Snaga seems to have been exceptionally
intelligent
for an orc.
This "name" comes from their word for slave, and may
therefore have been
an
insulting nickname. Thus the confusion between possibly two "Snaga"'s.
The first was a scout during
the march
with the hobbits, Merry and Pippin. It is unlikely that he survived to
return to Cirith
Ungol to be the second Snaga.
But perhaps this sneaky fellow did manage it.
Snaga was smaller than Shagrat. Snaga used a bow,
threatening Shagrat with it when
Shagrat
tried to force him to take a message to Lugburz through the gate where
all
the others of the Cirith Ungol orcs had died. Shagrat was
unable
to take the message himself, as he had to stay with the tower as
captain,
and had been knifed by Gorbag.
Snaga was probably killed by Sam in the tower of
Cirith
Ungol. Sam heard Snaga use a whip on Frodo (to stop his singing) and
attacked
before he could do a second blow, cutting off Snaga's hand, the next
blow unbalancing
the orc so that he fell through the trap door with a cry and a thud.
References: Two Towers: "The Uruk-hai"; Return of
the King: "Tower of Cirith Ungol"
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