The Lost Chronicles of Middle-Earth

In Middle-Earth, there are many factions that are familiar to the avergae player. Gondor, Mordor, and Isengard are all familiar names; yet little is known about many others. Have you ever wanted to know the origins of the Half-Trolls of Pertorogwaith? Are you interested in the rise and fall of the ancient Tauredain Empire? And what about the Golden Easterlings of Rhúdel? If so, you have come to the right place. The history of those unfamiliar to most inhabitants of Middle-Earth are soon to be revealed.

The Lost Chronicles were started by a group of moderators and Wiki staff (including Mevans, Boyd, Karseius, Grievous, Noah, and Gruk) in an attempt to flesh out and bring more attention to the lesser-known and mod-created factions of Middle-Earth. They are currently a work in progress.

Please note that none of these are official Tolkien canon, but should be considered official backstory in the mod itself.

The Half-Trolls of Pertorogwaith
The Half-Trolls of Pertorogwaith are some of the most terrifying creatures in Middle-Earth. They are large, much more so than Men, incredibly strong, and brutish. They live simply, but are a warlike people, and have fought men on many occasions. Rumors about of their origin, and the truth is not certain.

It is believed that the Half-Trolls were a creation of Sauron as a consequence of the war he lost against the Elvez during the Second Age, in the year of 1701. Sauron’s Or s were not as strong or intelligent as the Elves, and Númenór in the west proved to be a powerful kingdom reaching its prime, leading to a defeat Sauron would for a long time despise and seek revenge for. Adept in powerful and corrupting magic, he sought to create a new yet stronger creature to join his ranks. Thus he travelled far south, to the island of Tol Torog, away from Middle-Earth to prevent any of the free folk finding his experiments.

It is uncertain how he made the Half-Trolls. Some say he tried crossing Man and Stone trolls for an army that would have the strength of the Trolls, but the capability of walking in the sun and intelligence of a man. Others claim that they were molded from the volcanic ashes and rock themselves. Another theory suggests that orcs or Uruk-Hai were mixed with the trolls to reach the desired effects, but nothing in their history gives us any concrete evidence. Some even say that they are not monsters at all, just men with hideous mutations. Though his creation was not a total failure, meaning these crossbreeds were capable of walking under the sun and had a strength close to that of a stone troll, Sauron still considered his creation a failure due to the lack of high intelligence. In addition to that, his attention was required back in Mordor again. So he left them as they were on Tol Torog.

The Half-Trolls, left to their own devices started expanding at a very slow pace. Their reproduction was, in addition to low intelligence, very slow. But even so without any opposition, they flourished in their lands. Terrorizing the adjacent human tribes with raidings and ravaging bands into the mainland, The Moredain suffered the most from these raids, hence their naming of the Half-Trolls as “The Grey Demons”. The Tauredain in their turn lost one of their proud cities to invading Half-Trolls as a consequence of a terrible war and the Limwaith lost many villages to Sauron’s new terror. It were the Cerinrim from the Bushlands who showed any real resistance to their intimidating presence by considering them one of the greatest hunting trophies for only the greatest of warriors to fell.

It was not until the War of the Ring had started in the Third Age when Sauron remembered his old creation, and Haradrim envoys were sent to call the Half-Trolls to his aid. It is worth saying that even though Sauron had abandoned them for so long, their devotion and loyalty to their creator never dwindled, and they were happy to answer the call. They were ordered to march north, further north than they had ever marched before to the lands of the “Stone-men” - widely known as Gondor. Yet in the end, after the War of the Ring, most of the Half-Trolls were slain in battle, and only a few remained scattered throughout the world and nearly forgotten, hunted by the Cerinrim and the Moredain to the very last one.

It is known that the Point of Shadow in Pertorogwaith was an important landmark for the Half-Trolls. It is said that on this hill was a great black stone, and that it was a meeting point for the greatest Warlords.