The Lord of the Rings: The Uruk-Hai [Part Five and Last]

The night is cold and still. The knoll on which the Orcs are camped is ringed around by a circle of little watchfires, lit by the Riders. The Orcs waste arrows shooting at the fires, but the Riders stay well out of sight, and Ugluk makes them stop. The troops are disgruntled, but Ugluk settles them down with the thought that ‘Mauhar and his lads are in the forest’ and should turn up soon. The Orcs, especially those who are not Isengard Uruk-hai, are still uneasy and rebellious, and keep only an indifferent watch as they try to rest in the darkness.

There is a sudden outcry from the east side of the camp. Riders have snuck up under the cover of darkness and killed some of the Orcs. Ugluk rushes off to stop the others from stampeding, and Merry and Pippin’s guards go to join him. The hobbits have no chance to sneak off, however, because Grishnakh, the Orc from Mordor, is suddenly upon them, gripping their necks. He begins to paw and search them. ‘His foul breath was on their cheeks.’

In a flash, Pippin realizes that Grishnakh knows about the Ring and that he’s trying to get it. Though seized with fear, he wonders if he can somehow turn the Orc's greed to his advantage. He starts trying to make a deal with Grishnakh, saying he’ll show him where ‘it’ is if he’ll untie their legs. Pippin makes the gollum noise in his throat to show the Orc that he’s wise. Merry catches on, and both try to wheedle Grishnakh into freeing them.

Grishnakh in return threatens them, saying that they’re playing a very dangerous game. Merry tells him that time is running out, and that if Grishnakh returns to Isengard and Saruman there’ll be nothing for poor Grishnakh. Feeling the pressure and angered at the mention of Saruman, he growls, ‘Untie your legs? I’ll untie every string in your bodies. Do you think I can’t search you to the bones? Search you! I’ll cut you both to quivering shreds.”

The Orc seizes the hobbits, squeezing them under his armpits and with a foul hand over their mouths. He runs off swiftly and silently into the night. He gets past the ring of fires and is about to make a final dash when the dark form of a rider and horse looms up out of the night. Grishnakh drops to the ground and draws his knife, meaning to kill his prisoners, but the glint of steel as he pulls it out betrays his position. An arrow flies out of the night and pierces his hand. The Orc leaps up shrieking and tries to run, but a horseman quickly runs him down and puts a lance through him. The horse passes right over the hobbits in the dark, as if guided by some extra sense.

Merry and Pippin lie still a moment. From the distant yells, they surmise their absence has been detected. ‘Ugluk was probably knocking off a few more heads.’ Then it seems that Mauhar and his lads are attacking the Riders; miraculously, the circle of battle moves away from them. They finally stir a bit and try to decide what to do next. Pippin is finally able to reveal that his hands are only looped for show. Then within the sound of the cries of battle, they sit and eat two or three cakes of lembas.  

Then Pippin crawls over to Grishnakh’s corpse, takes his knife, then cuts their bonds. They turn and look back. Apparently Mauhar and his boys are dead or driven away, and the Riders are back on their silent watch. The final battle must be coming soon; early dawn is already coming into the sky. Pippin says they must get under cover; it will be no good if in hurly-burly they are mistaken for Orcs.

When they finally feel up to it, they start crawling to the banks of the river, where they finally stand and walk. Their spirits rise at their escape, and they start speaking lightheartedly of their position, lost and by themselves as they are in the middle of nowhere.

Merry compliments Pippin on all his action, cutting his bonds, leaving his brooch as a clue, and guessing Grishnakh’s little game. But now it is Merry’s turn to ‘brush up his toes.’ He has a pretty good idea where they are, having studied more maps in Rivendell. They are before Fangorn Forest, at the end of the Misty Mountains. The trees look dark and forbidding, but better hide there than turn back into the middle of a battle.

For just then with the coming of the dawn there is a blast of horns from the Rohirrim and they attack the Orcs. There first charge leaves many dead, by a wedge of Isengarders led by Ugluk try to make for the trees. Merry and Pippin flee farther within, so they do not see the Orcs’ final demise, with Eomer slaying Ugluk sword to sword. All the other goblins are hunted down and slain.

‘Then when they had lain their fallen comrades in a mound and had sung their praises, the Riders made a great fire and scattered the ashes of their enemies. So ended the raid, and no news of it came ever back either to Mordor or to Isengard, but the smoke of the burning rose high to heaven and was seen by many watchful eyes.’

Bits and Bobs

Just a few things here. Tolkien in his unpublished timeline revealed that the reason Grishnakh knew so much about the Ring is that he had captured and questioned Gollum in the Anduin River area before the creature had escaped again and fled into the Emyn Muil.

I remember the first time we saw Bakshi’s LOTR, the line “It’s no good groping in the dark. You’ll never find it without our help” was met with titters from the audience; the term ‘grope’ had obviously set up a double-entendre in their mind. 

Ugluk is given a 'chivalrous' death, one on one with Eomer, rather than the rather treacherous death by arrows that Boromir had to suffer, and for which Ugluk was largely responsible.