The 10 Best Tolkien Monsters In Movies

For 75 years, J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels have stood as some of the preeminent literary works of the 20th century. Both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy blended elements of Norse mythology, Christianity, and modern social commentary into a sprawling saga that worked as both pure escapist entertainment and dense scholarly fare. But the story of Middle Earth wouldn’t be half as interesting to readers everywhere if it wasn’t for Tolkien’s knack of bringing the fantastic to the page.

By introducing us to hobbits, wizards, elves, and dwarves, Tolkien created a stable of heroes that people could strive to emulate in their daily lives. However, whether we want to admit it or not, we’re always much more interested in the wide variety of monsters that he created. Trolls, orcs, dragons, and countless other fantasy staples have appeared in Tolkien’s texts, and though we have seen some of these creatures in other stories, none of them were the same after the author finished with them.

In preparation of Peter Jackson’s big screen return to Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (out Friday), we're counting down The 10 Best Tolkien Monsters in Movies. These are the purely evil beasts that brought unmitigated terror to the screen, so don’t expect the conflicted, and sympathetic, Gollum to appear here. Also, once you see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, you’ll realize why Smaug couldn’t make the list yet either.

RELATED: Top 20 CGI and Animatronic Characters In Live Action Movies
RELATED: The 50 Scariest Monsters in Movie History

Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)

Appeared in: The Two Towers, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The wargs may look like ordinary wolves, but these ferocious monsters tower over their real-life counterparts, and a single one is powerful enough to slaughter a whole troop of armed civilians if they're not careful. In The Two Towers, Peter Jackson introduced us to a vicious pack of wargs so large that each of them had orc riders on top of them. Their size and ferocity makes them a more violent and effective beast of burden than the horses that the elves and men use.

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a revamped warg design is used during the scene when Bilbo and company are attacked on their way to the Misty Mountains. Though the CGI was lacking a bit in The Two Towers, WETA stepped it up here and delivered a design worthy of Tolkien's writing. The warg is the one monster type on this list to resemble an actual animal in the real world, but with just a little Tolkien flare they became so much more terrifying.

Appeared in: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Not satisfied with creating flesh-and-bone terrors, J.R.R. Tolkien introduced readers to mountainous stone giants in The Hobbit, and as you would expect, these behemoths are making the leap to the big screen in the movie adaptation. In the original novel, the giants are briefly seen tossing gigantic boulders back and forth to each other as Bilbo, Gandalf, and the 13 dwarves are making their way to the Misty Mountains.

The Stone Giants are another example of Tolkien turning nature itself into a character, and in the movie they are utterly terrifying as their rocky silhouettes, standing well over 50-feet tall, break through the fog of the Misty Mountains to hurl enormous rocks at Bilbo’s party. They’re not as important to the story as some of the other monsters on the list, but it’s hard to ignore how visually impressive they are.

Appeared in: The Fellowship of the Ring

Similar to the Kraken, the Watcher in the Water is a mysterious underwater creature with sprawling tentacles and a gaping mouth that lives in a lake by the mine of Moria. We see it only briefly, but when it does reveal itself it nearly tears the Fellowship apart.

In Tolkien’s novel, only the tentacles of the Watcher in the Water were visible; however, in the movie, Peter Jackson and WETA beefed it up to be a full-fledged monster from the depths that stood out among the movie’s other CGI creations. The Watcher further proves that you don’t need an extensive backstory to be a memorable on-screen villain.

Appeared in: The Two Towers, Return of the King

In the fantastical world of Middle Earth, nearly everything has its own story and personality, so it should come as no surprise that even the trees of the forest are amongst the living in this universe. Called "ents", these living, talking trees are the guardians of the forest and all that resides in nature. They are long-living and incomparably wise, having spent their whole lives observing the development of the world.

The ents guard the forest against the evil machines that Sauron powers his army with. Their existence in the Lord of the Rings trilogy can be seen as Tolkien’s commentary against the rising industrialization of England at the time, which saw many small towns and scenic forests mowed down for the sake of large factories and corporations. Social commentary aside, the ents are magnificent beasts that give power, strength, and wisdom to nature’s most dominant creation.

Appeared in: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

In Tolkien’s world, goblins were savage orc-like creatures who laid claim to the Misty Mountains, which used to be the kingdom of the dwarves. On their own, these goblins were nothing more than an inconvenient infestation, but their leader, the Great Goblin, is what made them such a force. He made this anarchistic group dangerous by making them fear him, thus they followed his orders and worked towards his own selfish ends.

Misshapen and grotesque, the Great Goblin—or Goblin King as he’s referred to in the movie—is one of the best additions to Peter Jackson’s cinematic version of Middle Earth. Looking like a slimy cross between Sloth and the Elephant Man, the Great Goblin is a bulbous monstrosity with a seemingly never-ending army at his command. Once again, we have to give props to the digital artists at WETA for making ugly look so good.

Appeared in: The Two Towers, Return of the King

Though the vicious Nazgûl are among the most feared villains in the Tolkien universe, the colossal winged beast that they ride throughout the series is even more terrifying. These fell beasts have the appearance of the typical fantasy film dragon, but their distinct personalities make them more dangerous and calculating than most of the other mindless beasts that populate Middle Earth.

Despite not being able to breathe fire like most dragons in fantasy lore, they are terribly violent and can easily change the course of a battle. The most memorable fell beast belonged to the Witch King, who used it to impose his will during The Return of the King. This fell beast was like a souped-up F-15 that could speed across the sky with reckless abandon, but was also capable of taking out targets on the ground as well. Even though it wound up beheaded by the film’s end, this fell beast made for a classic Tolkien monster.

Appeared in: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

They're not the size of a mountain, or strong enough to turn men into dust, but the orcs are among the most dangerous and feared monsters on Middle Earth. These violent soldiers of Sauron are the terror of Middle-Earth—they are supremely violent, ruthless, vile, and beyond any emotion other than greed and hatred. They are devoted servants of Sauron, not because of any idealism, but because they are motivated by fear.

We have seen the orcs in two major varieties over the course of the movie series. There are the clumsy foot soldier variety, known as the Snaga, and the advanced, more powerful Uruk-hai. But no matter their rank, the orcs are equal parts disgusting and destructive as they march out of the mouth of hell itself and rain terror upon civilization. These monsters don't kill out of hunger or to protect their territory; they kill because there is pure evil running through their veins.

Appeared in: Return of the King

This eight-legged monster makes our skin crawl just looking at it. Shelob is nothing more than a gigantic spider in the Tolkien universe, but she is so vile and repugnant to look at that we don’t know how anyone can walk away from this movie without a case of arachnophobia. The CGI work on this creature is almost too good, as each hair follicle and ounce of slime is meticulously created to horrifying accuracy.

The most terrifying thing about Shelob isn’t her appearance; it’s the fact that she uses her poisonous stingers to strike down anyone who stumbles into her lair. Most famously she temporarily poisons Frodo during a battle, but is somehow defeated by the dimwitted Samwise Gamgee before she can finish the hobbits off. We don’t care how brave you are, the sight of a tarantula the size of a Humvee should be enough to cause anyone to need a second pair of drawers.

Appeared in: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers

The Balrog is a lava-soaked beast that looks like it just climbed out of the bowels of hell, where it played a couple rounds of golf with Satan. In the movie series, the Balrog appears in the mines of Moria and attacks Gandalf as the Fellowship attempts to escape to the surface. After that memorable encounter with the wizard, both appeared to fall to their deaths in the water below. However, the White Wizard still stood tall as the Balrog met its watery end.

His appearance is woefully short in the film, but what little we do see from the Balrog still stands out as one of the great fight scenes of the entire series. Not many creatures can put a hurting on Gandalf the way this fiery beast did, and that’s exactly why the Balrog lands on this list.

Appeared in: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

No species of lumbering beast is as popular in the Tolkien universe as the troll, and during Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings trilogy we saw multiple variations of this wretched creature with each one looking more repulsive than the last. Most notable is the cave troll from The Fellowship of the Ring that attacked Frodo, Gandalf, Aragon, and the rest in the mines of Moria.

Later in the series, we saw trolls acting as beasts of burden for Sauron’s army and as heavily-armored warriors during the Battle of Pelennor Fields. There is even a group of physically advanced trolls called the Olog-hai, who are much faster, stronger, and smarter than the average cave troll. It's hard to find combination on Middle Earth that matches the physical strength, mindless rage, and pure ugliness of the troll.