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| [[File:John Howe - The Great Goblin.jpg|thumb|[[John Howe]] - ''The Great Goblin'']]
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| The '''Orcs of the [[Misty Mountains]]''' were a tribe of [[Orcs]] settled in the tunnels of the mountains. They harassed the regions around them and eventually occupied [[Moria]].
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| ==History==
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| Their origin, and when they settled those tunnels is not known. By the [[Second Age]] Orcs who survived the [[War of Wrath]] [[Fall of Gundabad|attacked]] and drove out the [[Dwarves]] from [[Gundabad]].<ref>{{PM|Dwarves}}, p. 305</ref> [[Sauron]] must have taken at least some control over them when he settled in [[Mordor]]. [[Orcs of Mordor]] had come among them{{fact}}, and under their command they ambushed and killed [[Isildur]] at the [[Disaster of the Gladden Fields]] in early [[Third Age]].<ref>{{UT|Gladden}}</ref>
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| In {{TA|1300}} the Orcs started increasing and harassing the [[Dwarves]].<ref name=B2/>
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| The awakening of Durin's Bane, drove the Dwarves from their city. It also seems that some Dwarves either before or after the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, dwelt on the eastern side of the mountains near Goblin-town.
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| After the fall of [[Moria]] in {{TA|1981}}, Orcs of the Misty Mountains entered and occupied its ruins.<ref name=A>{{App|A}}</ref> Around {{TA|2480|n}} they Orcs begun to make secret strongholds in the Mountains so as to bar all the passes into [[Eriador]]<ref name=B2>{{App|B2}}</ref>. In {{TA|2509|n}}, on a trip to [[Lothlórien|Lórien]] to visit her parents, [[Celebrian]] was waylaid by Orcs in the [[Caradhras#The Redhorn Gate|Redhorn Pass]]. She was captured and tormented, receiving a poisoned wound until [[Elladan|her]] [[Elrohir|sons]] rescued her.<ref name=B2/>
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| Around {{TA|2740|n}} the Orcs became more bold, daring to invade Eriador. The [[Rangers of the North]] fought many battles with the sons of Elrond trying to hold them back, but one party managed to reach [[the Shire]] in {{TA|2747|n}}. They were fought off by a party of brave Hobbits under [[Bandobras Took]], who killed their leader [[Golfimbul]] in the [[Battle of Greenfields]].<ref>{{H|1}}</ref><ref name="Eriador">{{App|Eriador}}</ref>
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| [[File:Mikel Janin - Battle of Azanulbizar.jpeg|left|thumb|Mikel Janin - ''The Battle of Azanulbizar'']]
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| Long afterwards, Moria became the seat of an Orc-chieftain named [[Azog]] who slew King [[Thrór]] of the [[Durin's Folk|Longbeards]], beginning the [[War of the Dwarves and Orcs]]. In {{TA|2793|n}} the Dwarves sought revenge, assailing and sacking one by one all the Orc-holds they could from [[Second Sacking of Gundabad|sacking]] [[Gundabad|Mount Gundabad]] in the north, to the [[Gladden Fields]] in the south. Most of the war was fought underground, in the mines, halls, and other dwellings the Orcs had occupied or created. The war ended with the [[Battle of Azanulbizar]] where Azog himself was slain.<ref name=A/> Causing thousands of Orcs to flee south through [[Rohan]], who found refuge in the [[White Mountains]], troubling the Rohirrim for two generations.
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| The Orcs of the Misty Mountains virtually disappeared as a threat for [[Eriador]] and [[Rhovanion|Wilderland]] but the Dwarves were unable to reclaim Moria.
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| [[File:Capucine Mazille - The Battle of Five Armies.jpg|thumb|Capucine Mazille - ''The Battle of Five Armies'']]
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| After that, the Orcs lurked among the Misty Mountains, and in {{TA|2941|n}}, a group of them under the leadership of the [[Great Goblin]], captured [[Thorin and Company]] in the [[High Pass]]. They escaped with [[Gandalf]]'s help, killing the Great Goblin in the process.<ref>{{H|Hill}}</ref> Furious, the Orcs gathered at Mount [[Gundabad]] under the command of [[Bolg]] to seek revenge and secure domination of the North. The goblins were about to sweep southward when they learned of the death of Smaug and marched by night through the mountains and appeared unexpectedly at [[Lonely Mountain|Erebor]], almost immediately after the arrival of [[Dáin Ironfoot]], and participated the [[Battle of Five Armies]].<ref>{{H|Burst}}</ref> It ended in defeat for the Orcs (three fourths of their entire population killed), and left the Misty Mountains free of them for many years afterwards.<ref>{{H|Return}}</ref>
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| In {{TA|2989|n}} [[Balin]] left the [[Lonely Mountain]] and entered Moria with other Dwarves to start a [[Balin's Colony|colony]] and restore Khazad-dûm. The Orcs later counter-attacked, and in {{TA|2994|n}}, the entire expeditionary force was besieged and destroyed.<ref name=B2/><ref>{{FR|Bridge}}</ref>
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| By the time of the [[War of the Ring]], the Orcs of the Mountains though permanently depleted, reclaimed Moria but fell under the command of Sauron and [[Saruman]]. They were, for instance, amongst the party of Orcs that captured [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]] and [[Peregrin Took|Pippin]] at [[Parth Galen]].<ref>{{TT|Uruk}}</ref>
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| The [[Longbeards]] eventually succeeded in recapturing Moria, which suggests that the Orcs of the Misty Mountains diminished.
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| {{References}}
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| [[Category:Orcs]]
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