April 22, 2003

Re: Grounded Orcs
Viking

Beleg, there is no precedent that I have found in Tolkien's writing for the way the creation of Saruman's Uruk-hai was portrayed in the movie. There is one possible explanation that makes the most sense to me. Uruk-hai are a cross between evil men and orcs. Obviously, inter-breeding would be an unlikely method for creating the uruks, so Saruman would have to use some method of magical gene splicing to produce his soldiers. Perhaps the slimy, mud-covered sacs in the movie are like incubators for his genetic creations. The interesting by-product of this is that the Uruk-hai have no period of concscious childhood.