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Aaand now there are Uruks in the Second Age

posted 2 years ago by KCurmudgeon (242)
8 replies | jump to latest

Preeetty sure it was Saruman who created the Uruk Hai by cross-breeding "regular" orcs with humans. Yet in Adar's rallying speech (no other word for it though honestly that's giving more credit than it's due) he refers to them as Uruks.

I did love the Numenorians' plastic armor though . HOW much was the budget for this again?

Oooh and Galadriel's horse has turbo-boost mode too! That was special (and the "special effects" - again too much credit but no other word - showing it were completely laughable in 2022. Something you'd see in a bad sword and sorcery movie from the '70s.

Remind me of the budget for this again?

[–] Oskar (273) 2 years ago

Uruk is Black Speech for Orc.

They didn't say they were Uruk-Hai.

[–] KCurmudgeon (242) 2 years ago

I actually went and looked it up to be sure, and in every Black Speech dictionary I found, "Uruk" was defined as a "variety of especially large orc" aka the Uruk-Hai created by Saruman. The Uruk Hai were also notable for their ability to withstand sunlight which these orcs clearly can't.

[–] Oskar (273) 2 years ago

Uruk-hai was a Black Speech word that meant "Orc-folk." The name "Uruk-hai" has the element Uruk, a Black Speech word related to "orc" and to the (Valinórean) Quenya word urko (Ñoldorin Quenya: orko) of the same meaning. The element hai means "folk," so "Uruk-hai" is "Orc-folk." A similar term is Olog-hai ("troll-folk"), used for a breed of especially strong and vicious trolls capable of surviving sunlight.

Christopher Tolkien describes "uruks" as an anglicization of "Uruk-hai," and his father used the two terms interchangeably a number of times.

https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Uruk-hai#Etymology

[–] Volley (3368) 2 years ago

Officially the Uruks only appeared in the Third Age, and they first appeared out of Mordor (creations of Sauron & company), and drove men out of Ithilien, and destroyed Osgiliath.

Saruman likely did what Gandalf did in Fellowship of the Ring, he poured over histories, lore, and writings of past Middle Earth events. Saruman found a recipe for creating Uruk-class Orcs or was given recipe by Mordor Orcs visiting Isengard, and did so accordingly. It all started somewhere. To think there were no Sauron endorsed orc experiments in the Second Age is a little silly considering all of the things that happened in those 3000+ years, either way they are not the same Uruks as Saruman's Uruk-Hai.

[–] KCurmudgeon (242) 2 years ago

Speculate all you want, but I'm going by what's actually IN the books, and the term Uruk never comes up except in reference to Saruman's Uruk-Hai. Always referred to as goblins or orcs. The term Uruk never appears until the Uruk-Hai.

[–] papamihel (1576) 2 years ago

Out of all the lore they twisted and broke this is one of their least crimes.

Che Adar and the Uruk Liberation Front!

[–] KCurmudgeon (242) 2 years ago

And if THAT wasn’t bad enough, now the Istari are in Middle Earth during the Second Age too. And the show runners know and love Tolkien’s works. Yeah, and monkey might fly out of my butt.

[–] papamihel (1576) 2 years ago

As fanfics go the one about Adar is kind of decent.
It's not Tolkien, because, in general, he didn't care about servants of Evil.
But a story of an Avary tortured and turned but yet still possessing some Elven grace... That could have been a mighty fine tale. In the hands of a talented author.
Also explains why these Orcs are pale and sunlight damages them - they are first experiments, rejects.