Bolg

Bolg
Orc
Biographical Information
Other names	Bolg of the North
Death	T.A. 2941
Physical Description
Race	Orcs
Gender	male
Gallery	Images of Bolg

Bolg was the son of Azog, who succeeded his father as leader of the northern Orcs after Azog was killed by Dain II Ironfoot at the Battle of Azanulbizar in Third Age 2799. This started Bolg's hatred towards the Dwarves and after the Great Goblin was killed during an encounter with Thorin and Company in Third Age 2941, his hatred for them grew even more.

Battle of the Five Armies

Bolg gathered an army of Orcs from the Misty Mountains to their capital at Mount Gundabad. They marched eastward through the Grey Mountains with a host of Wargs and a cloud of bats overhead.

Once they reached the Lonely Mountain, Bolg led the Orcs and Wargs into battle with the Dwarves, Wood-elves, and Lake-men. Surrounding him was a group of huge Orcs with steel scimitars. When Thorin Oakenshield attempted to pierce their ranks he became surrounded and died from his wounds. The Eagles arrived and after them came Beorn in the shape of a bear. Beorn killed Bolg and the Orcs and Wargs were soon defeated.

Etymology

There have been several attempts to give a meaning of the name Bolg. One is a regular Orkish treatement of Boldog, another a connection to Westron bolg.

In The History of The Hobbit (p. 710), a word from a little known and little expanded language, Mágol, is given, bolg, which means "strong". Tolkien at one time considered making Mágol an orkish language. An Ivernian word "bolg", of unknown meaning, is also cited by Rateliff.

References

• The Hobbit, "The Clouds Burst"
• The Hobbit, "The Return Journey"
• The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "Durin's Folk"
• The History of The Hobbit part 2: Return to Bag End.