JRR Tolkien’s Orcs
JRR Tolkien’s work is quite rich in detail. It may not reach the level of other authors whose descriptions are much more dense, but it does offer everything necessary for most readers to finish. imagining each of the characters appearing in the same way. At least the main characters, other more secondary characters still cost more work, but in general you get an idea quickly.
Likewise, when one comes to visualize the work of another person with the personal vision of each character, it is easier. So, taking advantage of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, we have thought why not do a list with the most horrible orcs. The result? Next, although we may later make another one with those that appear in the Lord of the Rings video games.
Azog, the defiler
The story of Azog is very different in books and in movies, so it could be said that the version known in the trilogy served more to cinematographic reasons than to the original story itself. Still, that doesn’t make him one of the most hideous orcs.
Bolg
Bolg is the son of Azog the Defiler, an orc that we could also see in The Hobbit trilogy and that had a similar appearance to his father. Perhaps with the face of being less clever, but more reckless. But leaving that aside, what cannot be denied is that this is the most horrible for details like those pieces of iron riveting his head and fall.
Snaga-hai
There are different types of orcs, most of them we saw in The Lord of the Rings and among many of them this one caught our attention. It is not the most dangerous, it may not be the most horrible, but that dangerous cunning is what makes it so dangerous. Of course, as an orc, you can’t ask much of him either, hence the way he ended up dying.
Guritz
Raised in the heart of Mordor, Guritz is Morannon’s orc lieutenant and along with the rest of his peers is one of the greatest. For that reason, because of the size of all of them, the orcs of Morannon were used as shock troops within Sauron’s army.
With his face crossed by a huge scar, without a nose and with a helmet saving a skull, he watched as an army of the Dead that accompanied Aragon, Légolas and Gimli devastated his army.
Lurtz
This is Lurtz, chief of the Uruk-Hai created by Saruman in the caverns of Isengard. Violent and ruthless, it is said that he killed the orc that helped him to be born, which is why Saruman took an interest in him and decided to put him in charge of the army.
Ugluk
Ugluk is the new chief of the Uruk-Hai after the death of their previous leader Lurtz. In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he can be seen on several occasions and frankly he is scary because of his appearance and size. Still, like many others, he ends up dying in battle against the Riders of Rohan.
Sharku
With a really horrible appearance, due to those marks on his face and head that appear to be claws, Sharku is an orc who serves Saruman and is mounted on a Wargo, which gives him an even more fearsome appearance.
Gothmog
Finally there is Gothmog, an orc from Morgul with a very unpleasant appearance due to those malformations that occupy part of his face. He is killed by Aragon and Gimli in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
The orc inspired by Harvey Weinstein
Now that you know the most horrible orcs in Middle-earth, it is time for you to know something really curious and that was told by Elijah Wood himself, an actor who was in charge of giving life to Frodo.
One of the orcs from The Lord of the Rings was based on another orc, but this time from real life: Harvey weinstein. The Hollywood mogul was accused and convicted a few years ago of sexual abuse. For this reason and for personal matters between Peter Jackson and Weinstein, it seems that he took the diction to create a creature that resembles him.
Obviously these are details that are not usually told in public, but they do happen on numerous occasions. Logically not all in a negative plan, there are others like the creator of Photoshop who used his face to put the faces of several Star Wars pilots. Although there is some satisfaction here, as it has already been shown that Weinstein was a true orc.
Leaving aside that curiosity and almost that “revenge” on the part of Peter Jackson, what is your favorite orc or the most horrible one? Of course, if it’s another one that doesn’t appear on the list, tell us which one. We will see what they surprise us with in the Lord of the Rings series prepared by Amazon Prime Video. Because recently it became known that the production company was looking for people to play the orc role and if they were ugly, hairy and with very particular features, all the better.
