The Origins of Uruks.
This appears to be the third installment in what has become a series of metas on Orc and Uruk-related topics. My wish is to share what is known from Tolkien’s own writings and commentary while attempting to be transparent about what is my conjecture and without mixing in personal headcanons.
This post is on a topic that I actuallly already mentioned in the previous post on Orc immortality, because of the way it ties in with the subject, so there will be a bit of repetition here.
For the sake of the subject at hand I first have to make a distinction between ‘Uruks’ and ‘Uruk-hai’ and where the name even comes from. Although there’s quite a bit of inconsistency across the various sources in the use of the terms ‘uruk’, orc’ and ‘goblin’ and Tolkien himself admitted to using them interchangeably for a time, the terms and various spellings eventually take on contextual meaning and disctinctions.
The base of the term ‘Uruk’ is the archaic stem ruku that is to be found across all the tongues of the Eldarin in multiple derivatives. The noun urko (pl. urqui) first appears in Quenya, along with urug in Sindarin. At first it stands for something that’s a bit vague in meaning: “dreadful terror-inspiring shapes”.
The eventual Sindarin form of orch (pl. yrch) was immediately applied to Orcs once they appeared. And Orcs themselves adopted the term for themselves as well. ‘Uruk’ seems to reenter the picture in Black Speech once Sauron decided to adopt it from Quenya, but:
“It referred, however, specially to the trained and disciplined Orcs of the regiments of Mordor. Lesser breeds seem to have been called snaga.” (Quendi and Eldar, The War of the Jewels, pg.390)
Basically what this says is that ‘Uruk’ is a term for a different kind of Orc, that is not only distinguished from snaga on the basis training and social placement in Mordorian society, but most importanly on the basis of ‘breed’. And that this is a distinction that Orcs make and reinforce themselves.
The Uruks of Mordor, also know as the Black Uruks, were the first of their kind, and to be called such. It is unclear what their ancestry is because although they’re different from other Orcs that aready exist early on, and Tolkien describes certain differences, then they are still all Elvish in their origin. Which is what brings us to the Uruk-hai.
‘Uruk-hai’ is only ever used to refer to Uruks that originate from Isengard in the Third Age, also known as Isengarders. Even though they’re colloquially called Uruks then they’re not to be confused with the “original” Uruks. They may share some similarities, which is kind of what Saruman was after, no doubt, but Tolkien makes his intention quite clear.
Their ancestry may be left a bit vague in The Lord of the Rings both in book and film form, but Tolkien keeps circling back to the same point in additional materials. I already explained the nature of Text X and its three versions in my previous post, but it’s also important for this subject.
In the second version of Text X, Orcs, Tolkien gives the most compact account of the origins of Orcs. And while this version is centered around the idea that all Orcs originate at least partially from the race of Men, which he later decides against, he doesn’t later contradict what he has stated here regarding the Uruk-hai and their origin:
“There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile.” (Text X, Myths Transformed, pg.419)
The Men-orcs in question are the Uruk-hai. And I think that these Orc-men that he refers to here are those that have also been referred to as Saruman’s spies in the book (and films). They were implied to be of mixed-race, but perhaps to a lesser degree so that they would pass for Men and not stand out so much in the general population of Mannish settlements. If my memory serves me well, there’s at least a couple of mentions of them in the LotR.
I think it’s important to mention here that the ‘treachery’ and ‘vileness’ in question are something I believe to be a moral evaluation. In my opinion it’s still Saruman that Tolkien holds accountable for this treachery. After all, creating them had been his wickedest deed. And so by way of serving as his spies, these people became Saruman’s accomplices and in doing so betrayed what was Mannish in them by extension, because it was Saruman that had by his own actions inflamed the conflict between Orcs and Men.
I think that one thing that should be fairly obvious an it’s that Tolkien never holds the footman responsible for all the ills in the world. He doesn’t hold Orcs of any kind responsible for the evils of their masters. And all True Evil in the context of Middle-Earth is, after all, divine in origin.
There’s room for speculation in the matter of exactly how Saruman built his vast army, although, I believe I have come across implications for exactly the sort of thing that one might imagine. But in any case, the origins of the Uruk-hai is a matter that’s not actually up for debate.