Sauron: Sauron was a servant of Melkor, the first Dark Lord. When Melkor was conquered and imprisoned, Sauron was not caught, and stayed in hiding, biding his time. Sauron went to the Elves, and learned the art of making Rings of power. He made the One Ring to rule them all, and into it he poured all his life essence, power, malice, and cruelty. The Ring could only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, where it had been forged. The Elves were immediately aware of its existence, and hid the Rings that they had made. Sauron built up his fortresses in Mordor, the land of shadow. He gave Rings of power to nine mortal kings, who were thus corrupted, and became Sauron's most dreaded slaves, the Nazgul. Sauron planned to enslave the world, but Elendil, king of Men, and Gil-galad, king of Elves, formed an alliance of Elves and Men and that army fought Sauron on the very slopes of the Mountain of Fire. Elendil and Isildur threw Sauron down, but they themselves were killed. Isildur son of Elendil cut the One Ring off of Sauron's hand. Sauron's spirit lived on because the One Ring was not destroyed, though he was now only able to take the shape of a great eye, lidless, ever-watchful, wreathed in flame. Sauron hunted long for the Ring, which would allow him to retake physical shape and give him dominion over Middle Earth, but Frodo with the help of his gardner Sam, took the Ring to Mount Doom where it was cast into the fires and thus destroying Sauron forever.

The Witch King: The Lord of the Nazgul was Sauron's most dreadful servant. He was once a Man who became corrupted by one of the Nine Rings of Power. He established the realm of Angmar and became known as the Witch-king, and though Angmar was defeated it was foretold that the Witch-king would not fall by the hand of man. During the War of the Ring, the Witch-king led the hunt for the Ring-bearer and he commanded the forces at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields where at last he was slain by the lady Eowyn with the assistance of Merry. Khamul, the second most powerful nazgul, took over command of the ringwraiths after the Witch King was slain.

Saruman: Saruman the White was the chief of the Istari (wizards), and considered to be the wisest of all. He was appointed to the head of the White Council, though Galadriel would rather have had Gandalf as head. Saruman held this against Galadriel and Gandalf, never truly trusting them both. Saruman delved deep into the lore of the Rings of power, and all arts concerning Sauron. He did not have evil intentions from the start, but as he gained more and more knowledge about the arts of the enemy, he saw that he himself could become a power, and have dominion over all others. Saruman offered to guard the circle of Isengard for the men of Gondor, and his offer was gratefully accepted. Saruman took up residence there in the Tower of Orthanc. He used the palantir of Orthanc and became ensnared by Sauron, and, though he believed his ideas of breeding orcs and turning the once majestic circle of Isengard into a poisonous slum were his own, his ideas were only a child's mockery of the power of Mordor. After his attack on Helm's Deep had failed and was confronted by Gandalf and Theoden, Saruman tried to persuade them that he had done no wrong, but Gandalf was not deceived and, breaking Saruman's staff, cast him out of the Order of Wizards. After the War of the Ring, Treebeard let Saruman out of Orthanc. Saruman headed to the Shire, which he turned into a small version of Isengard. After the Battle of Bywater, Frodo confronted Saruman, who tried to stab Frodo. Frodo's hidden mithril coat protected him and Saruman was still allowed to leave, since Frodo refused to let the hobbits kill him. Grima finally turned upon him and slit his throat as they left the Shire.

Gollum/Smeagol: Smeagol was one of the Stoors, a race of hobbits that, unlike most hobbits, lived near rivers and knew something of boating, swimming, and fishing. One day, when Smeagol and his cousin, Deagol, were fishing, Deagol happened to fall into the river, and there, buried in the river mud, he found the One Ring. Smeagol desired greatly to have the Ring, and when Deagol refused to give it to him, he murdered Deagol. The Ring gave the bearer invisibility, and Smeagol used it to find out secrets and spy on his kin. The Stoors grew to distrust him, and called him "Gollum", because he made the gurgling noise Gollum in his throat. Gollum left his kinsfolk and went to live in the caves under the Misty Mountains, where he constantly talked to the Ring, calling it his "precious". He lived there for nearly 500 years, until Bilbo Baggins, who was lost in the caves, chanced upon the Ring, which Gollum had accidentally dropped a few days ago. After playing and losing a riddle-game to Bilbo, Gollum vowed to find the cursed Baggins who had stolen his precious. Gollum searched long for Bilbo the "thief", but failed to find him, and wandered to Mordor. There he was tortured until the folk of Mordor got two words from him: "Shire" and "Baggins". Gollum was let loose from Mordor in hopes that he would lead Sauron to the Ring. Aragorn the Ranger caught Gollum, and brought him to Gandalf, who, after learning Gollum's story of the Ring and the Baggins, entrusted him to the Wood-elves of Mirkwood to keep him under guard. Gollum was eventually rescued by orcs, and continued to hunt for Bilbo. After following the Fellowship of the Ring from Moria to the Great River, Frodo and Sam finally caught Gollum in the Emyn Muil, and forced Gollum to lead them to Mordor. Gollum did so faithfully until they arrived at Cirith Ungol, where he finally betrayed them to Shelob the Spider. After the hobbits escaped, Gollum continued to follow Sam and Frodo through Mordor, and at the very fires of Mount Doom, Gollum bit off Frodo's finger that had the Ring on it, but he stepped too close to the Crack of Doom, lost his footing, and toppled in, destroying the Ring and himself.

Grima Wormtongue: Grima was the son of Galmod, and was once a man of Rohan. He came into the service of Saruman, and became counsellor to Theoden, King of Rohan. Grima weakened Theoden with poisoned words, and convinced him that Eomer, the King's nephew, and Gandalf the Grey were not to be trusted. Grima was captivated by �owyn. Grima's deal with Saruman may have been that once all the men in Rohan were dead, he would have �owyn for his wife. Grima's plans started to fall apart as soon as Gandalf and the Three Hunters (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli) camed to Edoras. Gandalf healed Theoden of Grima's bewitchments and Theoden threw Grima out of Edoras. Grima returned to Saruman afterwards. After the War of the Ring, Treebeard let Saruman and Grima out of Orthanc. By then, Grima had become Saruman's grovelling slave. He followed Saruman to the Shire, but when Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry returned and defeated Saruman's men, something finally snapped in Grima and he slit Saruman's throat. He tried to run away, but fell dead with several hobbit arrows in his back.

Shelob: Spider of Cirith Ungol. Shelob was the largest and nastiest of the Great Spiders to survive the destruction of Beleriand. Through the Second and Third Age, Shelob the Great and her lesser offspring lived in the Mountains of Mordor and forests of Mirkwood. By the end of the Third Age, her offspring had taken over large parts of Mirkwood, while Shelob largely kept to her den in Cirith Ungol, where she fed on anyone of any race who attempted to enter Mordor via that pass through the mountains. Gollum brought Frodo and Samwise to her lair. Shelob paralyzed Frodo and would have consumed him but for Sam who first blinded Shelob with the light of the Phial of Galadriel, then severely wounded her with an Elven blade. She appears to have crept away to die in her lair.

For info on the orcs, uruks, trolls, and balrogs: please see the LotR Races section.