"Tolkien's Modern Middle Ages"

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Unlike Peter Jackson's "Hobbit", can you imagine an Orc ever being permitted into the presence of the Dark Lord himself?

Well, except Tolkien actually did.

In the (so far) unpublished Chronology of The Lord of The Rings, Tolkien noted that Shagrat brought Frodo's mithril-shirt and Sam's sword to Sauron, and Sauron was so enraged (at the "spies'" escape) that he killed him on the spot.*

Now, I suppose one might speculate that a very laconic time-line entry may have compressed something a bit more involved, as, say, Shagrat delivered them to some Barad-dur functionary who passed them up the chain to the Dark Lord, who subsequently ordered the Orc's execution- but that isn't what it says.

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*Sauron was having a bad few days, what with the Heir of Isildur turning up, the Witch-king toast, his armies having been crushed on the Pelennor and so on. So one might forgive him for being a bit testy

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

In the (so far) unpublished Chronology of The Lord of The Rings, Tolkien noted that Shagrat brought Frodo's mithril-shirt and Sam's sword to Sauron, and Sauron was so enraged (at the "spies'" escape) that he killed him on the spot.

You're quite right, of course. I'd forgotten this. I'd really like to see what Professor Tolkien actually wrote. In my head I'd gained the impression that, as you suggest, Shagrat delivered the mithril shirt to Barad-dûr in general and when Sauron found out he had him executed as punishment for his failure and/or to shut him up, but that's simply the impression I'd received from reading about it third-hand (from references quoting the Reader's Companion.

Having looked into it a bit more closely, it seems more likely to me that Shagrat was brought to Sauron and Sauron killed him personally, perhaps because the matter of halfling "spies" in Mordor was seen as a very important one. That being said, I feel as if this does not invalidate my remark - it seems noteworthy that the one time we know an Orc did encounter Sauron directly, he was killed! He certainly could not have given Sauron any back chat like Peter Jackson's Azog.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

The line verbatim reads "Shagrat brings the Mithril Coat and other spoils to Barad-dûr, but is slain by Sauron."