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Original
Artwork by John Howe, the Brothers Hildebrandt, the artists at Weta Digital &
Weta Workshop, BenWootten, Paul Lasaine, Jeremy Bennett, & Guss Hunter. |
Original
artwork by John Howe. This image has been modified from it original form to enhance
the layout of this site.
Go HERE to find out more about the Artist. |
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| Orcs of Middle-earth The Orcs were the footsoldiers of Morgoth the first Dark Lord, and when he was banished from the World, they remained under the control of his lieutenant Sauron. After Sauron established himself in the Black Land of Mordor, his Orcs continued to battle with Elves and Men over many centuries. Little is known for certain of the beginnings of the Orcs, the armies of the Enemy.
It
is said that they were in origin Elves captured and corrupted by Morgoth before
the beginning of the First Age. Others believe that they were simply a race prone
to evil that was ruined and twisted by the Ancient Enemy. "The Shadow
that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own.
I don't think it gave life to Orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them..."
Such that they were used by Morgoth and Sauron to swell their Dark Armies in their
wars against both Elves and Men. The Orcs of Mordor were not simply gathered from the remnants of Morgoth's armies, but were also bred anew by Sauron. There were many types in the service of the Red Eye, but the largest and fiercest were the Uruk-hai, a form first seen about five hundred years before the end of the Third Age. It seems that Sauron could breed armies of Orcs with enormous speed when they were needed. It is believed that this knowledge was passed on to Saurman, who improved it & perfected a new breeding process. "But these creatures of Isengard, these half-orcs and goblin-men that the foul craft of Saruman has bred, they will not quail at the sun..." Creatures created by Saruman, apparently by blending the races of Orcs and Men. Precisely what they were is mysterious, but the limited evidence available seems to suggest that Saruman mixed the races of men and Orcs to create his own Uruk-hai warriors. The
information above comes from the The
Encyclopedia of Arda. |
Four
main divisions of Orcs, who consolidated their forces
at the end of the Third
Age.
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The Orcs of the Misty Mountains from Mount Gundabad to the heights of the Redhorn Pass. |
 | The Orcs of the The Black Pit which gathered around the ancient evil Durin's Bane, the Balrog of Morgoth that fed on the Fire and Darkness of Khazad-dûm. |
 | The Uruk-hai of Isengard evil warriors of the White Hand that Saruman in his impudence had mustered as a great force to try and rival the hosts of Mordor. |
 | Finally the the Uruks of Mordor. The largest host of Orcs gathered in Middle-earth along with many other evil creatures and men under the sway of the Dark Lord in his Dark Tower. However, all the Orcs of Middle Earth in one form or another did his evil bidding. |
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| The
Artist is John Howe Original artwork by John Howe. This image has been modified from it's original form to enhance the layout of this site.Go HERE to find out more about the Artist. |
Orc is the form of the name that other races had for this foul people as it was in the language of Rohan. It is said that they had no language of their own, but took what they could of other tongues and perverted it to their own liking.
Uruk was the name in the Black Speech, though this was applied as a rule only to the great soldier-orcs that at this time issued from Mordor and Isengard. The lesser kinds were called, especially by the Uruk-hai, snaga or 'slave'.
And these creatures, being filled with malice, hating even their own kind, quickly developed as many barbarous dialects as there were groups or settlements of their race, so that their Orkish speech was of little use to them in the intercourse between different tribes.
It is said that the Black Speech was devised by Sauron in the Dark Years, and that he had desired to make it the language of all those that served him, be failed in that purpose.
Taken
from writings in the Red Book
~Discover Your Orc Name~
Enter
your name and discover the evil Uruk of Mordor that lies within!
