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Mordor-orcs or Orcs of the Eye were the primary foot-soldiers of the Dark Lord Sauron within the Black Land of Mordor. They formed the core of the Enemy's military during the wars of Second and Third Ages.
History[]
Second Age[]
Following the downfall of the Dark Lord Morgoth in the devastating War of Wrath, his lieutentant Sauron gathered to his service all surviving Orcs that had scattered throughout the wide, far north, and reorganized them under him. A significant portion followed Sauron southwards to Mordor, where he established his domain; these Orcs would be the bulk of the force used by him to sack Celebrimbor's realm of Eregion. By the Accursed Years, great Orc-chiefs from Barad-dûr were sent to direct remaining northern brethren in reoccupying parts of the Misty Mountains.[citation needed]
During the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron had many Mordor-orcs reinforce the Orcs of the Misty Mountains in ambushing the army of Gil-galad and Elendil as it marched through the passes. However, the Last Alliance proved too formidable, and the Orcs fled before them and hid themselves, lying in wait in Greenwood or on river-banks for smaller companies which they could outnumber.[citation needed] Mordor-orcs fought in the Siege of Barad-dûr, in which Sauron was defeated in a confrontation with Gil-galad and Elendil.
Third Age[]
Bidden by vengeful Orc-chiefs from Barad-dûr sent long ago by Sauron, Orcs of the Mountains attacked and slew Isildur and his escort in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.
During the Watchful Peace, a host of Mordor Orcs, among whom were many of the newly-bred Uruks of Mordor, invaded and overran Gondor's fiefdom of Ithilien until they were driven back by Steward Boromir of Minas Tirith. However, in the following years, they returned pushed the people to the west of the Anduin river.
In the War of the Ring, Sauron dispatched some Orcs to aid an Uruk-hai company sent by his two-faced vassal, Saruman, from Isengard; these two parties were soon joined by a pack of Moria-orcs. As commanded, the Orc contingent ambushed the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen in an attempt to capture two Hobbits, one of whom was believed to be the Ring-bearer - they slew Boromir and took Merry and Pippin as prisoners, assuming them wrongly to be their quarry. After they left Amon Hen, the Orcs quarreled: Mordor's captain, Grishnákh, had been instructed bring the Hobbits to Sauron directly, whereas Isengard's captain, Uglúk, had been ordered to deliver them alive to Saruman. Since the latter company was more numerous, the Mordor Orcs were forced to follow the Uruks. Grishnákh secretly planned his next move, and briefly left the group, only to return with more troops in an effort to intimidate Uglúk. At night near Fangorn Forest, however, the Orcs were found and slain by Riders of Rohan.
After the Ring-bearer Frodo Baggins was stung and left unconscious in Shelob's Lair, he was found by a contingent of Morgul Orcs and Black Uruks led by Gorbag and Shagrat respectively, who took him captive to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. A skirmish ensued there over the Hobbit's belongings between the two Mordor Orc factions, and most guards were killed, which allowed Samwise Gamgee to sneak in and rescue Frodo.
Thousands of Mordor Orcs were among those assembled by Sauron's deadliest lieutenant, the Witch-king, against the forces of Gondor at the battle near Pelennor Fields, after their defeat of the defenders of Osgiliath and siege of Minas Tirith. Orcs that had remained in Mordor fought weeks later at the Battle of the Black Gate, where they perished in the destruction of both the gate and the Dark Tower, the result of the One Ring's undoing.
In adaptations[]
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy[]
Gothmog, the commander of the Morannon Orcs
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001 - 2003), the Mordor-orcs closely resemble their description in the novels, being hunchbacked, long-armed and crook-legged. In the films, there are two divisions of Mordor-orcs. The Orcs of one such division were known as the Morgul Orcs while the Orcs of the other division were known as the Morannon Orcs. While the designations "Morgul Orc" and "Morannon Orc" do not originate from J.R.R. Tolkien's works; there were Mordor-orcs and Uruks of Mordor stationed at Minas Morgul. Morannon Orcs were tougher Orcs that saw conflict in some of the main battles of the late Third Age, such as the Battle of Osgiliath, the Siege of Gondor, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and the Battle of the Morannon. They stood at a height between 5' - 7' feet tall.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth[]
Black Orcs in The Battle for Middle-earth game series
In The Battle for Middle-earth game series, there was a division of Mordor-orcs known as Black Orcs.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power[]
In season one of Amazon Studios' 2022 TV series, there is an ancestor ethnic group called the Southland Orcs, before the Southlands became desolate and were a part of or renamed Mordor.[citation needed]