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.
History
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]
Shagrat of Cirith Ungol
Known Uruks of Mordor
Portrayal in adaptations
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
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
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
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.
Translations
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Swart Uruks |
| Albanian | Urukë të zi |
| Arabic | الوركاءس الأسود |
| Armenian | Սև Ուրուկը |
| Azerbaijani | Qara Uruks |
| Basque | Uruks Beltzak |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | черно Уруки |
| Catalan | Uruks Negre |
| Croatian | Crni Uruks |
| Czech | Černí Skuruti |
| Danish | Sorte Uruks |
| Dutch | Zwarte Uruks |
| Esperanto | Nigraj Uruks |
| Estonian | Mustad Uruks |
| Finnish | Musta Uruks |
| French | Uruks Noir |
| Galician | Uruks Negros |
| Georgian | შავი ურუქები |
| German | Schwarze Uruks |
| Hebrew | ארךס שחורים |
| Hungarian | Fekete Uruks |
| Icelandic | Svartur Uruks |
| Indonesian | Hitam Uruks |
| Italian | Uruks Neri |
| Japanese | 黒ウルクス |
| Kannada | ಕಪ್ಪು ಉರುಕ್ಸ್ |
| Kurdish | Urukên Reş (Kurmanji Kurdish) |
| Latvian | Melnie Uruks |
| Lithuanian | Juodi Uruks |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Црни Уруки |
| Malaysian | Hitam Uruks |
| Maltese | Uruks Iswed |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Хар уруки |
| Nepalese | कालो उरुक्स |
| Norwegian | Svarte Uruks |
| Polish | Czarne Uruks |
| Portuguese | Uruks Negros |
| Russian | Черный Урукс |
| Serbian | Црни Урукс (Cyrillic) Crni Uruks (Latin) |
| Sinhalese | කළු උරුක්ස් |
| Slovak | Čierne Uruks |
| Slovenian | Črni Uruks |
| Spanish | Uruks Negros |
| Swedish | Svarta-Uruks |
| Turkish | Kara Uruklar |
| Uzbek | Қора Урукс (Cyrillic) Qora Uruks (Latin) |
| Welsh | Uruks Du |
| Yiddish | שוואַרץ ורוקס |
References
- ↑ 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"
