Orcs debate

ugluk, grishnakh, and the unnamed (and soon to be un-headed) captain of the moria orcs debate their route and what to do with the prisoners. I've wanted to do this piece for a long time, as an entry in my collection of middle-earth historic costume plates (I guess you could call this one "late 3rd age orcs") the three-way debate seemed a good narrative moment in which to present the three main types of orcs encountered in tolkien's writing; the goblin, the "standard" orc of mordor, and the superior uruk.

The goblins of the mountains, unlike the foot soldiers of sauron or saruman, are more of less free creatures; they live in their own societies, have their own leaders and are basically pack hunters, like the wolves they occasionally team up with. I imagine they live hard lives, and they seem to care about each other; unlike the isengarders or the mordor orcs, they aren't operating on orders from any dark lord, and they don't know anything about the Ring or that Merry and Pippin are suspected to have it, they've come (several hundred miles under the sunlight, it should be noted) to avenge their kinsmen killed by the fellowship in moria. this one's armor and gear is alot more ragged and primitive than the others'; scraps of maille (some of which may be dwarven originally, and therefore of a quality far surpassing anything worn by ugluk or grishnakh) stitched together, many weapons, and a small inventory of dead animals tied around his waist for food. All things considered, he doesnt seem so bad, I kind of feel sorry for him; he's badly outmatched before these much bigger uruks with grishnakh having just turned on him.

for the uruk-hai (whose armor and gear is described by aragorn as being unlike those of other orcs) i was going for a medieval kind of feel. Middle-earth at the end of the third age seems a world just on the verge of it's own medieval period, and some peoples (like the jolly men of bree or the bold swan knights of dol amroth) seem to have made the leap already. as I've stated elsewhere, i think that plate armor will always be something of an invader species in middle-earth, something to be used only very rarely, but for the uruks; (who are indeed described as carrying longbows, a medieval invention, and being "iron shod" which calls sabatons to my mind) having been bred and outfitted by Saruman, the innovator, the metallurgist, the "cunning mind" who uses gunpowder and invents war machinery, a little venturing into plate seemed appropriate. in particular i was going for a look of the 13th-14th century; the armors at that time are often quite awkward looking; the interrum between the all-maille crusaders and the full "naked steel" harnesses of the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, and that physical awkwardness seemed right for the uruks of isengard, who are themselves hybrid creatures with some mannish blood. I imagine them walking straight-backed as a matter of regimental discipline, despite that their bodies aren't really built to do so (their wide belts were inspired by those lumbar support belts weightlifters use, i thought maybe they help their posture) and shaving their heads and bodies, as lice and other parasites likely plague the orcish population. in addition to medieval sources, aspects of their armor were taken from the roman loricas (a good fit, i think, for saruman's mass-manufactured armors), roman gladiatorial armors, and elements of japanese harnesses as well. lastly (and i don't know why, but it seemed to fit) a certain influence to the look of the uruks came from the some of the gear you see worn by modern soldiers, especially mercenaries; that floating couter on ugluk's elbow and those "saddle bags" (ugluk, like many of tolkien's orcs, is an anachronism; he comes off more like some twentieth century sergeant major than a warrior from ancient times, it's easy to picture him moving at a clip up and down the lines barking orders in his underlings' faces)

carrying their swords strapped across their backs rather than at their sides seems a natural fit for the long-armed, short-legged orcs. it was a semi-intentional choice on my part that all four parties appear to be left-handed, considered a mark of evil by medieval reckoning, so it seemed fitting to me that among the orcish population you'd get a disproportionate number of southpaws.

color version coming soon!