Black Uruks

The Black Uruks, or simply Uruks of Mordor, were an elite breed of Orc that made up part of Sauron's vast, ground-bred army.

HistoryEdit

Black Uruks were the first Orc-kind of Middle-earth named uruk, originating before the Great Years when they made assaults upon Ithilien in 2475 of the Third Age.^[1] (It was almost a millennium later that Saruman in Isengard bred the more familiar Orcs known as Uruk-hai.)

Gandalf 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, an unknown number of Uruks were stationed at the Tower of Cirith Ungol. After escaping from there, the Hobbits Frodo and Sam saw Uruks march from Durthang towards the Black Gate amidst the mass-movement of all Sauron's remaining forces.^[3]

Known Uruks of Mordor Edit

• Shagrat
• Gorbag

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.

DepictionEdit

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 gamesEdit

The Orc-class label of Black Uruk is sometimes made in adaptations synonymous with Black Orc (such as in EA's The Rise of the Witch-king) or even Morannon Orc - on the grounds that all three names denote a tougher breed of Mordor-indigenous Orc.

TranslationsEdit

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B
2. ↑ 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)
3. ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter II: "The Land of Shadow"