The Questioner

A follower of Sauron who specialised in extracting information from their master's enemies. Little is known of the Questioner, who was mentioned only briefly by the Orc Grishnákh of Mordor as a threat to the Hobbits Merry and Pippin on their journey across Rohan. From what little information Grishnákh revealed, it seems that the Questioner was extremely thorough, leaving victims desperate to give up all of their secrets.

Some time before this, Gollum was captured on the borders of Mordor, and there is reason to think that he experienced the attentions of the Questioner. Gandalf suggested that he was taken into Mordor 'for examination'², and later Gollum reveals painful memories of his time in the Dark Land.³ Though the Questioner is not specifically named in this regard, this seems to have been exactly the kind of work that we might expect to have called on their particular unpleasant talents.

Given our limited sources, it is not impossible that, rather than the Questioner being a servant of Sauron, it was instead a title for Sauron himself. Gandalf says of Sauron that, 'If he had questioned you ... almost certainly you would have told all that you know...',⁴ and this does seem to fit Grishnákh's description of the Questioner. Certainly Sauron had taken on this task at times when he was in the service of Morgoth, so it is perhaps not preposterous that he might have taken the role of Questioner. On the other hand, Grishnákh seems to be describing a being closer to his own rank (he says 'we' won't hurry the questioning, whereas we'd probably expect 'he' if the Orc was speaking of Sauron). It also seems somewhat implausible that the Dark Lord himself should descend to questioning prisoners taken by his Orcs (though, given the knowledge Merry and Pippin possessed about the Ring, they may have been considered a special case.)