10 Low Key Villains In The Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit

The LOTR and the Hobbit trilogies had many antagonists, from pure evil to greedy and crafty. Here are some of the low key villains in the series.

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The largely grim landscape of Middle Earth in Tolkien’s legendary The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, is replete with the most unimaginable danger at every nook and corner. From the dragon Smaug to the fascinating Gollum, the protagonists in the series had to reckon with life and death at every step.

But not all the villains posed the same level of threat or were quite as evil as say, the wizard Saruman, or the ancient evil of Sauron. Some of them, like the mad Steward of Gondor, weren’t really evil but were led by circumstances to behave in the most disturbing manner.

10 Wargs

The terrifying wolves who, unsurprisingly, allied with the dark forces every time were certainly some of the most hostile creatures roaming Middle Earth. They were tethered to the Orcs of Gundabad in The Hobbit series and in the LOTR trilogy, they served Saruman as a kind of mount for his armies of Orcs.

However, although profoundly vicious, the wargs were not the most dangerous villains in this epic saga and therefore don’t count as very high profile. Almost mechanically pledging allegiance to the Orcs and other malevolent forces, they were physically threatening but were never shown to be very intelligent creatures as such.

9 Shelob

One of the many horrors on the perilous journeys undertaken by both Bilbo and Frodo was the giant spider, Shelob. Dwelling in the deepest depth of Mordor, Shelob doesn’t discriminate when it comes to feasting on lost souls who are unfortunate enough to chance upon her.

Both Bilbo and Frodo happened to cross paths with this gigantic creature whose venom rendered one paralyzed. It was Samwise Gamgee who fought her in the end in a desperate bid to save his master. While Shelob wasn’t as powerful a villain as some of the others in this epic saga, but she was surely a force to reckon with. However, the fact that she chose to wrap Frodo in her web rather than attacking at once was probably one of the best things a villain did in the LOTR series.

8 Master Of Laketown

The Master of Laketown was a scoundrel if ever there was one. Driven by greed, there was little to redeem him morally and ethically. Thus, when Smaug, the last of the great dragons on Middle Earth, landed on top of him, fans didn’t necessarily feel bad.

The Master had relinquished his duties towards the people of Lake Town the moment he realized that the town was in imminent danger, and was making away with all the gold and any other treasure he could load onto his boat when the dragon fell on him. Crafty, and selfish, but not the brightest of fellows, he was one of those characters who would create trouble wherever they went.

7 Alfrid

If the Master was greedy, then there was another who was even worse and possibly craftier. This was his assistant and the so-called Deputy of Lake Town under the Master’s command, Alfrid.

Yet another scoundrel, Alfrid was the kind of nuisance that keeps coming back and is hard to get rid of. Quick to switch sides according to his convenience, he had no loyalty or allegiance to speak of and was a coward through and through. He had even disguised himself as a woman when it was announced that only the able-bodied men would fight in the final battle.

6 Grima Wormtongue

The repulsive Wormtongue was an accomplice of Saruman’s and was in charge of keeping the king of Rohan, Theoden, under the spell that caused him to age prematurely. He also manipulated and poisoned Theoden’s mind such that the latter no longer recognized foes from friends.

Grima Wormtongue’s character was made even worse by him lusting after Eowyn, the niece of the king. As a price for his loyalties, Saruman had promised Eowyn to him. Although low-key in the face of much bigger players, Wormtongue managed to leave an impression on fans’ minds, and his betrayal of Theoden counts as one of the greatest betrayals in LOTR.

5 Denethor II

The mad lord and steward of Gondor, Denethor II, was more tragic than antagonistic as a character but for his younger son, Faramir, he almost became the ultimate villain. Shattered by the news of Boromir’s death and then driven to madness by the assumption that Faramir too had fallen, Denethor II tried to burn himself alive with his son.

However, it was he who had for all intents and purposes sent Faramir to his death, and had even told him without mincing words that he wished he was dead. Although he rather dramatically tried to make amends afterward, Denethor was already a force that was both disturbed and disturbing. He also didn’t care particularly for his people, which didn’t win him brownie points from fans.

4 The Great Goblin

One of the most disgusting, yet small-scale, villains in the Tolkein universe is the Great Goblin. He appears quite briefly in the first part, An Unexpected Journey, in The Hobbit trilogy, when the company of Thorin Oakenshield crosses paths with the goblin army.

The Great Goblin is one of many foes and obstacles Thorin and his friends encounter on their way to recover the Kingdom Under the Mountain. But in a landscape where primordially evil entities lurk, this clumsy creature, however revolting he might be, didn’t stand a chance against the power of Gandalf and the courageous little dwarves.

3 The Balrog

Tolkien mythology is full of the most terrifying, fearsome entities and the Balrog is no exception. Although the Peter Jackson trilogy doesn’t go into great detail about what this mighty creature is all about, it makes no bones about showing how Gandalf got the wind knocked out of him fighting the Balrog.

In the Fellowship Of The Ring, Gandalf engaged in an extended and violent fight with the fiery demon that emerged from the depths of the Mines of Moria. This was certainly one of the LOTR scenes that lives rent-free in every fan’s head. The Balrog fought long and hard but at the end of it all, it helped to create Gandalf the White and wasn’t that powerful a nemesis.

2 Trolls

The trolls almost ended up making a meal out of Thorin Oakenshield and his company in the first part of The Hobbit trilogy. But they could hardly match up to the wits and evil of some of the other players at work in Middle Earth.

The trolls could make the stomach churn but as antagonists, they were more a nuisance than a genuine threat. With a touch of the comic, the bumbling trolls were certainly one of the low key villains in the series.

1 The King Of The Dead

The King of the Dead dwelled in the eerie corners of the mountains with his army of the undead. He had failed to keep his oath to Isildur when the latter needed him the most and was cursed by him to rest without peace until he had fulfilled his oath.

Upon Lord Elrond’s advice, Aragorn called upon the King of the Dead to draw on his allegiance in an underrated LOTR moment that isn’t talked about enough. The dashing ranger promised to release the King from his curse if he came to their aid in the battle against Saruman’s armies. The King and his armies were some of the most bone-chilling entities that the members of the Fellowship had come across, but once again, in the end, they proved to be not very villainous after all.

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