It's like they were leftovers from an earlier draft of the game that were written out, but Larian thought they were cool enough fights to not actually remove them completely. It's bizarre.
I think you are on the money here. They, much like that raven guy who asks you to bring him dead lady's journal, feel like bigger part of the story that was cut - too much unique presentation and flavor to disappear into nothing. If they cut this content, they could just make them random sharran guys, tbh, it'd be a bit less awkward than keeping name "Torm" attached to them.
