Lurtz

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Non-canon alert
The subject of this article originates from non-canonical sources.
To learn about what is considered "canon", see LOTR:Canon.

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Saruman: "My fighting Uruk-hai... ...whom do you serve?"
Lurtz: "Saruman!"

—The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Lurtz was the first leader of Saruman's scouts 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.

He is non-canonical as he was created for the films, and is not in the books.

Biography[]

Lurty swears oath — Lurtz declares allegiance to Saruman

Lurtz is the first and the largest of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, choking the first Orc he sees to death within seconds of his birth. Attempting to intervene, some Snaga Orcs move towards the newly born Uruk-hai warrior, but Saruman halts their advance, intrigued by the malice and violence present in the Uruk's blood, leaving the unfortunate Orc to its fate. He becomes Saruman's second-in-command, and leads the first battalion of Uruk-hai into battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen.

Lurtz Final Blow — Lurtz moves to finish off Boromir before Aragorn intervenes

In the book, Boromir was slain by one or more unnamed Orc archers, as he was described as having been "pierced by many arrows".^[1] In the film, he is killed by Lurtz, who shoots him three times in the shoulder, stomach, and chest after chasing the Fellowship to Parth Galen.

As his soldiers grab Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took and leave the scene, Lurtz slowly approaches the wounded Boromir to finish him off, but before he could shoot a fourth arrow into Boromir, Aragorn, who has heard Boromir's horn, intervenes and tackles Lurtz to the ground, and both begin a brutal fight. In the struggle, Lurtz's incredible ferocity and brutality appears to rival Aragorn's skill and resourcefulness and he seems to have the upper hand in the beginning, but after a dangerous bout of sword-fighting, Aragorn quickly manages to sever Lurtz's sword arm and delivers a fatal thrust to the stomach. When Lurtz tries to taunt Aragorn one last time, Aragorn decapitates him. Boromir dies minutes later, after speaking with Aragorn.

After his death, leadership of the troop of Uruk-hai passed to Uglúk, as was always the case in the books.

Character[]

Of all Uruk-hai bred in Isengard, Lurtz is probably the smartest, and bravest, and the most capable leader. He is intelligent, extremely violent, and blindly loyal to Saruman. The only notable personality trait he displays is a high tolerance to pain, although he noticeably growls in pain when Aragorn stabs him through the leg with his dagger and when he pulls the dagger out of his leg, but doesn't feel it when his arm is sliced off. When stabbed through the stomach, he pulls the sword deeper into his body, closer to Aragorn to taunt him and in a last ditched effort to kill him - this shows that Lurtz has ultimate perseverance and tolerance for the odds.

He was a highly skilled swordsman who had an unorthodox, brute fighting style involving long-range attacks and close-range brawling moves. He held his own against Aragorn, managing to keep up with him for a period of time, landing several blows upon him and even making him bleed. However, he was eventually overpowered and slain by Aragorn due to the latter's superior skill and technique. Lurtz also had the skill of an archer.

Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the original film; it is only known from the franchise and credits. However, in the extended edition of the film, Lurtz's name is spoken by Saruman.

Behind the scenes[]

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

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

The duel between Lurtz and Aragorn was directed by producer Barrie Osborne.^[2]

Lurtz was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare. Such was the size of Lawrence, that he did not have to wear the extensive amounts of padding as the other Uruk-hai actors did, needing only the minimum to give him the features of an Uruk-hai warrior. Because Lawrence Makoare's vision was impaired while he was made-up to look like Lurtz, he could not pull punches during the sequence when he battles Aragorn in hand-to-hand-combat. Rather than having Makoare do the sequence over until he could pull his punches, Viggo Mortensen decided to fight back just as realistically - making the physical blows completely real. The Uruk-hai make-up also caused Makoare to throw Aragorn's dagger directly back at Viggo, even though he was supposed to try and miss. Viggo managed to deflect the knife with his sword, which made it into the final cut of the film.

Voice dubbing actors[]

Foreign Language	Voice dubbing artist
Spanish (Latin America)	Víctor Hugo Aguilar
Spanish (Spain)	Mark Ullod
Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD)	Mauro Castro
German	Ole Pfennig

Video games[]

The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" for the Isengard faction in the strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and its sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, where he is voiced by Isaac C. Singleton Jr. In the game, Lurtz has the ability to shoot an enemy hero with an arrow that roots them to the ground, much like Boromir's inability to move after being shot by him in the film.

Ironically, he doesn't appear in any The Fellowship of the Ring video games. He also appears as a playable character in the RPG's The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and LEGO The Lord of the Rings after he is unlocked.

He made an appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers video game as one of the bosses in the Amon Hen level.

Lurtz makes an appearance in the GBA Game The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age as a playable hero for the forces of evil.

Lurtz appears also in the PSP Game The Lord of the Rings: Tactics as a playable hero for the forces of evil.

Toys[]

In the LEGO game Battle of Helm's Deep, a Lurtz microfigure is presented, named "Uruk-hai Leader".

In LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, there is a playable character actually named "Lurtz" along with his newborn variation obtained through obtaining 100% completion. In this game, Lurtz kills Boromir by throwing a banana in his chest.

The LEGO set "The Orc Forge" includes the Lurtz minifigure, alone of all LEGO kits.