Uruk-hai

Uruk-hai
Tendency	Evil
First appearance	2475, TA
Creator	Sauron

Uruk Hai made their first appearance five hundred years before the war of the ring, a new class of Orc bred by Sauron. They're stronger, taller and faster than the standard evil minions. Uruks tend to get on badly with Orcs, often arguing with themas shown in The Two Towers, when they squabble over Merry and Pippin.

Saruman's Uruks were further improved, as he bred resistance to sunlight into them; but how he did this is unclear. It was these Uruks that bore the white hand who slew Boromir on Amon Hen, as well as Hama at Helms Deep. After Saruman was defeated there is little other mention of his Uruks, most were killed in the battle or by the Hourns the day after – it is unlikely that many survived.

Origin[edit]

Where the Uruk Hai came from, or how they were bred is not stated for definite. However in some of Tolkien's unpublished works he mentioned how Saruman came across some ancient lore concerning Morgoth, saying that the dark lord had managed to cross breed Man with Orc, creating a hybrid. These hybrids are mentioned in the novels, when The Hobbits are in Bree, for instance, and during the scouring of the Shire it appears that some of the men are half-orc.