Caragors

The White Rider on his steed

Caragors are an aggressive, beastial species encountered in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Beastiary

Terrifying creatures of the Hunt, the Caragor prowls the landscape of Mordor, searching for prey to feast upon. They, more often than not, travel in packs to take down larger prey, like Graug, or a large pack of enemies, like Uruk Hunters. They can also be found, caged, in or around Strongholds, ready to be let out, with a well-placed Elf-shot, to tear off the limbs of their unlucky captors.

Talion is able to use his Wraith abilities to dominate Caragors, forcing them to fight with him, providing him with valuable but unpredictable allies.

Talion can also ride dominated Caragors for extra speed and climbing ability, maneuvering the landscape with ease. Riding Caragors also gives Talion the ability to fight on top of them. He can order them to maul enemy Uruk to a bloody death or simply attack using his sword, Urfael, striking down and stunning enemies, or his "partner"'s bow, Azkar, firing off Elf-shot to kill spear-wielders.

The White Rider takes his Dire Caragor

When Talion is riding a Caragor, some Nemeses may become terrified and flee the area out of fear of the creature, or Talion, or they will grow stronger as a result of their burning hatred for the beasts.     

In some rare instances, Talion may encounter a Dire Caragor. It acts as the leader of a small Caragor pack. The only difference between dominating a Dire Caragor and a regular one is that the QTE circle is smaller. When mounting a Dire Caragor, nearby Caragors will follow Talion and aid him in combat.     

Trivia

• Caragors are most often confused with Wargs, which are mentioned in many of the Lord of the Rings books.

• In a demo with the lead designer, it was said that a Warg is to a wolf what a Caragor is to a lion.

• Uruk soldiers will often make comments, mostly when Bait is dropped to draw Caragors into nearby Strongholds, some of which include: "It's a Caragor" or "I'll feast on your corpse, Caragor!". Nemeses' opening statements may even reflect Talion's riding of a Caragor to attack them, if the latter does so when he meets a Nemesis in Mordor.