A term used among the Orcs of Mordor to refer not to their immediate superiors (who were 'High Up') but to those who gave the High Up Orcs their own orders. Its intended meaning is slightly ambiguous (because we have only a single record of its use, by an unnamed Orc in Mordor). It might conceivably refer to the Nazgûl or even to Sauron himself, but this seems unlikely. In context, it seems that those 'Higher Up' could expect to be punished for failure, which in turn implies that they were Orcs or possibly Men.
Though we have very little detail about the organisation of the Orcs of Mordor, there does seem to have been an informal hierarchy, at least among the Orcs themselves. Their immediate chieftains were 'High Up', while those chieftains' own commanders were 'Higher Up'. Above them, the more powerful beings who controlled Mordor - Sauron and his Nazgûl, and apparently other lesser commanders - were more usually referred to by the Orcs as their 'Big Bosses'.
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- Updated 9 February 2026
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