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In the First Age, a race of tortured spirits came to Beleriand. They were thralls of Melkor and their origin isn’t known. It is certain that these spirits entered the forms of wolves by sorcery and it was a fearsome race with glowing wrathful eyes. They could speak and understood both Black Speech and Elven tongues.

In the long wars of Beleriand the greatest numbers of these Werewolves came under the banner of Sauron to the Noldor tower on the River Sirion, and it fell before them. Thereafter, the tower was called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the “isle of werewolves”, and Sauron ruled there.

In the Quest of the Silmaril, Huan the Wolfhound came to Tol-in-Gaurhoth and slew many werewolves.  At last one named Draugluin, lord of the werewolves, came to fight Huan. There was a great battle and in the end Draugluin fled to the tower and Sauron’s throne and died.

Sauron was a shape-shifter and he took the shape of a werewolf himself and went to fight Huan. Huan held the bridge though and took Sauron by the throat, and Sauron was unable to free himself by sorcery or strength and surrendered the tower to Beren and Lúthien, whom the Wolfhound served. The evil enchantment was removed from Tol-in-Gaurhoth and the werewolves lost their wolf-forms. Sauron fled in the form of a great vampire bat and the power that held the realm of werewolves was broken in Beleriand forever.

Between the town of Bree and the Brandywine River were the Barrow-downs - the oldest burial ground of Men in Middle-Earth, made in the First Age for their Kings. For a long time, the Barrow-downs were sacred until the Witch-King sent out countless of tortured spirits from Angmar. These spirits were looking for bodies to dwell in and found it in the bones and armour of the dead in the Barrow-downs.

The Barrow-wights were of a dark matter that could crush the will of mortals. They were shape-shifters and could animate any life-form. They often showed themselves as dark phantoms with cold and life-less eyes to careless travelers. Their voices were horrible and mesmerizing and their touch were icy and with a grip like iron jaws. Once under the spell of the undead the victim had no will of his own and the wights drew him into the tombs of the downs, where tortur ed voices of victims and undead could be heard. In the green half-light the wights bound their victims with gold chains to altars and clothed them in pale cloth and jewelry of the ancient dead. Then the wights ended their lives with ceremonial swords.

In the darkness these were powerful spirits. They could be destroyed only by exposure to light, which was what they feared most of all. Once a stone chamber was broken open, light would pour in on the Barrow-wights and they would fade like mist before the sun and be gone forever.

The Dead Men of Dunharrow haunted the labyrinths of the ancient citadel of Rohan beneath Dwimoberg (the Haunted Mountain) and the valley of Harrowdale . They were once Men of the White Mountain who had sworn allegiance to the king of the Dúnedain, Isildur, at the Stone of Erech in the Second Age. When war came, they broke their oath and betrayed the king to Sauron and hid themselves in the mountains.

Isildur cursed them and foretold that they would have neither peace nor rest until they fulfilled their oath on his or one of his heirs’ command – and the oathbreakers became ghosts and during the Third Age they haunted the Path of the Dead. All who entered the corridors were driven mad with fear and were lost and Malbeth the Seer prophesied that one day, an heir of Isildur would take the Path of the Dead and the oathbreakers would answer his call.

During the war of the Ring, Aragorn, Isildur’s heir, did take the path together with the Grey Company (the Dúnedain) and Gimli and Legolas and he summoned the Dead Men to the Stone of Erech to fulfill their oath. They followed Aragorn and drove away the Corsairs of Umbar who were allies of Sauron and on their way to Minas Tirith and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. After they drove away the Corsairs, Aragorn held their oath fulfilled and they vanished from the world while Aragorn continued with the Grey Company and his friends to Minas Tirith and the battle there.

The Elves tell old tales, now almost forgotten, about how Melkor in the First Age wanted a race as strong as the Ents – something to match them. Therefore, he bred a race of giants, fierce and strong, but utterly without intelligence. They were twice the size of men and had green scaled skin. They feared light and with reason, since they would turn to stone if light fell on them.

The trolls were stupid and only a few could be taught to speak a few words of the Black Speech at all. Despite their stupidity, they were feared in the woods and caves since they were extremely bloodthirsty, knew no fear, and enjoyed killing for pleasure and hoarding the treasures of their victims.

In the time where there was no sun, only stars, they often went to war with orcs and wolves for Melkor, but when the sun came, they became more wary and only went to war in darkness. During the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, trolls were the bodyguards of Gothmorg, the Lord of Balrogs.

After the War of Wrath, trolls hid themselves and were almost exclusively found in caves until Sauron arose in the Second Age and managed to give them some intelligence and they became more dangerous than earlier.  In the Third Age when Sauron arose again, they became more feared and they slew the Dúnedain chieftan Arador in the Coldfells north of Rivendell. It is told that Sauron still wanted to improve the trolls and he finally bred the Olog-hai – trolls who were cunning and of great agility and they could endure the sun.

In the War of the Ring on Pelennor Fields and before the Black Gate of Mordor, the Olog-hai caused immense destruction, but at the same time they were bound to the One Ring as well and when the Ring was unmade, the spell was broken and they were scattered and slain.

The noble eagles have always been a bit mysterious to the people of Arda. The Elves tell that they were created by the two mightiest Valar: Manwë and Yavanna and that they are one of the most ancient and wisest creatures upon Middle-Earth. They are the eyes and ears of Manwë and in time of need, his soldiers too.

In the First Age many eagles lived in Beleriand and were called the Eagles of the Encircling Mountains, living on the peaks of the moutains. Their lord was Thorondor, who was the largest, fastest and most majestic of the eagles. They took part in the War of the Jewels and in the War of Wrath and in the third age, Gwaihir was the lord of the eagles of the Misty Mountains and was much feared by the dark powers.

In the War of the Ring, Gwaihir and his brother Landroval and another eagle, Meneldor took part in the Battle of Five Armies and rescued Gandalf at Isengard – and the Hobbit ringbearers, Frodo and Sam, at Mount Doom. They also took part in the last battle before the gates of Mordor.