Changes: Uruk-hai

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For other uses of Uruk-hai see also: Uruk-hai (disambiguation).

The Uruk-Hai, are a powerful race of Orc-men or Orc-elf. Sometimes mistaken for Black Uruks (which were slightly smaller), they were created by Sauron, but improved upon by Saruman after being instructed to create an army worthy of Mordor.

Description

Tolkien described Uruk-hai as black skinned, with slanted eyes. They were armed with bows made of yew, short-swords and spears. Some had iron collars. In the film version they carried crossbows and scimitars, with only Lurtz carrying a longbow with which he shot Boromir.

Given that "Orc-man" and "Men-orcs", Half-orcs are treated as distinct types of hybrids, and that "Orc-men" is differentiated from Uruk-hai in Unfinished Tales, some then assume that the "Man-orcs large and cunning" are the Uruk-hai, at least those of Saruman. However, there is nothing in the quotation itself that states that the term "Man-orcs" specifically applies to Uruk-hai.

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-earth makes no references to Uruk-hai as the results of crossbreeding since the issue hinges on material unpublished when his book was written.

History

"We are the fighting Uruk-hai! We slew the great warrior. We took the prisoners. We are the servants of Saruman the Wise, The White Hand: The Hand that gives us man's-flesh to eat. We came out of Isengard, and led you here, and we shall lead you back by the way we choose."

—The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Chapter 3, "The Uruk-hai".

Uruk-Hai were first created by Sauron late in the Third Age and they were among his strongest and most capable types of Orc that he created. Not only that the Uruk-hai made up more than half of Saruman's Army, together with the Dunlendings, Man-enemies of Rohan, and also served as the elite troops of Mordor. The Uruk-hai are faster than normal Orcs and could travel during the day without being weakened by the sun. They are significantly more muscular and not quite so bow-legged as Orcs, and often stood six feet tall, notably larger than Orcs but still shorter than most men. These top-heavy juggernauts winced and grimaced constantly, as if they were always in pain and their only relief lay in violence. There are suggestions that the Uruk-hai were the result of crossbreeding Orcs and Men. Certainly, there were other creatures in Saruman's armies, and under his command in the Shire, that appear to have been hybrids. "Half-orcs" were as tall as Men and are never described simply as Orcs, as the Uruk-hai frequently are. It has also been suggested that they are the cross-breeds of goblins and Half-orcs. Saruman's army of Uruk-hai fought against King Théoden of Rohan and his people at Helm's Deep.

File:Ttt1315.jpg

Uruk Warriors.

They first appeared about the year TA 2475, when they conquered Ithilien and destroyed the city of Osgiliath. The Orcs and Uruks in the service of Barad-dûr, the folk of Mordor, used the symbol of the red Eye of Sauron. The Red Eye was also painted on their shields. At least one, a guard, on the march with Merry and Pippin had a black knife with a long saw-edged blade, used by Pippin to cut through the ropes on his hands. They could see better in the dark than the Isengarders could. The Uruks of Saruman the White used an 'S' elf-rune wrought in white metal on the front of their iron helms. It was clear this 'S' stood for Saruman, because their shields had a small white hand (the symbol of Saruman) centered on a black field. Aragorn commented that their gear was not in the manner of other Orcs at all. Instead of curved scimitar, they used short, broad-bladed swords. Their great bows were made of yew wood, in length and shape as those of Men. They also appeared different physically: greater stature, squat, slant-eyed, thick legs and large hands. Although they did not like the light of the Sun, they could withstand it better than other Orcs. Saruman promised them man-flesh as a treat. He aided them with his wizardry as well: when Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas followed the party of Uruks who kidnapped Merry and Pippin, Saruman's will caused weariness of the heart for the pursuers and lent speed to the Orcs.^[1]

Uglúk led the Uruk-hai of Isengard, and since they were the strongest he felt that he led the Hobbit march as well, insisting on going back by way of Isengard. This was the group that slew Boromir, and was annihilated by Éomer and the Riders of Rohan.^[2]^[3]

After the battles in Rohan, the Mordor-based Uruk-hai formed massive legions which besieged Gondor. Far better trained than the Orc rabbles of the Second Age, they were a powerful military force which nearly destroyed Minas Tirith and the world of men.

Weapons

The swords of the Uruk-hai of Isengard are strangely crafted, resembling more of industrial meat cleavers than broadswords. They are straight the whole way; however, at the top of the weapon there is a spike protruding from the blade, used to snare a horseman and pull him to the ground. Also, if the sword was held backwards, it would increase the amount of pain and kill chance. Uruks of Mordor typically wielded curved swords, similar to scimitars, as well as various spears, axes, pikes, and bardiches.

Etymology

Uruk-hai was a Black Speech word that meant "Orc-folk". The name "Uruk-hai" has the element Uruk, which was a Black Speech word related to Orc, related to the (Valinórean) Quenya word Urko (Noldorin Quenya: Orko) of the same meaning. The element hai means "folk", so "Uruk-hai" is "Orc-folk". A similar term is Olog-hai ("troll-folk"), used for a breed of especially strong and vicious trolls capable of surviving sunlight.

Christopher Tolkien describes "Uruks" as an Anglicization of "Uruk-hai" and his father used the two terms interchangeably a number of times. Some readers assume the two terms are different because in The Lord of the Rings 'Uruk-hai' is used primarily to describe Saruman's forces while 'Uruks' and 'Black Uruks of Mordor' are used primarily to describe Sauron's. However, there are examples of each term being used in reference to either group. While 'Uruk-hai' means simply 'Orc-folk' the term was reserved for the soldier orcs of Mordor and Isengard, with snaga ('slave') being their term for other breeds.

Hai is a collective plural. "The Uruk-hai" in some contexts is to "Uruk" as "Mankind" is to "man". But it can also mean all Uruks under consideration. "Saruman's Uruk-hai" means all Saruman's Uruks, while "the Uruk-hai" in the description of a battle would mean all Uruks present on the battlefield. It is not used for ordinary plural, as in "several Uruks," and of course never in the singular, but the Uruks of Mordor meant Orcs, while 'Black Uruks' meant Uruk-hai of Mordor or really powerful Barad-dur Orcs in the service of the Eye.^[4]

Portrayal in adaptations

The Lord of the Ring film trilogy

"Do you know how the Orcs first came to be? They were Elves once, taken by the Dark Lord, tortured and mutilated. A ruined and terrible form of life. And now, perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai."

—Saruman

Demon Orc army — The Uruk-hai force assembled at the foot of the Orthanc

In The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy by Peter Jackson, Saruman appeared to be the only one who created the Uruks. In the film "Fellowship of the Ring" Gandalf make mention of Saruman building an army of orcs & Goblin men. However, the book, Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, cleared up this discrepancy by explaining that he is in fact only replicating the method that had already been used by Sauron. Sauron's Uruks, seen in The Return of the King have noticeably rougher features than Saruman's. They are shown in the movie as being released from a kind of membrane in the mud deep under Isengard (special commentary on the DVD edition explained that they were trying to base the scene on an early description of Tolkien's that Orcs "worm their way out of the ground like maggots").

"This is no rabble of mindless Orcs. These are the Uruk-hai, their armor thick and their shields broad..."

—Gimli

File:Uruk Hai.jpg

Uruk-hai in full armour in Peter Jackson's Film Trilogy.

His Uruks include Pikemen, swordsmen, crossbowmen, sappers, scouts, and Berserkers. The Berserkers are even larger and more vicious Uruks. They shave their heads and fill their helmets with human blood, so that when they put on the helmets the blood runs down their backs and its scent sends them into a killing frenzy. They carry doubly-bent swords. These swords were feared by their Rohirrim enemies for good reason. First, they had double spikes on the end (used for hamstringing or disemboweling horses). Second, the tremendous strength of the Berserkers could easily take the head off of any human. Last, they had a keen cutting edge that could easily cut through the leather armor of the Rohirrim (for the massive swords were powerful enough to cut through even steel armor). The sappers were responsible for crewing the ballistae, handling the ladders and carrying Saruman's bombs.

A concern about the in-movie making of the weapons is that in the scene in The Two Towers where Isengard is being transformed and armor and weapons are being made, the swords are being cast in open molds and then hammered on anvils. If any metal is used for the casting scene it's bronze or brass or steel (although molten steel did not exist in the Medieval world the Lord of the Rings were based on); even if it were cast iron they would be far too brittle (due to the high carbon content of cast iron) to use as a weapon. It would require additional forging through heating and repeated hammering (as portrayed in the movie) to turn it into a viable weapon.

Pikemen, as the name suggests, carry pikes and, likewise, crossbowmen carry crossbows. Normal Uruk infantry wield swords and shields. These swords maximize the brute strength of the Uruks, being able to cut limbs and heads like a hot knife on butter. The upward-pointing spike on the end was an ingenious addition by Saruman, a learned scholar skilled in the arts of warfare. Knowing that he would be facing the legendary Rohirrim cavalry, the additional spike could pull a rider from his horse with minimal effort and either kill or disable his mount. It also served as a terror weapon, sending many shivers down the spine of even experienced soldiers. Given that Saruman wished to make a great army of destructive soldiers quickly, he devoted more time to arming and birthing his uruks than he did training them. Given the quickened births of his second batch of Uruk-hai warriors, they were unable to be trained in many tactics of war.

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An Uruk Berserker.

Most of their weapons show this, requiring little thought to be used. The sword would hack an enemy with the straight side in one direction then stab the enemy with the jutting bladed part on the other side, repeated until the uruk either died or ran out of things to kill. They also sometimes use bladed shields with the white hand painted on them, as seen in Amon Hen during Aragorn's fight against Lurtz. These were broad shields, made of durable iron that could defend well against incoming attacks and would provide an alternative weapon by using the bladed side, should the uruk lose his other weapon. Scouts wear light, leather armor and have leather helmets with no crests or brims, and wield short swords, axes, daggers and powerful bows of yew with a tremendous draw weight. Their armor is grey and is made up of large lames and has a groin guard. Underneath is a layer of chainmail that covers the torso, half the arm and a small fraction of the legs. They also wear arm armor but they have bare legs. For footwear they have puttees and sandals that are covered by foot and leg armor. The helmets vary. Heavy Uruk helms are metal caps with an eye slit, horizontal crests and two smaller crests at either side of the mouth. Crossbow and engineer helms are a simple metal cap that covers the top half of the head (just the eyes on the face) and have huge brims at the bottom. Berserker helms have two circular eyeholes and an empty space for the mouth. They have no crests or brims. Commander helms are basically berserker helms with massive crests. Almost all the helms have the white hand of Saruman painted on them. Despite the strong iron used in most of an Isengard Uruk-hai's armor, it provided little protection at joints, so as to not constrict movement, or at the back, as Saruman was to use them for attack purposes and would not expect any form of flanking attack.

Mordor Uruk-hai differ greatly from their Isengard kin. While the Uruk-hai of Isengard were well-armed, using hardened iron armour and shields and wielding finely crafted yet simple weaponry, Mordor's Black Uruks wore scraps of black leather armour with hoods along with chainmail and would use any sort of weapon they came across. Additionally, while most of the Uruk-hai of Saruman were rushed in their birthings, needing to amass an army quickly, Sauron's Uruk-hai were not, having no need to create an army of Uruk-hai quickly when he had innumerable garrisons of Orcs, trolls, evil men and all manner of other maleficent beings under his command that could be sent forth at any time he wished, and so were able to be bred fully, rising to their full capacities.

Notable Uruk-hai

Ugluk - He was one of Saruman's Uruk-hai, and the second-in-command (in the movies; in the books he was the leader) of the Uruk-hai scouts that attacked the Fellowship of the Ring and captured Merry and Pippin. In the movies, he became leader when Lurtz was slain by Aragorn. His band was slain by Rohirrim commanded by Éomer and he fought a duel against Eomer in which he was slain by the Rohirrim captain. Ugluk can be considered one of the more "respectable" of Orcs, since he followed his commander Saruman's orders and quelled any action to the contrary, even under threat of Mordor by Grishnakh.

Shagrat - Shagrat was the Uruk in command of the tower of Cirith Ungol, which guarded a pass into Mordor.

Mauhúr - He was an Uruk-hai captain under the command of Ugluk, whose company was one night surrounded by a group of Rohirrim, led by Éomer. When the Uruk-hai attacked, the Rohirrim rode to meet them in a bloody battle where many Orcs were slaughtered. The Orcs' captives, Merry and Pippin, found themselves outside the circle and were able to escape into Fangorn Forest. Mauhúr perished with the other Orcs in the ensuing battle.

Lugdush - He was one of Saruman's Uruk-hai, and appears to be a trusted subordinate of Uglúk.

Non-canonical Uruk-hai

File:1auruk-hai.jpg

The first born Uruk-hai, Lurtz, observing his strength after being born from the mud of Isengard.

Lurtz - Lurtz does not appear in the books and was a character created specifically for Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In the movie he is the first Uruk-hai made in Isengard, and upon his birth he strangles the orc who created him. As the first uruk made he is shown to be the strongest uruk, and his skin appears a muddy brown instead of the other Uruk-hai's more reddish skin. Saruman places him in command of the Uruk-hai Scouts and tells him of the weak and puny orcs to make Lurtz believe he is much stronger than the orcs. This results in Lurtz mercilessly murdering several orcs, Saruman sends him, along with a company of uruks, to find the fellowship. He is the one that kills Boromir with a bow, shooting him three times. He has a short fight with Aragorn where he loses his arm, is impaled by Aragorn's sword, and finally beheaded. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare.