Azog

Azog a.k.a. the Pale Orc, the Gundabad Orc, the Defiler, Azog the Goblin, was a powerful orc. He was a ruler of the goblin tribes of Moria in the Third Age.

There is almost nothing known of the origin of the Pale Orc. He is considered to have been from surroundings of Mount Gundabar. He was one of the greatest Northern Orcs. Azog is believed to have been a goblin of enormous scale, very quick and strong warrior. The head of the Defiler was protected by a massive helmet. He bragged a lot and always had an aspiration to not just beat his enemies but to humiliate them as well.

The goblin has claimed his authority over the mining camps in Moria that earlier had belonged to Dwarves who had been living in this territory for centuries previously. Having become the ruler of the Goblins of Moria, Azog instigated a warfare against Dwarves. Azog was the one who killed King Thror, Thorin’s grandfather when the latter took the decision to visit Moria in order to reconstruct it and resume possession over it because this territory had been an immemorial kingdom of Dwarves. Having been searched out in Khazad-dum, King Thror was brought to The Pale Orc, who brought charges of being a thief to the King and later tortured him for a few days.

When Thror had not given up and had claimed that the land of Moria was still the Halls of Durin, a holy place for Dwarves, Azog the Orc took the decision to kill the King. So Thror was beheaded by Azog himself. The goblin cut out his own name on Thror’s forehead. King’s breathless corpse and head were thrown over the gates of Khazad-Dum. The Orc demanded from Nar, the other dwarf who had accompanied the King, to communicate to other dwarves that any of them who would ever come to Moria would eventually face the same fate. After that, he also claimed himself the King of Moria. Then Azog threw a purse of coins to Nar as to a panhandler and ordered to get away and never come back to Moria.

All along of that development, all dwarves were in a fury. It caused the madness of Thror’s son, King Thrain as well. Thereby Azog became the most invidious enemy for all dwarves. So they got an army together to head towards Moria in order to exact vengeance and regain the lost kingdom. That action was the beginning of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.

His doom occurred in the year 2799 of the Third Age. After several years of hunting Azog and a plenty of fierce combats, when a lot of settlements of orcs had been destroyed, the time was ripe for a crucial battle right in front of the gates of Khazad-Dum. That combat remained in history as the Battle of Azanulbizar. At this fight Azog the Orc was slain by Dain, future King of Durin’s Folk and a son of Nain, who had been murdered by Azog earlier. The orc got decapitated, his noddle was staked up, and his mouthful was filled up with the very coins that nine years ago he had thrown to Nar. Then the head was burnt with fire. This action was a symbolic revenge for what Azog had done to King Thror and all other Dwarves.

The debris of goblin armies retraced away to their subterranean lairs where they used to inhabit. Despite the fact that the population of goblins had been abridged, they also gave the Dwarves a warning to forget about Moria and never endeavour visit this land ever again. Because of Durin’s Bane, the balrog who lived deep inside, the Dwarves decided to let the orcs alone and not to pursue them. That is how the last combat of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs ended.

The Pale Orc’s son called Bolg continued his father’s rulership in Moria until he was eventually killed at a great combat known as the Battle of the Five Armies, one of the most important fights of the Third Age.