| “ | You touch it, and I'll stick this blade in your gut! | „ |
| ~ Gorbag threatens Shagrat. |
Gorbag is an Orc Lieutenant in service of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings book trilogy and subsequent movie adaptations.
He is stationed at Cirith Ungol alongside other Mordor Orcs but also several Uruk-hai led by Shagrat, with whom they have a tense relationship that eventually boils over into violence in Return of the King after Frodo is captured and his possessions divided up among the Orcs.
Biography
In the books
In the books, Gorbag covets Frodo's Mythrill shirt, and when he tries to take it, Shagrat promptly kills him, which in turn starts off a violent free-for-all between the Orcs and the Uruk-hai that ends with the two sides wiping each-other out.
In the films
In the movies, it is Gorbag who is the loyal one and Shagrat who succumbs to greed when he demands that Gorbag hand over the Mythrill shirt. Gorbag insists that it go to the Great Eye along with everything else Frodo had on him. When Shagrat refuses to listen, Gorbag threatens to skewer him if he doesn't comply, leading to a fight that then spills over into their respective followers, and as in the book, Orc and Uruk-hai turn on and annihilate one another. But with Gorbag still alive, he goes after Frodo as the latter tries to escape, only for Sam to impale him from behind on Sting.
In video games
In the video game adaptation of Return of the King, Gorbag is a boss battle that Sam must win to free Frodo, as opposed to Sam simply stabbing him from behind while he is distracted.
