Speaking of Orcs and Uruks, I wonder if You guys heard this as well. A couple of years ago I heard or read something interesting about the Uruk-Hai, but I cannot for the life of me remember, where have I read/heard it. Was it some movie designer saying it on the DVD commentaries, or something that Tolkien himself wrote?
Anyway, it said that Uruk-Hai from Helms Deep siege, were significantly different from the Uruk-Hai that attacted the fellowship and killed Boromir. And I don't just mean different gear and weapons. Supposedly Saruman needed a big army quickly, so he altered his breeding techniques, so that he could mass-produce Uruks faster. The result were Uruk-Hai which were just as strong and fierce (if not more), but stupider than the Uruks that formed the hunting party from FOTR. They were much more beast-like and could not speak the common tongue (notice that no Uruk-Hai from Helms Deep say anything in the "Two Towers", just grunts and howls).
This supposedly infuenced the design of Uruk-Hai armaments in the films. In the "Weapons and Armour of Middle Earth" book, its said that the movie armour and weapons for Saruman army, were design so that they would force some patterns of behaviour on the new Uruk-Hai, which were much more beast-like, and less independent. So for example, the Uruk-Hai pikemen helmet had a different eye-slit from the helm of the swordsman. It was shaped in a way, that would force the wearer to constantly tilt his head upwards. This way it could help to stifle the Uruks natural instinct to charge, and remind them that when they see a Rohan Rider, they are supposed to stand their ground, plant the pike in the dirt, assume a half-crouch, bracing position, look upward and wait for the charge. Or other details, like armour only on the front of their bodies (to emphasize the point that if they turn their backs and run, they are dead), or the various spikes and blades on the armour of the swordsmen, to encourage furious attacks and charges (opposite to the pikemen).
I have no idea where I got that info from, and now I am not sure if its just something that PJ and Weta designers came up on their own (if its true, I like it a lot). Or is the bit about quick-breeding Uruks, something that Tolkien mentioned in some of his appendices.
I'm gonna do my research old school and pile every Middle-Earth related book I own on the kitchen table and pour over everything by candlelight like Gandalf reading the scolls of Isildur in Minas Tirith.
