Talion

Talion is the hero of the Tolkien-inspired video games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor [1] and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. He is a non-canonical character, which means that you will not be able to find anything on him in the original works of JRR Tolkien. The character was made solely for the video game.

Skills and Abilities

Talion was a ranger of Gondor for most of his life, which made him be a trained archer and a skilled swordsman. He had excellent skills when it comes to stealth, speed, and eliminating his enemies without being detected. He can scale large walls, vault over them, and slack-lining ropes in combat.

Talion’s Exile to the Black Gate

Talion found himself on the other side of the law. Lord Asgon, a nobleman, tried to assault his wife, Ioreth. Talion accidentally killed the nobleman while he was defending his wife. The punishment for such a crime was executed. However, the judge presiding over the case took pity on Talion and exiled him instead to be one of the guardians of the Black Gate as punishment instead. The Black Gate [2] was known as Morannon and is located on the northwest side of Mordor. It is one of the entrances to Sauron’s kingdom. By this time, three millennia had passed since Sauron’s downfall. So, there was not much happening in an isolated area. Loreth could not bear the thought of not seeing Talion again, so she and her son escaped the city, and Talion hid his family in Mordor. In Mordor, he and Ioreth had a son named Dirhael. Dirhael was hoping to grow up strong like his father so that he could also be a Ranger. Talion took his duty seriously, and he has shown great skill, which helped him rise through the ranks and become captain of the Rangers of Gondor who were watching the Black Gate. Everyone guarding the Black Gate had no idea that the Dark Lord would return one night. When Sauron and his Black Captains returned, everyone guarding the Black Gate was slain. Talion and his family were the only ones left. Talion watched his family die in front of him before the Black Hand of Sauron slit his throat. After, Talion was left for dead.

Talion Reborn

Talion’s soul was restless in death. He was so restless that he was banished from death and found himself reborn, sharing his body with a mysterious Wraith. The Wraith told Talion that he has powers that can help him find the ones responsible for his death and the death of his family. Sharing a body meant that Talion’s strength was intensified with the Wraith’s powers. Talion started by hunting down Uruk Captains. During this time, he allied with Ratbag the Coward, and this helped Ratbag become a War Chief. Talion then meets Gollum, who was out looking for the One Ring. Gollum can see the Wraith and refers to the Wraight as the “Bright Master.” Gollum then helps Talion look for gifts of the Bright Master’s past. When Talion touches them, visions of Wraight’s history can be seen. As the items are found and collected, the Wraith is eventually revealed to be Celebrimbor, one of the Elvensmith who forged the Rings of Power.

Talion runs into a former soldier of the Black Gate, Hirgon. He helped Hirgon destroy Sauron’s statue inside an Uruk stronghold. The Hammer of Sauron later attacks Ratbag for being the only surviving War Chief. Talion battles the Hammer and slays him afterward. He then meets Queen Marwen’s daughter, Lithariel. Queen Marwen ruled over Núrn, a kingdom of sea raiders that is located on the south side of Mordor. Lithariel claims that she can help Talion out on his quest. Queen Marwen then uses prophetic powers to point out to Talion the direction of another relic of Celebrimbor. Talion meets Torvin, a Dwarf hunter. Torvin gave Talion some hunting skills and advice on how to dominate Graugs and Caragors. Talion eventually ends up fighting a huge Graug, who killed Torvin’s brother.

Talion and the Black Hand of Sauron Meets Again

Marwen advises Talion to use the powers of Celebrimbor to control an army of orcs and beasts. Later, Talion realized that Marwen was being controlled by the wizard Saruman. With the help of Lithariel, they free Marwen from Saruman’s control. However, Talion still followed the advice and led an army of mind-controlled orcs and attacked the stronghold of Sauron’s Black Hand in Ered Glamhoth. Instead of facing the Black Hand, it was the Tower of Sauron that was there waiting for him. The two battled, and Talion was able to kill the Tower using his son’s sword. With the Tower gone, it was now time to face the Black Hand who was waiting in the Black Gate. Upon Talion’s arrival, the Black Hand used a spell that made Talion unable to move, and the spell restored the last of Celebrimbor’s memories. The Black Hand then does a ritual where he kills himself and the act forces Celebrimbor to be separated from Talion and be merged with the Black Hand instead. Sauron then possesses the Black Hand’s body to have a physical form. Celebrimbor was able to paralyze Sauron from within the body, which gave Talion the chance to kill Sauron’s physical form.

Talion Faces Sauron

Now that the Black Hand is dead and Celebrimbor has fulfilled his promise to Talion, he wishes to go to Valinor. However, Talion convinced him to stay and help him defeat Sauron once and for all by forging a new Ring of Power. Celebrimbor and Talion worked on the new ring, it was a ring that was so pure. However, a spider named Shelob captured Celebrimbor and forced Talion to surrender the ring to her in exchange for Celebrimbor.

When Shelob took the ring, she was able to see the future. After her visions, she instructed Talion and Celebrimbor to go to Minas Ithil. It turned out that Sauron and the Ringwraiths were raiding the city, looking for a Palantir. Celebrimbor and Talion fought over Minas Ithil. Talion wanted to fight and help the people of Gondor first. However, Celebrimbor believed that retrieving the Palantir themselves was a higher priority. Talion convinced Celebrimbor that protecting the city means protecting the Palantir. However, their efforts were in vain as the Orcs were still able to breach the gates, and the people of Gondor surrendered the Palantir to the Witch-king of Anmar. Talion battled with the Witch-king. He was nearly defeated, but Eltariel, an Elven assassin sent by Galadriel, helped him escape. The Witch-king then took control of Minas Ithil and renamed it to Minas Morgul. With the Palantir in his hands, Sauron sees that the new ring is with Shelob. Sauron sends the Nazgûl to retrieve the ring. Eltariel and Talion were able to save Shelob from the attack.

In return, she returned the ring to Talion. With the new ring now in his possession, Talion had more power. He used it to dominate his army and the Orcs. While building up strength to face Sauron, Talion and Eltariel were able to go on minor missions, such as helping Baranor and Idril rescue survivors of Minas Ithil, helping Carnan, a forest spirit, defeat Tar Goroth the Balrog, helping Chief Ratbag fight a traitor, and hunting the Nazgûl. The time came when Talion felt he was ready to attack Sauron’s fortress. During the battle, Talion faces Isildur, who is now a Nazgûl. Talion was able to defeat Isildur.

With the power of the new ring, they were able to break Sauron’s hold over Isildur. Celebrimbor then tries to move into Isildur’s body, which Talion stopped by killing Isildur immediately. This angered Celebrimbor who claimed that Isildur would have been a useful asset to their mission. Talion believed that Celebrimbor was now thirsty for power and that he intended to rule over Middle-earth himself. Because of this, he refused to follow Celebrimbor anymore. This caused Celebrimbor to abandon him and possess Eltariel instead and take the ring.

Without Celebrimbor in his body, Talion started to deteriorate. Shelob came to him in a vision informing him that had he gone with Celebrimbor, They would have been able to enslave Sauron successfully and Celebrimbor would have ruled over Middle-earth. She urges Talion to continue the fight to prevent Celebrimbor from taking over. Talion decides to use Isildur’s Ring of Power to preserve his body. He then uses it to seize Minas Morgul and defeat the Witch-King. Talion gets the Palantir from the Witch-King and sees Eltariel and Celebrimbor attacking Sauron.

It looked like they were winning until Sauron cut off Eltariel’s ring finger and merged with Celebrimbor. The two became trapped in the tower of Sauron, the two spirits battled for dominance, forming a flaming eye. Talion then chose to remain in Minas Morgul and use it as a fortress to keep an eye on Sauron and his forces.

The Ring of Isildur Corrupts Talion

Decades have passed till the ring of Isildur corrupted Talion. He joined Sauron as a Nazgûl, replacing Isildur. He is shown as being one of the Nazgûls who went to the Shire to look for Frodo and the One Ring. When the Nazgûls lost their horses at the Ford of Bruinen, they started using Fellbeasts as their new mount. Talion was there during the Battles of the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate. Talion eventually dies as a Nazgûl when he and his fell beast were hit by debris from the eruption of Mount Doom when the One Ring was dropped into it. His spirit was set free, and he is last seen in the afterlife, removing his armor and weapons as he walks into the sunrise, where his family waits for him.​