June 22, 2002

Orc Updates
Brett C.

Orcs being the flavour of the month, let me say that Sauron did indeed improve on the breed when he took on Morgoth's mantle. In Moria Gandalf says of the orcs gathered outside the Chamber of Mazarbul that some were '...large and evil: black Uruks of Mordor.'

The implication here is that Sauron has improved on the common Orcs with a more resilient strain of his own devising. This theory can be backed up by the fact that he has definitely been upgrading his trolls; in the early chapter of FOTR it mentions that a new variey of troll has recently popped up, '...no longer dull witted, but cunning and armed with dreadful weapons.'

Incidentally, does anyone know if Sauron's primo-Orcs are called Uruk-Hai, or is that a reference reserved for Saruman's shocktroops. This might make sense, since Uruk-Hai translates roughly as 'Great Orcs', if they endured sunlight better than Sauron's minions. Please note that any orcs could operate in sunlight to varying degrees if they need to, since the Moria orcs who joined the attack on the Fellowship at Amon Hen [not seen in the movie] were able to run in sunlight when driven by their bigger Isengard bretheren.