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Forum Home » Books Discussion » BC Archive: Lord of the Rings » Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
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PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
on: January 05, 2004 06:20
from TTT, ChapterVII Helm's Deep
The Orcs yelled and jeered. 'come down! Come down!' they cried. 'If you wish to speak to us, come down! Bring out your king! We are the fighting Uruk-hai. We will fetch him from his hole, if he does not come. Bring out your sku;lking king!'


This quote is part of a short passage that I am fascinated with.
I've always been amazed that the Uruks here appear to have some sort of honour code, as they actually honour Aragorn's attempt at a parley and speak with him instead of just attempting to shoot him down. They've always seemed to me to have no sense of honour but here, at least for a while, they are willing to parley [or at least brag].

[Edited on 6/1/2004 by PotbellyHairyfoot]

[Edited on 28/1/2004 by Figwit]
atalante_star
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
on: January 05, 2004 11:57
Good old Uruk-hai Always doing things you don't expect....

There are 2 things I can think of for this.

1) They are not having a code of honour at all - they just want to prolong the agony for the opposing army, they just just playing games, and that they would quite like the fun of going in and dragging Aragorn out like a rat out of a hole (just more humiliation that the rightful King wouldn't parley)

2) They have some remnants of the honour they must of had as men / elves / whatever else Morgoth / Sauron bred them from.
Figwit
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
on: January 06, 2004 08:28
Or, option °3: they *do* have an honour code in that they like a good fight, and a good fight you don't get when one is taken by surprise.

Tolkien's Orcs and Uruks have a lot more depth than they seem to have on the surface: they are as much a people with their own tongue and culture as the Rohirrim or the Hobbits. We don't get too much information about them, but it's scenes like these where we catch a glimpse of what there is behind the murderous beasts.
atalante_star
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
on: January 06, 2004 09:55
I've just had another thought about this .....

Orcs, according to Tolkien, had Cockney accents, and therefore seem to be associated with the East London (Cockney) way of life. And East London was where many of London's gangsters came from, and there was very much a code of honour among thieves there. And generally, "traditional" East London families were very close, "thick as thieves", very honourable. Was that transferred to the Orcs and Uruk-hai?
Figwit
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Jan 5, 2004 (3.VII.)
on: January 06, 2004 10:08
cockney accents, really? that's interesting!
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