Uruk-hai


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

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

- Gimli

The Uruk-hai (Black Speech: "orc-folk") are an advanced breed of orcs that appeared during the Third Age.

Books
"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."

- Ugluk

The Uruk-hai made up a large part 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 not only faster but stronger and larger: unlike Orcs, they are taller than Men. 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, 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 orcs. Saruman's army of Uruk-hai fought against King Théoden of Rohan and his people at Helm's Deep.



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. These Uruks of Mordor referred to Sauron as the Great Eye, and Grishnákh was their Captain. 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 scimitars, 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, swart, 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. 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.

The name Uruk-hai has the element Uruk, which is a Black Speech word meaning Orc, related to the (Valinorean) Quenya word Urko (Ñoldorin Quenya: Orko) of the same meaning.

Movies
"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

In The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy by Peter Jackson, Saruman appeared to be the only one who created the Uruks. 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. The very creation of the Uruks is an experiment in eugenics which underscores the evil nature of both Saruman and Sauron, inviting comparisons to Adolf Hitler. 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"). In the movies Uruk-hai are described as a crossbreed between Orcs and "goblin-men": this is probably a dialogue error because in Tolkien's works "Orc" is a synonym for goblin,though the goblin-men may be half-orcs. They are depicted as being larger than Orcs, standing as tall as men, whereas the orcs in the movie as depicted as being shorter than men. Saruman's Uruks are also depicted as savage and animal-like, often roaring like big cats. These Uruks are sent after the Fellowship, and their leader is Lurtz, a movie-only character.

"This is no band of mindless Orcs. These are Uruk-Hai."

- Gimli



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 Beserkers 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. The sappers were responsible for crewing the ballistae, handling the ladders and carrying Saruman's bombs. 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. 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 armour 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 armour but they have bare legs. For footwear they have puttees and sandals that are covered by foot and leg armour. 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 brimms at the bottom. Berserker helms have two circular eyeholes and an empty space for the mouth. They have no crests or brimms. 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 armour, 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 Uruk-hai 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, becoming stronger and smarter than most of their Isengard brethren. However, the harsh climate of Mordor also left them more susceptible to mutation than the Isengard breed and the Mordor breed are a little smaller and have bent knees.

The term
The name "Uruk-hai" has the element Uruk, which is 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, "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. [citation needed]



Crossbreeding with Men
Following Treebeard's speculative statements, some readers have questioned whether Saruman's Uruk-hai at least, and all Uruk-hai at most, were bred by crossbreeding with Men. The book does not directly state this, though it heavily hints at it. In the movie version Saruman tells Lurtz that Uruk-hai were made by crossbreeding orcs with goblin-men.

Other forces in Saruman's armies, and under his command in the Shire, definitely appear to have been hybrids, though these individuals, called "half-orcs" and "goblin-men" in The Two Towers, were as tall as Men and are never described simply as Orcs, as the Uruk-hai frequently are, and an account of the first Battle of the Fords of Isen in Unfinished Tales (part of Tolkien's hitherto unpublished writings) apparently treats Uruk-hai and "orc-men" separately.

Dunlendings where often used to create Uruks. Or sometimes Rohan prisoners, but no-matter who they are they end up being bloodthirsty and vicious. Saruman also bred uruk "jockeys". A smaller lighter breed often the same size as orcs but sometimes taller and by far stronger. These were used to ride Wargs.

Given that "Orc-man" and "Man-orcs" are treated as distinct types of hybrids, and that "orc-man" 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.

Uglúk
He was one of Saruman's Uruk-hai, and the leader of the band of Uruks that attacked the Fellowship of the Ring and captured Merry and Pippin. 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.

In Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of The Two Towers, Uglúk is played by Nathaniel Lees.

According to The Fellowship of the Ring movie, the initial leader of the orc-band was Lurtz, who was slain by Aragorn at Amon Hen.

Shagrat
Shagrat was the Uruk in command of the tower of Cirith Ungol, which guarded a pass into Mordor. In the movie, he is portrayed as an orc with bluish paint on his face. After the discovery of the unconscious Frodo, he had Frodo put into the highest room of the tower. In a dispute over Frodo's mithril-shirt, most of Shagrat's and Gorbag's Orcs were killed. Shagrat was one of only two Orc survivors. He took the mithril-shirt, as well as Frodo's Elven cloak and Sam's sword, to the Barad-dûr. These were used by the Mouth of Sauron as evidence of Frodo's capture. Like Ugluk, he was loyal to his masters in Barad-dur and followed Sauron's orders to the letter, again quelling any resistance to such orders (namely from Gorbag).

Mauhúr
Mauhúr 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.

Lurtz
Lurtz does not appear in the book. He is a character created specifically for Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare.

Lurtz was the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, He was Saruman's second-in-command and led them into battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. Lurtz also appeared to be the smartest, fastest, and strongest of the Uruk-hai. In the book, Boromir is slain by unnamed orcs; he is described as having been "pierced by many arrows". In the movie he is killed by Lurtz, who shoots him three times. Aragorn then intervenes, and after a brief, but intense fight, stabs Lurtz and then decapitates him, leaving his body standing for a few seconds before toppling over. In the book Uglúk was the leader of the orc-band from the beginning.

The name "Lurtz" may have been derived by Jackson and his co-writers from the style of Tolkien's Orkish language, specifically the name Lugburz.

Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the film, but is mentioned in the Director and Writer's commentary, and the credits. Despite some initial fears that he was an entirely new character, he really wasn't much different from other 'generic Orc leaders' already present in the book.

The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, and its sequel the The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II. He is also playable in the video game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest.

Weapons
The swords of the Uruk-hai are strangely crafted. They are straight the whole way, however, at the top the weapon has a part sticking up to increase the swing of the weapon. Also, if the sword was held backwards, it would still increase pain and likeliness of the enemy's death.

"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."

A concern about the in-movie making of the weapons is that the in the scene in TFOTR 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 and even if it where cast-iron they would be far to brittle (due to high carbon content in cast iron) to work on the anvil, they would shatter. The casting would also eliminate the need to work them with the hammer..

While consistent with the general low quality of Orc gear it is impossible to make weapons this way, the would split as soon as they came in contact with another sword.