Azog

**Azog** (also known as the **Defiler**) (Late Third Age—TA 2941) was a criminal Orc warlord and Thorin Oakenshield's archenemy. He was once an Elf, but later mutated to be an evil orc by Morgoth. After the Battle of Moria, he swore revenge on Oakenshield by hunting him down. Ultimately, his actions led to the of the Five Armies, where he ended Thorin's life, who killed him in return, ending the Defiler's reign of terror.

## Biography

### Early life

Azog held a grudge against the Dwarves of Durin's folk and vowed until the last of the Durin Dwarves were destroyed completely. Around the time of 2799, Azog started his elimination of the Durin line by beheading the Dwarves' king, Thror. Azog then threw the head and Thorin grew angry. Thrain would not allow Thorin's life be ended and charged the Orc in an attempt to get his revenge for his father's death. Azog overpowered Thrain and cut off the finger holding the ring. Therefore, Thorin charged Azog himself. During their duel, Azog ruined Thorin's Dwarven shield and Thorin picked up a broken branch, earning the name Oakenshield. Thorin cut off Azog's arm, causing the feeling to be more of vengeance. Azog was assumed to have been mortally wounded by Thorin, but he was later spending the next few years recovering.

## An Unexpected Journey

After recovering from his wounds, Azog hunts down Thorin Oakenshield and the last of Durin's line by sending out a pack of Wargs and Orcs to hunt down Thorin and his friends. However, every time they do, the Orcs fail. His company meets at Weathertop, an orc captain, Yazneg, reports his failure to kill the Dwarves back to Azog, and is thrown to the Wargs by him.

Azog now hunts Thorin and Company, having taken an oath to break the line of Durin. He leads a band of hunter orcs and rides a huge white Warg. He is also shown wearing a prosthetic hand and forearm in place of his missing left arm. In a climactic scene of the film, Azog and his band of Warg riders finally catch up with Thorin and Company, who are forced to climb trees to escape the Wargs. However the Wargs bring down the trees, leaving the company on a tree hanging over a cliff. Thorin cannot hold back his anger and charges at Azog, who easily fells Thorin with his mace. Azog then orders one of his orc followers to bring him Thorin's head, but the wounded dwarf lord is saved by Bilbo Baggins. Azog goes after Bilbo while Thorin and Company are rescued by Great Eagles. Most of the Orcs and Wargs are killed by the eagles, but Azog, his white Warg, and a few of the Orc riders are left alive.

Azog continues his vengeance against Thorin, tracking the Dwarves to Beorn's house. However, he is unable to attack them due to Beorn patrolling the area in his bear form. Bolg arrives and tells his father 'the Master' summons him, to which he reluctantly agrees. Azog arrives at Dol Guldur where it is revealed that he is in league with the Dark Lord Sauron, who was in disguise as the Necromancer. Given command of his army, Azog demands the promise of Thorin's head, to which Sauron tells him all will die anyway. Frustrated, he gives his son Bolg the task of hunting the Dwarves.

When Gandalf investigates Dol Guldur later in the film, he discovers the ruins are actually from a concealment spell placed by the Necromancer. As he removes the spell Azog leaps out and knocks him down in a surprise attack and taunts the wizard of his late interference, revealing the mass legions he has gathered. He prepares to kill him, but Gandalf uses his staff to keep the Defiler at bay, who still makes several attempts to strike. Gandalf escapes before the Dark Lord subdues him. Azog leads the army out towards the Lonely Mountain, determined to fulfill his oath in the upcoming battle against Middle-earth.

Azog is marching with his orc army (consisting mainly of Moria Orcs, Warg riders and many deformed trolls and ogres) on the Lonely Mountain when Bolg arrives and informs him that Legolas and Tauriel attacked him. Azog asks Bolg if he killed the elves but Bolg replies that he didn't, much to his father's dismay. Azog then tells Bolg to go to Gundabad and bring another orc army to the battle.

During the battle, Azog commands his army by using signal flags which tell a legion when to attack. He first uses were-worms to dig his army a route to the mountain to move unseen. After the army's first ranks come out, they are quickly intercepted by Dáin II Ironfoot and his Dwarves, who are severely outnumbered. As the orcs charge, the dwarves form a shield wall, standing like a spiked wall against the wave of charging orcs. Suddenly, Elven swordsmen jump from behind the dwarven shield wall into the first line of orcs, who wield mostly swords and axes. The combined elf-dwarf attack is lethal and the orcs are halted. Thranduil commands his archers to rain arrows onto the orcs while Bard and the Lake-men stay behind, ready to attack when needed. Azog notices this, and sends the other half of his army, consisting mainly of pike men, to attack the city. Bard and his forces retreat to Dale. The orcs pull out several trebuchets, carried by trolls and manned by goblins, and weaken the city walls. Then, they send a sapper troll to break through the wall, and orcs, battle trolls, and half-trolls start pouring into the city, massacring anyone in the way. Bard charges with his army, and temporarily halts Azog's force, but not for long. Thranduil, Gandalf, and most of the Elven army also head for the city, but many are killed on the way and Thranduil himself is dismounted and surrounded by enemies. Beneath the mountain, Dain's steed is also killed and many Dwarves start retreating to the mountain.

Azog's now immense army nearly takes Dale and corners the dwarves, but Azog commands his force to halt so that his battle trolls could come forward. Then he commands his army to annihilate the sons of Durin. Suddenly, Thorin and Company burst out of the mountain and charge the orcs. At some point by now, Bolg, his wargs, bats, and some goblin mercenaries come ahead of the main Gundabad force. The bats swoop down on both Dwarves and men, killing dozens. Thranduil attempts to retreat, but is halted by Legolas and Tauriel.

Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili go after Azog in Ravenhill on mountain goats but, when they reach there, Azog snatches Fili and impales the Dwarf through the torso with his blade arm. An enraged Thorin then pursues the orc, but Azog takes him by surprise and, screaming furiously, duels Thorin with his amputated blade-arm and mace against Thorin's sword. During a climactic fight between the dwarf and the Pale Orc, Thorin recovers quickly and gets the upper hand by throwing the orc down a hill. Azog sends orc soldiers to kill Thorin, but Thorin overpowers them. He then returns, now armed with a large flail and his blade arm. Meanwhile, the eagles, led by Radagast and accompanied by Beorn, arrive and swoop down on the arriving orc force, destroying it completely. The Eagles then swoop down on the bats and kill them. As the duel progresses, Thorin throws Azog's own flail in his arms, causing the shattered ice to capsize beneath the orc's feet, seemingly drowning the Defiler. As Azog's body drifts away, Thorin follows it and falls for the orc's trap. Using his arm blade, Azog stabs Thorin's foot and breaks through the ice, stabbing Thorin in the abdomen. However, Thorin, while being pinned down, stabs the Defiler in the heart with Orcrist. He then flips him over and impales him again, but this time pushes Orcrist even deeper into the Defiler's torso, forcing Orcrist to penetrate straight through the icy surface, pinning Azog to the ice. A few seconds later the Defiler dies, while looking into the eyes of his greatest foe.