Legends of Belariath
Grunt
Grunt was born the second child of Hurgh and Orcan HumanSlayer. He survived his early childhood, despite the wishes of his sister Hiss, who attempted to kill him on many occasions, as is normal for an ogre child. His father was the Third Fist of the SkullCrusher clan, one of the larger and more dangerous ogre clans. The Third Fist is the third most important position in a clan, after the Head and the Second Fist. His mother was killed in a raid on an elf settlement soon after he was born, and he began to show an alarming amount of intelligence for an ogre child.
In his fifth year, he was brought before the Clan's elders, and tested. Unfortunately, he passed the tests, and sealed his fate. He was cast out of his clan, taken by his father to a high point on Mt Naimtnou, and tossed into the air with all his father's strength. However, either by fate, or luck, or some god's whim, Grunt was not killed, but landed in the middle of a lake. He was rescued by some Nereids who raised him until age ten, when they sold him to some dwarfs.
He lived with the dwarves, who lived in a concealed city within Mt Naimtnou. At first, Grunt worked in the tunnels, pulling out massive rocks, but he soon became too large for that, so he was put to work on various other tasks. He learned to hunt the various cave animals, and also was occasionally allowed up to the surface to hunt there. It was a good thing he could provide food, since he ate so much he would otherwise not have been considered an asset. He was also taught to tend bar.
He lived in the dwarf village for the next 15 years, until the fateful day when he was tapped to guard a group of dwarves who had traveled to a border town to drink. They were attacked by 5 trolls. Grunt and the dwarves managed to kill 3 before being overcome, but Grunt was knocked unconscious, and all the dwarves killed. Grunt tracked the surviving trolls, and slaughtered them. Unfortunately this led him into a human town that was guarded by a high-elf sorceress.
The sorceress enslaved Grunt, marking him by burning a tattoo into his left breast, a skull with her name written across it, in an arcane script. For a year and a half she kept him, torturing him in various ways. She would not giving him food, but bring fourth villagers, and lock them in with him, telling them they would be freed if they slay the ogre, and telling him they were the only food she would give him. He would fight them, trying not to kill them, then refuse to eat them. She kept him alive with her magics, although he was constantly weak and in pain from hunger. Finally, he managed to free himself, and slay her, dying himself in the process.
Cut to 2 years later. Grunt finds himself in an Elven University town, far from the town he was captured in. He befriends a High Elf named Sterbew Ranticdoiy, who sends him on 'research missions' which nearly get Grunt killed, but which gain him access to the university, and he begins to attend classes (mostly because the staff was afraid to chase him out). Grunt also began to work in a nearby tavern. He picked up a bit of the elven languages, enough to allow him to serve drinks. Eventually, however, the University leaders decided to get rid of Grunt, and did so by drafting him into a non-existent army, and sending him off to some far-off god-forsaken place.
Grunt eventually arrived at Nanthalion and, after scouting the area for a cave to sleep in, he entered the inn, seeking nourishment.