November 9, 2002

Ugluk and Grishnakh
Viking

Has anyone read any rumours, or found any information, on whether the orc characters of Ugluk and Grishnakh have been included in PJ's Two Towers? I have been unable to find any mention of them on the official movie site. For anyone who doesn't know, in the book, Ugluk is the leader of the Uruk-Hai which have kidnapped Merry and Pippin. The Uruks are heading straight for Isengard, and are joined by two other groups of orcs - small orcs from the northern Misty Mountains, and a band of orcs from Mordor led by a hairy beast named Grishnakh.

Tolkien gave great insight into the psychology and society of orcs in general through these two characters (and later through Shagrat and Gorbag in Cirth Ungol). I have always found it fascinating.

My hope is that PJ included these characters just as they are written in the book, but I can see some other possibilities: Ugluk and Grishnakh are eliminated entirely from the script, and Merry and Pip escape by chance alone when the Rohirrim attack; Ugluk and Grishnakh are combined into one character - "Ugnakh" would be the leader of the Uruks AND the traitor who attempts to take the hobbits for himself; or entirely new characters/plot devices are created.

Any thoughts?