Alternative / enhanced storyline

[Teldurn]

And why was Sir Ragnar, when having worked for Morcar "from the beginning", imprisoned at all?

Simple. To throw off the scent of his really being evil. If he pretends to be a good guy, no one will suspect him to ever be a traitor. Problem solved

[Kurgan]

I took the EU plot as meaning that the enemy did torture the information out of Sir Ragnar, and maybe the evil magic they used corrupted his mind. It would seem that he deserves a pardon rather than execution though! Let the Heroes try to "cure" him! After the tragic fate of Wardoz, we can't let this happen to any more good men...

In my imagination (built upon the NA version) Sir Ragnar is always a hero, not a traitor. BUT, I do like your solution. Ironic the title "the Trial" more like a summary execution! Terminate him with extreme prejudice!

If you don't rescue Sir Ragnar, but survive the quest, you just bring his body back for proper burial. But then how can he betray anyone? It's an imposter or zombie of him...

If you need a traitor knight (this plot gets used in the Dark Company) you can always make up another character.

[wallydubbs]

Perhaps However - since you ask, there is actually an explanation... the Orcs of the Black Mountains weren't working for Morcar when they first kidnapped Sir Ragnar. The Chaos Warrior in the same room as Ulag in Lair of the Orc Warlord was an emissary of Morcar (via Gulthor), trying to convince Ulag to join Morcar. The heroes kill Ulag before that can happen, but Morcar assists Grak in rising to power, in exchange for his fealty (hence the clue about "somehow a new Warlord has arisen already" in Legacy of the Orc Warlord, and the reveal that Morcar assisted him, in The Stone Hunter). By killing both Ulag and Grak, the heroes (without realising it!) meant a lot of Morcar 's effort was wasted, which is why he eventually ordered Sir Ragnar to get rid of them in Race Against Time.

So you see, Sir Ragnar was working for Morcar all along... but Ulag and the Orcs of the Black Mountains weren't, not until after Sir Ragnar was rescued! So it is actually consistent, but as it depends on a couple of things happening "behind the scenes" that the heroes wouldn't know about, I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the story by mentioning these details (...unless someone asked!).

If Ulag and Grak don't know they're part of Zargon/Morcar's scheme, then why is Ulag teamed with a Chaos Warrior?