The Black Uruks or "Mordor Uruk-hai" were an elite breed of Orc that made up part of Sauron's vast, ground-bred army, and thus Black Uruk is the term used to refer to any Uruk of Mordor.
History 
Edit
Black Uruks were the first Orc-kind of Middle-earth to be named uruk, for they originated before the Great Years, and first appeared in assaults upon Ithilien that took place in 2475 of the Third Age.[1] (It was almost a millennium later that Saruman in Isengard bred the more familiar Orcs specified simply by the name Uruk-hai.)
Boromir spotted Uruks of Mordor in Moria, soon before the skirmish in the Chamber of Mazarbul between the Fellowship of the Ring and the many Orc-kinds inhabiting Moria.[2]
Within Mordor, Frodo and Sam later saw Uruks march from Durthang towards the Black Gate.[3]
Shagrat of Cirith Ungol
Known Uruks of Mordor Edit
- Shagrat, Captain of the tower of Cirith Ungol
- Gorbag, Captain of the tower of Cirith Ungol
Portrayal in adaptations Edit
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy Edit
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Uruks of Mordor are frequently seen: Murgash is one of them, at the Siege of Gondor, and many others are later seen marching through the Orc camp encountered by Sam and Frodo. Most notably, Shagrat, in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, is portrayed as an Uruk.
Depiction Edit
All Black Uruks depicted in the films are recognizable not merely by their tougher and broader stature, but by their long hair identical to that of the Isengard Uruk-hai. Gorbag was therefore not likely portrayed to be a Black Uruk, for he is seen to hold himself in the same slouched manner of other typical Orcs.
Ambiguation in films and games Edit
The Orc-class label of Black Uruk is sometimes made in adaptations to be synonymous with Black Orc (such as in EA's The Rise of the Witch-king) or even with Morannon Orc - on the grounds that all three names denote a tougher breed of Mordor-indigenous Orc.
References Edit
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. V: "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm", pg. 324 (50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition)
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter II: "The Land of Shadow"
