Shagrat

Captain of the Tower

Shagrat commanded the garrison of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, the old Gondorian watch-fort that Sauron had turned about to guard the pass over the Ephel Dúath from the inside. He was one of the great soldier-Orcs, an Uruk of Mordor with long arms that reached to the ground, and he answered directly to Lugbúrz, the Dark Tower, rather than to Minas Morgul. He took his orders seriously: watch the pass, take any intruder alive and unharmed, and send everything found on a prisoner to Barad-dûr with a full account. He also knew, as every Orc of the Tower knew, that Shelob lived at the top of the pass and from time to time took one of his sentries, which the Orcs treated as a tax.

The prisoner

On the night of 13 March T.A. 3019 the Tower's watch reported a disturbance in the pass, and Shagrat went up with his men. He met Gorbag coming from the Morgul side, and between them they found Frodo, stung and bound by the spider, with Shelob herself gone. Shagrat did not know what he had, but Lugbúrz had been very particular, and he had the prisoner cut loose and carried to the Tower. Sam, invisible on the Ring behind them, heard it all and learned that his master was alive.

The fight with Gorbag

In the Tower Frodo was stripped, and the mithril-coat that Bilbo had given him came to light. Gorbag wanted it; Shagrat had his orders; the two captains' companies took sides, and within hours nearly every Orc in the fortress was dead. Shagrat was badly wounded, one arm hanging useless, but he came out alive with the bundle of the prisoner's things, and when Gorbag rose from the floor to stab him he killed him and trampled the body. He then tried to send the small Orc Snaga down to Lugbúrz with a report and was refused, and finally went himself, out of the gate and down toward the plain, with the bundle under his good arm. Sam, hiding by the gate, let him pass, and Shagrat did not know how close he had come to what he was looking for.

The Black Gate

Shagrat reached Barad-dûr. On 25 March, when the Captains of the West stood before the Morannon, the Mouth of Sauron held up the things from his bundle, the mithril-coat, the grey Elven cloak and a short sword, as proof that Sauron held a spy from the Shire. It was the last effect of Shagrat's errand and the only reason Gandalf and Aragorn had cause to fear that the quest had failed. What became of Shagrat after he delivered his report is not told; he presumably shared the fate of the rest of Mordor's army when the Ring went into the fire.

Legacy

Shagrat was the only Orc who ever held the Ring-bearer in a cell and lived to tell it, and he lost him through nothing but the greed and hatred that Sauron had bred into his servants. The empty Tower he left behind him was the door through which the Ring entered Mordor.

Escaped the Tower wounded and reached Barad-dûr with Frodo's belongings; his end is not recorded.