June 25, 2002

Accent On Immortals
Brett C.

About Aragorn's accent, maybe ths was another attempt by Viggo Mortensen and PJ to remain true to the text. When Aragorn first speaks to Frodo you have to assume he is using a language style and inflection common to Bree, because Frodo actually says that when they began talking he spoke like a Bree-lander, but that as the converstion has gone on that has changed. Perhaps the style he uses initally is supposed to be this Bree accent and the manner he adopts at the council is his actual preferred style. I noticed he and Elrond have the same pronunciation of Mordor, consistent with Aragorn having been raised by the Elves of Rivendell.

Tomas, you are not stupid - I remember the conversation between Shagrat and Gorbag well enough to agree with your conclusions, even though they themselves may actually only be referring to the legend of the Great Siege. In another part they talk about the good old days when there were no bosses. This would certainly have to be before Barad-dur was raised again, so they would be at least over 60 years old and still clearly hale, but of course they may even be remembering back to the days before Sauron took control of the dark powers in the second age. Nothing is certain. My personal belief is that the first orcs were probabably immortal, but subsequent races may have had a still long but not unending lifespan because of cross-breeding with other races [as with the Uruk-Hai of Isengard]. The other factor to be considered is the Orcs naturally violent and bloodthirsty lifestyle, which would render any possiblity of immortality pretty much moot.

Actually, another interesting question mught be where do the spirits of Orcs go when they die. Elves go to the halls of Mandos, and men, good or evil, would presumably depart the circles of the World to whatever lies beyond, but what about Orcs. The floor is open for discussion.