Lurtz

Lurtz in The Fellowship of the Ring. "Whom do you serve?" "Saruman!"

- Saruman and Lurtz

Lurtz was the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, and led them into battle against the Fellowship at Amon Hen. Lurtz also appeared to be the largest Uruk-hai. In the movie, Boromir is killed by Lurtz, who shoots him with three arrows. Aragorn then intervenes, and after a brief and brutal fight, decapitates him. 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 Lugburtz, but it also sounds similar to Lurch from The Addams Family.

Lurtz' name is never spoken aloud in the film, and is only known from the franchise and 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.

Trivia
Lurtz does not appear in the book. He is a character created specifically for the movie. He was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare.

The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth.

Lurtz acts in a similar manner to | Darth Maul from | Star Wars; They both rarely speak, they both kill one of the good guys and get killed in turn by another good guy, usually a more significant character, and their deaths occur in the first installment of their respective series.