and chased the attacks of Thorin and Company when they were attacking the Lonely Mountain. It seemed that Azog wanted to take revenge on them. He mentioned that Azog was the greatest orc who walked Middle-earth. None of the Orcs had ever walked Middle-earth except Azog and his son Bolg.​

According to the script of The Hobbit, Azog was the greatest orc and the leader of Moria. He was known as the Pale Orc or Defiler. Some people called him Gundabad orc also. Balin explains the incident of Azog killing King Thror by beheading him. Thus, Thrain lost King Thror at the battle of Azanulbizar. The Killing of King Thror makes Thrain furious, and he encourages kings' grandson Thorin Oakenshield to avenge the same. In the battle scene, Azog is fighting with Thorin and almost beats him. During the fight, Thorin uses a fallen branch to protect himself against the mace of Azog. Azog waves his mace to hit the fallen Thorin. Acting swiftly, Thorin picks up a sword and chops off his arm. In further fighting, Azog receives massive injuries and is wounded severely. Orcs realize the risk to his life and pick up his body to Moria for saving his life. Thorin assumes that Azog cannot survive the injuries, most of his Dwarves celebrated and sent back the soldiers. But, this anticipation of Thorin proves to be wrong. Azog sustains the injuries and attacks the Dwarves again. He attacks and takes revenge for cutting his hand by Thorin. This version of the story is totally in contrast to the story that Dain killed Azog by beheading him.​

Yazneg is an orc captain in the battle. During the fight, he accepts the failure of not being able to kill all Dwarves. On his acceptance, Azog threw him to the hungry Warg animals. Now, Azog takes an oath to break into the region of Durin. Riding on a big powerful white Worg, He chases Thorin and his Company of 12 Dwarves. He commands the other orcs to pursue all the Dwarves and kill them. He fixes an artificial arm in the place of his cut arm. After a long chase, Azog and his orcs engage Dwarves in a fierce fight. The Wargs, animals of Azog, attack the Dwarves, who eventually climb on trees to save their lives. [1]

But, wild animal Wargs are very powerful and dangerous. They uprooted and cut the trees and forced the Dwarves to run for their lives from one tree to another. Finally, they assembled on a tree that was overhanging a high cliff. Azog is visibly as strongly determined to attack Thorin with his mace. Thorin also attacks Azog but cannot counter his mace attack. When Azog could not kill Thorin, he asked one of his associates to bring the head of Thorin.

Meantime, Bilbo Baggins successfully saved Thorin from the attack of Azog. When Azog chases Bilbo, the Great Eagles rescue Thorin and his Company from the battle. The Great Eagles attacked orcs and their Wargs fiercely and killed many of them. They attack Azog and his White Warg. But Azog is fortunate to escape alive and return with the remaining orcs.​

According to the Hobbit, Azog and Bolg chase Thorin and his Company for revenge and reach up to Beorn's house. Azog and Bolg could not identify him as he was walking around in the form of a bear. In the course of chasing Dwarves, Azog met Dark Lord Sauron at Dol Guldur. Dark Lord Sauron is in the face of a Necromancer. Azog hands over his army to Sauron and requests to kill Thorin and bring his head to him. Sauron warns Azog that the task of killing Thorin will cost massive casualties. Azog gets frustrated and finally gives the job of killing all dwarves to his son Bolg. Gandalf further searches into Dol Guldur and finds the hidden remains of hideouts, which are the mind game of Necromancer. When Gandalf uncovers the spell, Azog hits him down surprisingly. Azog taunts the Wizards for not fighting bravely and actively. Azog tries to kill Gandalf, but somehow, he could not kill him. Gandalf finally escapes from there. Azog decides to retreat to prepare for another battle against Middle-earth.​

According to the Hobbit, Azog raised a vast army of Morians, orcs, Warg riders, Trolls, and Ogres. Azog and Bolg met at the Lonely Mountain and planned to counter-attack Legolas and Tauriel. When Azog realizes that Bolg did not kill elves, he orders to go to Gundabad and arrange another orc army for the battle. Azog uses a unique strategy during the battle. He uses different signal flags to command the attack of the legion. He wanted to move to the mountains with his army hidden during the march. So, he uses were-worms for digging the tunnel for the safe journey of his army.

As the military of Azog reached the mountain, they faced an army of Dain-II Ironfoot and his Dwarves. The Dain Dwarves were in larger numbers than the military of Azog. Whenever orcs attack, Dwarves make a shield in the form of a spiked wall and blunt the charge of the orcs. Then eleven swordsmen jump from behind Dwarves and break the first line of defense of orcs. These swordsmen have axes and swords. This combination puts a firm halt to the orcs marching ahead. Thranduil leads the army of Dwarves. He commands the archers in guiding the arrows of the soldiers of Dwarves.

The second half of the orc army is in command of Bard and Lake, who are observing the progress of the battle and are ready to join if required. In further planning, Azog sends his army to attack the city. As the battle progresses in the opposite direction, Bard orders his army to retreat and approaches the city to protect it from orcs. The Azog army attacks the city walls with heavy trebuchets. The repeated attacks by the trebuchets damage the city walls. Bard attempts to halt the high-power attack of orcs but fails. The battle trolls and half battle trolls of orc enter the city and just kill everyone on their way. Other orcs like Gandalf and Thranduil also attack the city. Most of the soldiers of the Eleven army also join the attack on Dwarves.

But Dwarves kill many of these orcs and prevent them from reaching the town. Dwarves also killed Dain's steed near the mountains. Hundreds of Dwarves started to return to the Mountains. Azog's army takes control of most of the Dale, and the defeat of Dwarves looks imminent. Azog changes the strategy and halts the attack of orc to reorganize them. He wants the trolls to come forward to attach slowly. He orders his army to target the sons of Durin. But, the Thorin and Company of another twelve dwarves sprang out in action from the nearby hideouts. Their attack on orcs is hefty and killed several orcs. Bolg and his army, the Wargs, bats, and some goblin mercenaries led the attack. They are backed up by the Gundabad force.​

An army of hundreds of Dwarves, including Thorin, Kili, Fili, tries to kill Azog in the mountains. But during the chase, Azog surprisingly attacks Fili and kills him. Death of Fili makes Thorin angry, and he chases him with new energy. Meantime, Azog attacks Thorin with mace and his mutilated blade-arm. Thorin fights bravely using his sword and successfully counters the attack of Azog's mace. During the fight, Thorin threw Azog down from a cliff. After that, Azog orders his army to chase Thorin and kill him. But Thorin is brave enough and kills many soldiers of Azog's army. Meantime, the soldiers recovered Azog from the cliff-hanging. Soon after that, Azog reached Thorin and fought with him again. During the fight, both slipped away in snowy mountains. After a fierce battle, Thorin finally kills Azog.​

Azog is a super-powerful orc with a substantial built body. He is physically stronger and smarter than any other orc. His fearsome looks can make anyone afraid of him. Azog orc is a significant white body orc. He is different from other orcs who are of standard size and green or light brown. Azog has blue piercing eyes, tattoos all over his body and face, a smooth and white skin color. Orkish language is the medium by which they speak to each other. Overall, he presents a killer look who can make anyone afraid. When Dain Chops-off his hand, he still survived. He then fitted an artificial claw that looks more dangerous. He had a great determination and will to survive and defeat the opponents. He took part in several battles, seriously injured several times, sustained, and led his army again and again. He was severely wounded in several actions and received many scars and wounds during fights. He is courageous and a leader of authentic leadership and determination. When he was riding a Warg, he lost his artificial hand. But he still fights bravely.​

During the Battle of Five Armies, [2] he wore special protection shields on his chest. He installed a double blade on his elbow. When he fights the final battle with Thorin, he uses his usual weapon of mace. The mace is a heavyweight block tied to a sturdy metal chain.​

According to the Hobbit, Azog was a wrathful, iron-fisted, malevolent, fierce, brave, bloodthirsty, patriot, malicious, and proper military leader. He has been cunning, cruel, strong determination, very ruthless, and has a significant commitment towards taking revenge from Thorin. He aims to kill Thorin at any cost in vengeance of cutting off his arm. He has a son Bolg with whom he shares a close relationship. He has high expectations from his son and wished that he should kill Thorin for him. He is a true born warrior and can lead the army from the front. He displays exemplary leadership and power.

His soldiers feel motivated and encouraged when he leads them to battle. He knows well how to handle emergencies and safeguard their kingdom. He enjoys a real friendship with another great leader Sauron. Azog is powerful and arrogant, sometimes, like in the case of Thorin killing. He was determined to break into the empire of Durin. He thought strategically and killed Thror and forced Thrain to go in hiding. He is not able to accept that Thorin can kill him. He always performed better while fighting Thorin. But during one fight, he lost one of his hands. He was firmly determined to kill Thorin and chased him several times. He also took the help of Sauron to kill Thorin. When Sauron was not able to kill Thorin, he was greatly disappointed.

Azog is a brilliant and strategic military commander. But when he is not able to perform as per his expectation, he gets frustrated. He shares a great friendship with Sauron and puts several tasks to him. In some instances, Azog behaves irrationally. He is too aggressive and decides in anger. He acts with his friends and foes in the same manner and becomes furious on small issues. His unexpected decisions changed the course of the whole battle several times. For example, he showed too much loyalty towards Sauron and left the fight against Thorin disregarded. He attaches more importance to protect Sauron against Gandalf. At one point in the battle, Gandalf was about to kill him.

Azog shows his character as a highly short temper person. Many times, his subordinates could not advise him the correct way due to fear from him. For example, when captain Yazneg accepts his mistake of not being able to kill Thorin, Azog just got furious and killed him. When Eagles approached to rescue Thorin and his other Dwarves, he got violent. At many times, Azog was careless and did not bother with several essential events. When Sauron did not help him in getting Thorin's head, he didn't react much. That time no one had guts to speak in that manner to him. Still, he chose not to talk about anything to Sauron. Also, it seems he has a great deal with the line of Durin.

Abilities and Nature

The Hobbit film trilogy describes the orc Azog as a far-sighted brave warrior who has an excellent choice for selecting weapons. His mace is a heavyweight object with a chain fitted on to it. The mace is so potent that any soldier will not survive a single hit. Azog is one of the best warriors and the best military leaders. He always keeps the fighting man at some distance for the safety of himself. He is a strategist and perfect in spreading rumors in enemies to demotivate them while fighting. He has an ideal strategy to demoralize, deceive the enemy forces. On the contrary, he leads his troops with high commanding power. Although he has lost one arm, he showed no signs of hesitation in fighting any battle.

The Hobbit

Azog and his son Bolg prepare to fight at the Battle of the Five Armies. He displays exemplary leadership and military organizing capabilities. During the battle, he commands his army from the top of a hill. He is the greatest orc who has ever borne.

References

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