Lord of the Rings from an orc’s perspective

Lord of the Rings from an orc’s perspective

what would Lord of the Rings look like from an orc’s perspective let’s take a look hi everyone this is Robert welcome to indeep geek if you’re new here welcome we experience the Lord of the Rings from the perspective of Our Heroes understandably so and to them Orcs most often appear as part of a large group of bad guys the red shirts of sauron’s army if you will but we know from overhearing conversations between uglu and grishnak and later shagrat and snagger for example that they are all different different appearances different experiences and different characters the Lord of the Rings will have looked very different to one of saran’s orai for example than to one of the Orcs we see in the minds of Moria they I’m sure have their own fascinating perspectives but for this video we will focus in on sauron’s Orcs based largely in Mordor and as a final piece of scene setting Sauron did have other orc strongholds most notably at dolal dur in south merkwood from which armies Of Orcs emanated towards the end of the story to attack Loth lauran and Northern merkwood but by a long way the largest concentration of Orcs was in Mordor several years before the Lord of the Rings saon had declared himself in Mordor and started Gathering his forces including of course Orcs And although all Orcs are warlike they aren’t all in sauron’s army they are also Miners and Craftsmen Builders and slave drivers we read of orc bands heading off east and south to bring back resources and more slaves Into the Heart of Mordor for example Sauron clearly diverted many of his Orcs from these duties into his army in time for the war of the ring but many others would have carried on with their roles the Army still needed provisioning the broader economy still needed running these Orcs will have seen little change in their day-to-day life except perhaps an incre in workload as some of their orc colleagues were conscripted to the front and the war machine needed feeding little change that is until the very end but we’ll get on to that a bit later in the video because for the balance of sauron’s Orcs the war of the Ring meant war or waiting for war in encampments we see a snapshot of what this looks like when Frodo and Sam paus to take in the view across the plain of gorgoth towards Mount Doom we read that they wondered how the Lord of this realm maintained and fed his slaves and his armies yet armies he had as far as their eyes could reach along the skirts of the Mori and Away Southward there were camps some of tents some ordered like small towns one of the largest of these was right below them barely a mile out into the plain it clustered like some huge nest of insects with straight dreary streets of huts and long low drab buildings about it the ground was busy with folk going to and fro a wide Road ran from its Southeast to join the morgal way and along it many lines of small black shapes were hurrying we could pick up a lot from that short description but a couple of things stand out first it’s clear that this is as we thought earlier clearly not just sauron’s normal Mordor garrisons these are troops brought in or other Orcs conscripted from The Wider Empire to the south and east more than could be stationed in Min moral for instance hence the tented City but also it’s clear that some of these troops had been there for a while hence there being crude buildings huts and roadways we could add to that that we know that this was not just Orcs when we see his army close up it contains a range of races and Troop types there are humans easterlings and black numor Ian Wars for the Orcs to ride trolls and olai and different kinds of Orcs too urai as well as standard Orcs this will have been a diverse and no doubt quarrelsome Army the camp will have been noisy and smelly it was stationed not far from minmal with troops heading out on various missions and others joining an Ever shifting Camp until the order finally came for them all to move out the first action of of the war of the Ring was sauron’s attack on osgiliath the ancient and ruined former capital of Gondor we hear about it from Boromir it’s the battle that happened just after he and fmir got that Vision it was a surprise attack so from the Orcs perspective the Army will likely have been sent forth at high speed from minmal just 20 mi Northeast of osth that’s 30ish km although this was a significant move it was still only with a fraction of sauron’s forces perhaps only minus morel’s Garrison so most of the Orcs probably actually stayed in that camp on the other side of the mountains the attack was very much led by the ring wraiths all nine of the nasgul were very visible all part of sinon’s plan incidentally he wanted his enemies to know that that’s where the nasgul were just before he sent them on a secret mission to hunt for the ring but their presence was also important for the Orcs in the Army the nasgo may have had a chilling effect on their opponents but on Orcs it was the opposite or at least if not exactly encouraging then at least keeping the Army in order at which point we should probably briefly digress into the relationship between Sauron and the Orcs for they were his creatures Orcs are clearly not automatons but they are closely bound to his will the further from him and the longer the Lesser this link was the Orcs of Moria for example seemed largely outside of his influence but the Orcs of Mordor were as close as ever this will be important later anyway during the assault on OS skilia the bridge across the anduin was destroyed and sauron’s forces kept to the east side of the river some I’m sh headed back to that makeshift Camp because it would be a while before they were called upon again about 9 months in fact which probably explains the shift from a tented City to some slightly more robust structures that camp was is now home for tens of thousands of Orcs during those nine months there were some changes and movements saon continues to amass his forces during this time and expeditionary forces are sent out to hunt for the ring one of which is part of that gang that captures Mary and Pippen as a complete aside I’m sure you picked up on the fact that there were two competing orc groups there saurons and Sans but did you notice that there were actually three the third group came from Moria we have come all the way from the mines to kill and avenge our folk I wish to kill and then go back North they say the urai quickly put them in their place anyway back to the Orcs of Mordor by around the 9th of March of the Year 39 of the third age they will finally have received their marching orders Sauron musters his magic and a Darkness starts to spread from Mordor westwards by the next day it reaches mines tith and that day gets named the dawnless day this Darkness has several purposes it strikes fear into light loving humans offers an advantage to Orcs who can see well in the dark and allows even those parts of Saron Army who hate the sunlight including many Orcs to set forth from Mordor and they did this is the army that we saw in the battle of the pelenor fields a bit later a second smaller Force Of Orcs And Men set forth to take the island of K Andros and then onto the strategically important Road between Rohan and Gondor the plan there was to prevent Rohan gondor’s strong Ally from sending any relief Force to help minth it was a sensible plan but the roim avoided the force with a bit of help from the woses but back to the pelenor fields Orcs formed the bulk of sauron’s army at the Battle of the pelenor fields though there were sizable contingents of humans and others including of course the Mills the olifant and the nasgul also played a significant role we don’t know what the rank and file were told about the fight ahead of them but we can assume that they were told that this was a simple matter of first securing the West Bank of the anduin river then taking the Fortified city of minth itself they had nasgul on flying Fel beasts ol fors a magical battering ram and a vastly larger army they certainly won’t have been exped any support for the baguer minth the Corsair of Amber were raiding across the South Coast preventing the coastal settlements sending reinforcements and the route from Rohan was blocked as well as saran’s Army keeping the rim engaged so they will have been confident of Victory and victory seemed increasingly likely as the battle wore on they swept across the anduin without significant resistance faramir’s mission was ridiculous too small a force to properly defend the river or skill they even managed to breach the Great Gate of minth inside denior their Steward had absented himself from any leadership of the defense and was instead hurtling towards self- imulation the morale of the troops on the walls plummeted the Orcs would have been eager to pile into the city but that’s when the army of Rohan appeared this was a complete surprise the witch king of Angar flew over to personally deal with the new threat taking out king Thon but when he was inexplicably vanquished the Orcs had to refocus on defending against aare and the vengeful roim then Aragon turned up with forces from the south at first the Orcs thought that this was their allies from Umar Aragon kept the distinctive umbar Black Sails up while rowing up the anduin river to fool everyone when it became obvious what had happened the Orcs were routed their Commander Was Defeated and the momentum of the attack was was completely lost many fought on to the death others retreated back beyond the anduin it was probably those Orcs who then started attacking Aragon’s Army of the West as he later marched through aelan to the black gate at which point we must point out that although the pelenor fields was an epic battle it was still only with a fraction of sauron’s forces most were still in that tented City on the plain of gorgoroth or Manning forts like kirth angol but eventually the order for them all to move came Aragorn was marching to the black gate and so Saron wanted his force in place there to meet him for some of the Orcs this will have been the first movement they had had for maybe a year from the tented City northwards it’s one of those units on the northward journey from the tented City to the black gate that stumble across a disguised Frodo and Sam and press gang them into joining the remorseless March North Frodo and Sam of course managed to escape that after a bit and head back south across the country to Mount Doom the lack of opposition they find there is an indication of how committed saon was to facing down Aragon at this point he was convinced that Aragon had the ring and that was the most important thing so within days the entire remainder of sinon’s army was camped just inside the black gate there was a brief pause while the Mouth of Sauron spoke to arag gor and Gandalf but soon the black gate was open and the Orcs burst forth we read this drums rolled and fires leaped up the great doors of the black gate swung back wide out of it streamed a great host as swiftly as swirling Waters when a slle is lifted the captains mounted again and rode back and from the host of Mordor there went up a jeering yell dust Rose smothering the air as from near by there marched up an army of easterlings that had waited for the signal in the shadows of Ed lithy beyond the further Tower down from the hills on either side of the Moran poured Orcs innumerable the men of the West were trapped and soon all about the grey Mounds where they stood forces 10 times and more than 10 times their match would ring them in a sea of enemies Sauron had taken the proferred bait in jaws of Steel the Orcs must have again thought that victory was inevitable their enemy was surrounded and vastly outnumbered they charged into attack but beyond all hope that’s when the ring was destroyed remember earlier we talked about the link between Sauron and the Orcs of Mordor when he died that link was broken and the Orcs were left directionless this is how Tolen describes it the power of Mordor was scattering like Dust in the Wind and as when death smites the swollen brooding thing that inhabits their crawling Hills and holds them all in sway ants will wander witless and purposeless and then feebly die so the creatures of Sauron orc or troll or beast spell enslaved ran hither and thither mindless and some slew themselves or cast themselves in pits or fled wailing back to hide in holes and Dark lightless Places far from hope so that vast mass of Orcs once saon was overthrown were lost some ending things there and then for themselves others were cut down by Aragon’s forces and still more fled to be rooted out later by Aragon and faramir and that’s not just the Orcs in the army of course remember that there were plenty more Orcs Manning garrisons Mining and provisioning the Army slave driving and who knows what else the Orcs further away and less under sinon’s control didn’t have it quite so bad though they were still defeated the downfall of DOL galur and the Orcs there took place 2 Days Later those in the Deep holes and further reaches of Mordor were hunted down and killed over the next few years and the dwarves drove the Orcs from kazad Doom early in the fourth age who knows when the last orc fell but it was inevitable from the moment that saon himself fell the or perspective on the war of the ring is more complex than we sometimes give them credit for I’ll do a video sometime on their culture but there is no doubt that ultimately their experience was one of control and exploitation by evil forces and then destruction a dark tale for a dark race of beings if you’d like to see more videos diving deep into tolkien’s legendarium there’s a playlist on the left of your screen now or if you’d like to support this Channel thank you there’s a link to my patreon page on the right of your screen that’s all for this time thanks for watching I’ll see you again soon

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