Orcs, at best.
“But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it.” [”Return of the King,” 1955]
“But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it.” [”Return of the King,” 1955]
I'd think they're better described as Nazgul, AKA the Black Riders or Dark Riders, two of the nine undead human kings who succumbed through greed to Sauron's power and attained immortality as wraiths bound to the power of the Ring as servants of The Enemy.
First mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, originally published in 1954–1955 [Hillary was born in 1947 and William Jefferson Blythe III [AKA *Bill Clinton* in 1946, so the book may be derivitive] the book refers to the Nazgûl as Sauron's *most terrible servants.*
Both are degraded souls, to be sure, and as low as the Orcs and Trolls, but possessed of more power and cunning, as we have seen, and likely will see more of as events unfold.