Orcs of Dol Guldur

After Sauron's downfall in the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, he was reduced to a dark spirit, and it took him centuries to begin to reclaim his power. More than a thousand years after the War, he began to establish himself once more, in the fortress of Dol Guldur in the southern heights of Mirkwood. At this time, and for long afterward, Sauron remained hidden; though it was known that a dangerous power inhabited Dol Guldur, it was not recognised at the time as the Dark Lord returned.

Throughout the earlier ages, the Dark Lords had been served by the Orcs, and the Necromancer (as Sauron was known in these times) was no exception. At least, we know that there were certainly Orcs at Dol Guldur at the end of the Third Age, though we have little information about their origins. There had in fact been Orcs in southern Mirkwood as long ago as the beginning of the Third Age (it was these who pursued and slew Isildur), but this was a thousand years before Dol Guldur arose, and it seems unlikely that they maintained a hidden population in the forest across such a long stretch of time.

Perhaps more likely, Sauron drew his Orcs to Dol Guldur from the Misty Mountains to the west, where they were slowly multiplying in numbers, or perhaps even from the his old land of Mordor (if indeed any survived the War of the Last Alliance). However they came to Dol Guldur, they were certainly there during the last years of the Third Age. In III 2941, the White Council moved against Dol Guldur and drove Sauron out - and presumably also his servants the Orcs. Sauron withdrew at this time to re-establish himself in Mordor, but Dol Guldur was not abandoned. By III 2951 - just ten years after the White Council's attack - it was under the command of one of the Nazgûl, and once again defended by Orcs.

During the War of the Ring, the forces of Dol Guldur attempted three separate assaults on the forests of Lórien across the Great River. In these assaults the Orcs of Dol Guldur doubtless took part, and did great damage to the Golden Wood, but each of their three attacks was driven back. After the final Fall of Sauron, Celeborn and Galadriel led the Galadhrim against Dol Guldur in a counter-attack against the dark fortress in Mirkwood. The walls of Dol Guldur were thrown down and the tower utterly destroyed along, no doubt,¹ with the Orcs who defended it.