Were Morannon Orcs in the Battle of the Last Alliance?
Were Morannon Orcs in the Battle of the Last Alliance?
According to the movies: no. According to the books: The divisions of the different kinds of orcish creatures was rather vague, so maybe or maybe not. In the end it us really up to you. You could always use them to represent bigger orcs.
I understood the morannon orcs to be the last type made. I believe they were made to guard the Black Gate because Sauron was weakened without the ring in the 3rd age. Black orcs, otherwise known as Mordor Uruk-hai were made to destroy the elves in the 2nd age and thus fought the last alliance. GW source books say the oposite, but those are based on the movies and not the books.
Morannon Orcs don't actually exist in Tolkien's work, so in terms of the books, no, they definitely did not appear in the Battle of the Last Alliance. In the movies though, it also seems unlikely, because they were created in Minas Morgul under the Witch-King, and I think during the Last Alliance, Minas Morgul was still a kingdom of Gondor, and Gondor wouldn't be creating orcs to kill themselves. I must admit, my last point could be slightly wrong, Minas Morgul could have been evil during the Last Alliance, I'm just assuming it wasn't because I believe it was taken from Gondor when Sauron was returning in eye-form, when he sent the Witch-King to claim lands that could assist in his return to power.
Morannon ocrs are listed as the guardians of the Black Gate. I would have thought they would have been spawned in Barad-dur. I think Minas Morgul was still in Gondorian hands then. Cirith Ungol and the Black Gate where built after Sauron's defeat at the hands of the Last Alliance. Sauron Sent the great plague in the 3rd age to weaken Gondor and the men of Middle Earth before the Witch King raised his army in the West.
Uruk-hai don't show up until relatively late in the Third Age, actually, so there would have been none fighting at the Last Alliance. If memory serves, the first chronological mention of them is in the initial siege of Osgiliath.Originally Posted by kidterminal
As others have pointed out, Morannon orcs are not a distinct type as far as Tolkien would have been concerned, and based on their appearance in the movie they don't seem to be anything more than ordinary orcs with uniform gear. Unlike the rabble at the Last Alliance, Sauron seems to have fitted his soldiers with pretty standardized armor at least, if not weaponry, by the time of the battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Based on GW's profiles, I think you'd have to consider them to simply be particularly strong orcs.
In any event, based on the movies and the game there were not Morannon orcs at the Last Alliance, and based on Tolkien's writings they don't even exist as a distinct group from ordinary orcs. In the end, I don't see why there couldn't be some orcs at the Last Alliance that were stronger and had better armor than others, but I wouldn't make them a big part of the army.
The great thing about the dwarves is that, even though there's this comic element, when they fight - they really fight!
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Snaga=slaves=applied to any Orc by a stronger one.
Uruks=black uruks of Mordor=Uruk hai=strongest breed of orcs.
Half orcs=goblin men=part orc,part man.
Thats it no more orcs,everything else is just made up troop types which helps with variety in the game but in terms of real background they are all from these types just different training,equipment and different levels of influence from their masters.
For the sake of completeness :Tolkien puts forward various ideas about the ""olog-hai trolls" one of which is that they are giant Orcs.
Boldogs are Maiar that have taken the form of "mega orc leaders" and as such are the most powerfull "Orc" of all and in game terms would be somewhere between a Balrog andRadagast.
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