Hound of Sauron

The Hound of Sauron was a term which Gandalf used to address one of the four leaders of the pack of Wargs the Fellowship of the Ring encountered in Hollin during the late Third Age. it is unknown if Gandalf used it in place of a name or if he meant to identify the wolf as one of many Hounds of Sauron in relation to the whole warg pack.
==Biography==
The early life of the Hound of Sauron is untold, but it is probable that his pack of Wargs were related to the pack that confronted Thorin and Company many years beforeThe Hobbit, Ch. VI: "Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire" since it was mentioned later by Aragorn that the pack came from beyond the Misty Mountains.
Sometime before January 13 in the year 3019, the Hound of Sauron led his pack west across the Misty Mountains before settling in Hollin.
In the early hours of January 14,The Chronology of The Lord of the Rings, pg. 40 the Hound of Sauron's pack caught onto the movements of the Fellowship of the Ring while they were debating the next course of their journey. During a slight pause in the Fellowship's debate, the Hound of Sauron's pack made their presence known by howling around them. Their howls caused Boromir and Aragorn to fear that Orcs were near and Peregrin Took to claim that they froze his blood. After the pack surrounded the ring of boulder-stones where Fellowship chose to shelter at, the Hound of Sauron signaled for his pack to attack. Despite Gandalf's warning to flee if he valued his life, the Hound of Sauron leapt at them anyway only to be killed by being shot in the throat by Legolas.
While the pack initially fled after the Hound of Sauron's death, the other three leaders of the pack mounted a second assault on the Fellowship in revenge. They were quickly defeated, with "one huge leader" being stabbed in the throat by Aragorn, another leader being decapitated by Boromir, and "the heart of a great wolf-chieftain" being pierced by Legolas with an arrow kindled by fire. The remainder of the pack fled.
When the hill was lit up by the sun hours later, there was no trace of the fight as the bodies of the Hound of Sauron and the other wargs had mysteriously vanished, leading Gandalf to speculate that they possibly may not have been ordinary wolves.
==In other versions==
In an earlier version, Gandalf's shout during the attack ("Naur dan i ngaurhoth" or "naur dan i-ngaur-hoth"Parma Eldalamberon 17, pgs. 38-9) was written as Naur ad i gaurhoth, referring to the wolves by the Sindarin name for Werewolves.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VIII: The Treason of Isengard, IX: "The Mines of Moria" (1), "The Lord of Moria", note 3 Later, Tolkien changed gaurhoth ("host of werewolves") to ngaurhoth ("wolf-horde").
==In adaptations==
===The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game===
In The Road Darkens Sage Expansion of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, the Hound of Sauron is referred to as the Great Warg Chief. He is much larger than the average warg and just as vicious as well. The Great Warg Chief's biggest threat to players is his attack and threat, as well as his ability to summon an additional warg to aid him. He is immune to attachments, making trap cards useless against him. The best way to defend against him is to either use heroes or allies with strong defense to defend. Using healing cards will help increase survivability. To defeat him, it is best to use either many 2-3 attack strength characters or with a few high attack characters.
==See also==
*Great grey chief wolf
==References==
Category:Villains
Category:Servants of Sauron
Category:Creatures
Category:Deaths in battle
Category:The Fellowship of the Ring characters
Category:The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game characters
Category:Wolves