Half-orcs

Half-orcs were servants of the wizard Saruman, who sought to control Middle-earth during the War of the Ring in the late Third Age.

They were servants of Saruman, possibly bred from the same hybridization process as the fighting Uruk-hai. The half-orcs were used by the fallen wizard as spies in Bree such as the Squint-eyed Southerner, while many others participated in the Battle of Helm's Deep, the Siege of Isengard and the Battle of Bywater during which they were mostly wiped out alongside any other agents of "Sharkey".

History
Half-orcs were the product of the union of Men and Orcs, being the results of the early process of breeding Uruk-hai. Although they were not as wide spread as the Uruk-hai they were still deadly similar to the Dunlendings from whom they might have been descended. They worked alongside Orcs and Goblin-men in the caverns of Isengard for years, preparing Saruman's conquest of Rohan, forging weapons and armor for his army. While some served as spies in Bree at the Prancing Pony Inn, Half-Orcs, Goblin-men, Orcs, Uruk-hai and Men made up the wizard's forces in the Battle of Helm's Deep where they were defeated by the Rohirrim Riders and their allies. The ones that survived the skimirsh were killed by the Huorn's Forest that came to the Free Peoples aid.

The rest of the Orcs were killed in the pits of Isengard, mostly because of the huge flood the Ents made when they descended upon the Tower of Orthanc with wrath. Some escaped and accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where they banded together with ruffians to seize the land and force the Hobbits into submitting to their master's control. They were all killed in the Battle of Bywater which saw the end of the wizard's reign of terror.

Portrayal in adaptations
In the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf the Grey reveals to Elrond in Rivendell that not only had Saruman joined with Sauron, but he was making him an army resulted from cross-breeding Orcs with Goblin-men.

Appearances

 * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)