The Orcs of Mordor

Only 5 days to go before I get to go home and get the toys out for the beginning of the campaign for real.


In the meantime, I have been thinking about the fate of the 80,000 or so orcs, uruks and trolls at the battle of the Pelennor Fields and the more than 60,000 orcs, uruks, trolls, Easterlings and Haradrim that fought at the Black Gate.



As I said in my Armies of Harad post, the losses were undoubtedly heavy, but orcs are not by nature (in my view) going to stand once the battle goes against them.  Even more so when first the Witch King of Angmar is destroyed by Eowyn at the Pelennor Fields and then Sauron and the rest of the Nazgul are destroyed with the destruction of the One Ring.  Some fought on bravely, particularly the Easterlings at both the Black Gate and with there backs to the Anduin on the fields of Pelennor (which is something to be remembered when looking at the way the Easterlings fight - their discipline and morale is excellent).


In my Fourth Age campaign, significant numbers of orcs and other creatures survived and were scattered.  Whilst many were pursued and killed by the victorious men of the west, there were simply too few men to finish the job completely.  Whilst the victories were definitely crushing, the defeated servants of Sauron were not destroyed, merely scattered and leaderless.


The Easterlings finally surrendered and were sent home in peace by Aragorn.  Just as the Dunlendings were made to swear not to attack men.  All fine and dandy, but I don't think either the Easterlings nor the Dunlendings are going to feel bound to their peace treaties once they get home again.  The Easterlings in particular I see as one of the historical tribes of the East.  They sweep into Europe (Middle Earth) under pressure from behind and looking for new lands to settle in.  The Easterlings, like the Wainriders before them, will continue to push west.  But that is for another post.




The Orcs are no longer a cohesive force, but as for the Haradrim, I am assuming 50% survived unhurt, and a further 25% may be wounded but will ultimately recover.  That means there are still more than 100,000 fighting orcs in and around Mordor.  I will also assume that there are generals of some substance, such as Gothmog (whose fate was unclear in the book), who are capable of preserving at least a modicum of order in the post-Sauron Mordor.


So for campaign purposes, I am treating Mordor as 3 distinct entities: the orcs of the black gate, the Morannon, Durthang and the plains of Gorgoroth as one entity (30,000 strong); the orcs of Minas Morgul and the Ephel Duath as one entity (30,000 strong), and the orcs of Nurn as a third entity (10,000 strong). 


Each of these 'factions' will have its own leader and have slightly different objectives; mainly rebuilding some sort of society and surviving whatever the world of men will throw at them.  They are still clearly a force to reckon with on numbers alone, have strong natural (Ephel Duath and Ered Lithui) and Gondorian built defences (including Durthang and Minas Morgul itself), and a naturally strong survival instinct.


Like the orcs of Gundabad, the goblins of Moria and the survivors of Mirkwood, the orcs of Mordor will be unlikely to band together to threaten the world of man's survival, but they will also not be easily destroyed.       


I think the orcs of Mordor will be an interesting obstacle to the new Pax Gondora in the Fourth Age.