[Annatar]

Originally posted by Malthaussen: Just a couple of points... JRR seems to use "goblins" and "orcs" interchangeably in his books. IIRC, he doesn't use "orc" much in The Hobbit, and doesn't use goblin much in LOTR. The Uruk-Hai would appear, from the text, to be a mixture of man/orc created by Saruman. This mixture accounted for their relative immunity to the sun's rays. It does appear that Sauron has some tougher orcs, also, although Saruman's are superior. Both seem to be tougher and nastier than your run of the mill mountain goblins, however. Maybe the difference lies in the original elf kindreds Morgoth corrupted into orcs/goblins. Who knows what JRR had in mind? Note that in the Final Battle, JRR has Sauron muster some "Olog Hai," which are trolls who don't turn to stone in sunlight. It would appear that "Hai," in this context, means something like "improved version." [img]smile.gif[/img] -- Mal

The true meaning of Uruk-Hai in Mordors Langauge (Black Speech) is Orc-People, Hai means People (seen as a improvement, for they can withhold the face of the sun.. just like the Olog-Hai in the final battle).

They were first seen in the Mordor, later in Isengard... they are former elfs that were corrupted by Sauron in the Second Era, mutilated and filled with Saurons anger and hate towards the elvish kind.. transferring those feelings, they got corrupted.

Its indeed true that Tolkien hardly uses the word ''Orc'' in the hobbit but uses more the '''Goblin'' word, also because the inhabitants of the Orc/Goblin Mountain were seen as ''Spirits said to dwell in mines'' (the true meaning of Goblin/Kobald), the mountain consisted out of tunnels and mines (just like the Moria Mountain/Mines).

Uruk-Hai is frequently used in the Lotr serie because both Sauron and Saruman use the corrupted dark elves for their twisted battle to gain control over middle-earth, goblins are only mentioned in the first book of the Lotr Serie (The Fellowship) and that is in the Moria mines.

[ 05-01-2003, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: Annatar ]