The Orc Factions: Complexity in the Villains of Middle-earth
When you watch The Lord of the Rings films, you might get a faint understanding that there are different cultures and kinds of Orcs. Maybe. In the first movie, Saruman seems to be breeding a new kind. Lurtz seems like a stronger, more organized version of any Orc previously seen in Middle-earth.
This idea of different groups becomes more apparent in The Two Towers, especially in the extended edition, where you see a clear back-and-forth between two distinct groups: the Uruk-hai from Isengard and the Orcs from Mordor.
In the movie, you don’t really learn much about their differences other than that they don’t like each other. There’s a moment when one of the Orcs says, “Our Master grows impatient.” Growing up, I always thought he was talking about Saruman, but the more I watch, the more I believe he was talking about Sauron.
In the book, there is a whole chapter called “The Uruk-hai,” which gives one of the most fascinating takes on the cultures and different kinds of Orcs. For me, as a first-time reader, it’s one of the most fascinating chapters in the entire book.
A Word From Me (The Reader!)
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🧐 Piecing Together the Pieces
The chapter “The Uruk-hai” initially throws the reader into confusion because it is told from the perspective of Pippin, who doesn’t really know what’s going on. Like him, we readers have to piece things together.
In the previous chapter, we learn from Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli that there are Orc bodies and that the Orcs had likely fought each other. Then, we learn that Éomer and his company killed all the remaining Orcs, leaving no survivors. As I was piecing things together from the perspective of Aragorn’s company, I was constantly hungering for Pippin’s or Merry’s perspective—I wanted to know what was happening the whole time.
In “The Uruk-hai” chapter, Pippin wakes up from a stupor and tries to figure out his surroundings. He’s given this liquid that I made a member-only video about... (What was this liquid?). Then, the book gives this incredible dialogue:
He struggled a little, quite uselessly. One of the Orcs sitting near laughed and said something to a companion in their abominable tongue. ‘Rest while you can, little fool!’ he said then to Pippin, in the Common Speech, which he made almost as hideous as his own language. ‘Rest while you can! We’ll find a use for your legs before long. You’ll wish you had got none before we get home.’
...
Terrified Pippin lay still... To take his mind off himself he listened intently to all that he could hear. There were many voices round about, and though orc-speech sounded at all times full of hate and anger, it seemed plain that something like a quarrel had begun, and was getting hotter. To Pippin’s surprise he found that much of the talk was intelligible; many of the Orcs were using ordinary language. Apparently the members of two or three quite different tribes were present, and they could not understand one another’s orc-speech. There was an angry debate concerning what they were to do now: which way they were to take and what should be done with the prisoners.
This is one of the most interesting lines in the chapter. Coming from a first-time reader’s perspective, I had initially lumped all Orcs into one category: they’re all just evil. And while I still think they’re all evil, now I know they come in different FACTIONS of evil! This is cool, something I never thought about, and yet something that makes total sense.
Tolkien gives complexity to all his cultures. We learn about the different cultures of Hobbits—the Bucklanders versus the Hobbiton folk. We learn about the different Elves—from Rivendell, Mirkwood, and Lothlórien. We learn about the culture of the Dwarves in the Moria chapters (which, I have to say, is probably my favorite of the cultures at the moment—the things Dwarves believe and the honor found in a person like Gimli is astonishing).
The complexity of Men starts to unfold as The Two Towers begins. We know Aragorn and Boromir are different, and the culture of Rohan is incredible. But it’s a brilliant writing device to give not just the “good side” but also the “bad side” this level of complexity. It makes the story more believable to craft a narrative where the Orcs have distinct, different cultures that inform everything they do. And this three-culture Orc hustle that’s happening in this chapter is FASCINATING to look deeper into.
The Uruk-hai, the Mordor Orcs, and the Moria Orcs
Another conversation in the chapter fully cements who is present:
‘Is Saruman the master or the Great Eye?’ said the evil voice. ‘We should go back at once to Lugbúrz.’
...
‘I came across,’ said the evil voice. ‘A winged Nazgûl awaits us northward on the east-bank.’
...
‘Aye, we must stick together,’ growled Uglúk. ‘I don’t trust you little swine. You’ve no guts outside your own sties. But for us you’d all have run away. We are the fighting Uruk-hai! We slew the great warrior. We took the prisoners. We are the servants of Saruman the Wise, the White Hand: the Hand that gives us man’s-flesh to eat. We came out of Isengard, and led you here, and we shall lead you back by the way we choose. I am Uglúk. I have spoken.’
‘You have spoken more than enough, Uglúk,’ sneered the evil voice. ‘I wonder how they would like it in Lugbúrz. They might think that Uglúk’s shoulders needed relieving of a swollen head. They might ask where his strange ideas came from. Did they come from Saruman, perhaps? Who does he think he is, setting up on his own with his filthy white badges? They might agree with me, with Grishnákh their trusted messenger; and I Grishnákh say this: Saruman is a fool, and a dirty treacherous fool. But the Great Eye is on him. ‘Swine is it? How do you folk like being called swine by the muckrakers of a dirty little wizard? It’s orc-flesh they eat, I’ll warrant.’
Then, naturally, a fight ensues. But this is such an interesting study in the different cultures:
The Mordor Orcs (led by Grishnákh, the messenger from Lugbúrz, Sauron’s fortress) hate the Isengarders because the Uruk-hai think they’re better, stronger, and are following the “dirty little wizard” Saruman, setting up their own authority with his “filthy white badges.”
The Isengarders (Uruk-hai) (led by Uglúk) dislike the Mordor Orcs simply because they think they’re superior, more disciplined, and that their orders are paramount. Their loyalty is strictly to Saruman, and they even mock the Great Eye’s servants.
There’s even a massive difference in how each faction responds to the idea of the Nazgûl. The Isengarders talk about them with open skepticism:
‘The Whiteskins are coming. What’s happened to your precious Nazgûl? Has he had another mount shot under him? Now, if you’d brought him along, that might have been useful – if these Nazgûl are all they make out.’
But Grishnákh, the Mordor Orc, reacts with absolute terror:
‘Nazgûl, Nazgûl,’ said Grishnákh, shivering and licking his lips, as if the word had a foul taste that he savoured painfully. ‘You speak of what is deep beyond the reach of your muddy dreams, Uglúk,’ he said. ‘Nazgûl! Ah! All that they make out! One day you’ll wish that you had not said that. Ape!’ he snarled fiercely. ‘You ought to know that they’re the apple of the Great Eye.’
And all the while, the third group—the Orcs from Moria—are just getting more nervous. They just want to kill the heroes and go back home. We don’t get much about them, but they are perhaps the most interesting case study for me. I wonder where they really come from? Are they from Mordor? I think they’d most likely be from Dol Guldur, but maybe Sauron sends certain Orcs from Mordor over to Moria to keep it occupied and “black.”
What do these Orcs believe that is different from the other two factions? This makes me think of all the other groups of Orcs all around Middle-earth and how they got there. I still don’t really know if Orcs are made or created, or if they’re just a normal race... Do Orcs have children? Are there female Orcs? These are all questions I’m interested in that I just don’t have answers to at this point.
A Brilliant Bit of Writing
Tolkien’s writing here is truly brilliant. He establishes, at the very least, a clear complexity within the villains. They are not just some rabble of mindless creatures. They have cultures, languages, and beliefs that inform the actions they take.
This level of detail is brilliant writing. While it certainly doesn’t make me sympathetic to them, it maybe tugged at my compassion a little bit, just thinking that all these Orcs misunderstand each other and are misunderstood themselves by the rest of Middle-earth.
Nah, who am I kidding? I still think they’re evil.
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