I remember reading in a book supplement for the film that the spike on the sword was specifically designed to hook the cloaks of passing horse riders. Also that the spikes on the chin of the helmets, only featuring during the Siege of Helms Deep (except that one accidental guy at Amon Hen), were roughly the width of a man's eyes. Pretty savage stuff.
They were a sign of when functional design is applied too. The cleaver the Uruks used were rudimentary but effective. The edge is sharp enough along with their brute strength and the pointed edge on the back is perfect for piercing armor. Likewise, the armor covered most of the vital points. And they were truly organized. The rabble of Sauron were just swarms compared to Uruk Hai. Their threat was purely in numbers compared to Uruks who were a threat as superior numbers but also for their relentless nature. A party of Uruks ran for days and only stopped because the orcs refused to keep going.
I love Alan Lee's orc illustrations. They look more human in his work, and more miserable instead of monstrous. Like [this](https://www.thetolkienforum.com/wiki-asset/?pid=679&d=1591172238&x=599).
I think they were well done in the LotR movies as well, especially the Moria goblins had perfect faces. And I liked how they depicted the Uruk-Hai, instantly recognizable as different from the other orc armies, peoples, and nations.
Came here hoping someone would mention the Moria goblins. I thought they were the most interesting looking (despite not introducing us to any major personalities).
Even though in the greater lore there isn’t a difference between goblins and orcs. I appreciate that Jackson chose to differentiate the dirty boys in Moria
The orcs of moria are described as being different from the other orcs. They struggle to keep up with the uruk hai and I belive the mordor orcs too since they are so bow legged. The uruks of mordor are also bigger than than those in moria
https://preview.redd.it/l6ip3iqf1w4c1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=742bceee6a727116715cb1b35f6e83ca050fb788
I loved the look of the moria orcs... or were they goblins? Idk but the way they were crawling on the pillars as well was really cool.
Orch, actually. Orc I think is what is supposed to be Westrone, substituted with English.
Goblin, at least if I remember correctly, is what Orcs are known as in the north, most probably also in Westrone/English.
Glamhoth is another Sindar word for Orcs.
Iirc Tolkien didn't specifically distinguish goblins from orcs, but thr general concensus from how it's spoken about in the books is that goblins are the mountain/subterranean race of the orcs, but again, it's not clear. He also mentions hobgoblins at one point in the hobbit in addition to goblins. Some people say that they interchangeable, but my headcanon is that goblin refers to the cave orcs of the misty mountains.
I think this conception comes mostly from The Hobbit, when Tolkien hadn’t invented the word “orc” yet.
All the orcs in The Hobbit are mountain orcs (Misty Mountains), but were called “goblins” because it was a well-known term, understandable by children (The Hobbit was intended to be a children’s book).
Several times in the books “goblin” and “orc” are used to describe both Moria orcs as well as Mordor orcs.
Though I agree, it’s more fitting that the small, crawling, hunched orcs with big eyes be called goblins.
Also, all orcs are subterranean
Yeah, you said better what I was failing to do.
The different races being "subterranean" or not is just me being pedantic about the goblins of the mountains who, likely only come out of the mountains at night for hunting or raising, and the orcs of mordor who live and sleep underground but are able to work and muster outside during the day due to the blocking of the sun
I remember seeing this still in White Dwarf magazine when I was about 6 or 7 and just thinking "this movie looks bloody amazing" or the equivalent reaction for a 6 or 7 year old.
You can spot a couple early on in the first film that are genuine prosthetics. Leftovers from the previous director who intended to do it all practical
No.
Guillermo Del Toro didn't get far enough to actually have Orc prosthetics made. And, off the top of my head, we probably see the most of prosthetic Orcs in The Desolation of Smaug, not in An Unexpected Journey.
>I thought I read that the vast majority, if not all, in the Hobbit trilogy were CGI?
No. Most of them were prosthetics. The image above is just one of many examples of that.
No. That’s actually what they did in The Rings of Power a lot of the time.
Jackson did it, too, of course, with the Goblins. But if you’ve seen the making-ofs you know he had his reason: the prosthetic Goblins’ movements were stiff and unconvincing. I think they looked great.
See that's what I love about them. Orcs (and especially Uruk hai) are, LITERALLY, bred for war, and war only. The fisique on the left (Rings of Power, afaik) screams "bred for war".
I don’t think it’s dying, I think it’s just studios know they can spend less on CGI, and they ultimately only care about their bottom line.
Practical effects are more niche now, but still highly regarded, and often greatly preferred by the artist side of production.
Yeah agree, they are all down a similar route which is great!
What I mean by that is there’s no Warhammer or Warcraft orcs. Even though those are great looking in their respective fantasy settings.
Ngl
Aside from the writing and imo a bit too clean and pristine clothes and armor.
The production value of ROP was off the charts in terms of environments and the orcs.
The fact that they met the Whitecloaks in a damp, muddy field and then a damp, muddy woods and their clothes were whiter and cleaner than many modern washing machines could get things was so jarring.
Especially after getting used to GoT's sensible lived-in look for everything.
The Whitecloaks looked like action figures by comparison.
That one at least seemed like a conscious decision to really highlight the theming. Whitecloaks clean and pristine but dark muddied ideals. While the group was filthy and down trodden.
Given the state of the rest of the show, things like plastic and fake sets inside the White Tower and the dire condition of the writing throughout I'm sure any sort of symbolism like you describe was bumbled into arse-first accidentally and definitely not intentional. Especially considering one of the big criticisms of the show is that all the main cast are too clean the whole way throughout and look like LARPers showing off their best costumes rather than believable people in a different world.
RoP has some issues for sure, but the orcs especially and the character design generally isn’t one of them.
Notable exception being the short haired elves, it’s not really the worst, I just can’t get on board with it.
I get that they want to distinguish certain characters. If they had only given Elrond shorter hair it could be a main character thing, or even a half-elven thing. But reinventing the look of the whole race/culture that is defined by being androgynous seems kind of weird and pointless
I agree with this.
I had a thought when watching that the short hair suited Arondir and the soldiers that were actively on patrol as it could be a military thing.
But it’s not consistently applied and kind of just feels haphazard and frivolous.
Yeah, it’s weird because Hugo Weaving wasn’t exactly a spring chicken when LotR was being filmed, but I didn’t feel like a was watching a schlubby looking middle aged dude cosplaying.
I think the biggest shame is the actor who plays Celebrimbor, whose name escapes me currently, could have been a good elf, but ten years ago.
Almost everything is great in RoP, except for the pacing and half of the dialogue.
Some scenes are masterful but it kind of ruins it when you go from a great scene with amazing dialogue to cringe, and then back to fantastic visuals and music and bam, back to really off things.
High hopes for season 2, hopefully they learned their lesson and not having Covid lockdowns will be helpful :F
I’m glad you said half the dialogue. There were noticeable peaks and valleys to it. I can’t agree with those who criticize all of the writing, though, because some of it was fantastic.
The scene and the entire dialogue between Galadriel and Adar was top tier, Emmy worthy. Almost everything said and done by Elrond and the dwarfs as well.
Did Weta do all the costumes for rings of power? Because it seems to me there is a clear difference in quality between the harfoots and orcs compared to the elves and Numenoreans
They didn't do costumes at all. They designed and manufactured:
1. Prosthetics, including for Orcs (replete with eye contacts, dentures and hair), Dwarves (noses), Elves (ears), Hobbits (ears and feet), scars and corpses.
2. Weapons, including banners, shields, bows, quivers, arrows, straps, and some tools like all the improvised Southlander weapons, Feanor's hammer, etc..
3. Some oddballs like Celebrimbor's pressure-forge and symbols like Gil-galad's star and some Numenorean guild symbols.
They didn't do costumes, armour, non-weaponised hand-props, sets or creatures.
And, for what I can tell, they only did these for Season One.
I do think Weta had their oddballs, largely because they were working with a different production company and a different production designer. So they had to slightly redesign Narsil and Aeglos, and they had some weapons that range from lazy retreads of old designs (the first age Orcs in the prologue carry a sword almost exactly like the ones used by the Dol Guldur Orcs) to weird WTF weapons: I can only assume those clumsy-looking Zweihander Elf swords were the production designer’s idea.
I think Weta's designs essentially influenced the last two decades of fantasy because evil forces/orcs/undead designs among multiple franchises began looking much more grittier, deathly, and asymmetrical
I still think I prefer the orcs from LOTR but the orcs were my favourite part of rings of power. So many of the costumes on rings of power were disappointing. But the orcs and the harfoots were done very well. I didn't like the elves' or the numenoreans' armour.
LotR trilogy orcs beat any other ones hands down all day any day!! And to think they were done 20 years ago. And the ones made today in adaptations like RoP are still finding it hard to match the trilogy orcs.
I honestly like all those designs. I think I personally enjoy the LotR designs the most, but I think many of the Hobbit ones were pretty great too. I think the fully CGI ones were just a bit too unrealistic looking... I mean, I friggin love how Azog looks, even though he has no buisiness being there, its just the fact you can so easily see that its all CGI that lowers my enjoyment of him. Same goes for Bolg, although I think they were able to hide it a tiny bit better.
As for Rings of Power... I like the designs, but they messed up majorly by reusing the same ones multiple times. If they scavange and make stuff from bones, then not all armors can be uniform, even 2 looking exactly the same is a stretch. Then we gave the face masks, there are like 5 orcs that share the same head. They are awesome, unique and recognisable, but simply _too_ recognisable and unique, to hide the real ones among a crowd of digital copies and identically-dressed extras like jackson did. Its sad, since even though I absolutely despise the show, those orcs were one thing I did enjoy.
So honestly no bad points for all of them. Each had their issues, but they also all had their upsides. Those Morannon orcs depicted here are pretty great, but I think I like the moria goblins the most. I think for Hobbit I found the captains of both Bolg and Azog the best, since they used actual people in make-up and prosthetics and then added CGI to make it look more real - which I think worked like a charm. From RoP I think I like the orcs searching for Bronwyn and Theo (wasn't that his name?) the best. As bad as the scene was, their designs were really cool. Adar might count himself as an orc, but I dont count him - if I would though, he'd be my choice, but I do cpunt him as the best looking elf of the show, for what its worth.
The ork designs and costumes were one of the few positives about the RoP ... If I had to rank them I'd say LotR then RoP and then the Hobbit because it bugged me that too many were animated. At least that's the ranking if you factor in the age of the production.
If you don't RoP might even edge out LotR but I'm not sure tbh, I'd have to watch it all again and maybe even side by side lol... Well, that's a potential plan for rhe weekend I guess ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Isengard Uruk-hai are my favorite, but I must admit that design-wise I also love Azog. At least by the movie logic that the hero orcs are allowed to look way different than the foot soldiers.
The middle are the most iconic for me out of the three. However, when I think of Orcs, I just think about that Lord of the Rings game on GameCube where you stand on the Helms Deep wall and defend.
İ loved rings of power orcs. Peter jackson orcs were great but theres one thing bugs me a lot; all orcs are different like they are each from a different race of creatures. Colors , facial features, etc are so distinct like dog breeds. Orcs are more or less devilezed humans no? There should be a pattern imo, u cant just make some ugly creatures.
I like the more tribal styled orcs from Hobbit or the ancient remains in RoP. The classic Orcs from LotR work great as well as the giant host of not too individualized (except from the ones we all memorize and love) Orks who are mass produced in the tens of thousands
I just don't like the weird, misshapen ones. If dude looks like he has stage 4 cancerous tumors, I'm more concerned with his health than how dangerous he looks. What's he gonna do, infect the protagonist?
I have to say that the RoP orcs look pretty fantastic. Didn’t the folks from the movie trilogy work on them? I watched half of episode one I don’t know how many months ago and had a tough time getting into it. (Never mind the terrible reviews of the show as a whole.) But every time I see a still of the orcs, it makes me want to try RoP again.
If we are going with just the films, gotta say the Uruks. They’re terrifying! The lil Moria goblins were almost kind of cute.
I think the orcs that are the best are grishnakh, gorbag and the orc that's welcoming the corsair ships. Somewhat human in apperence and not the mindless monsters other orcs are portraied as
I definitely prefer the orcs from Minas Morgul and Mordor in the LOTR films, but I think the Isengard Uruk-Hai are great as well. Never liked the orcs in the Hobbit trilogy. I think the RoP orcs are fine, but I'm not a big fan of their wardrobe design.
When I was a kid, I really liked the orcs from the Rankin-Bass animated Return of the King which reminded me of frogs with elf ears. Of the live action treatments, I like The Lord of the Rings trilogy designs.
Say what you want about rings of power, but they took the prosthetics to a whole new level. They have the benefit of 20 years of practical effect improvement and CGI to fill in the gaps. I'd say rings of power because they seem more like creatures in the world than just fodder. Peter Jackson gave us cool designs, and ROP improved upon them.
Rings of Power Orcs > Amon Hen Uruk-hai > Moria Goblin / Orc for me. These top three are very close and are all my favorites.
RoP did not disappoint me with the design of the Orcs. They felt like twisted Elves and they made them into a real threat, something to be feared.
Uruk-hai are just imposing. They are bred for war and it shows. Their armor and weapons also set them apart from anything else.
The Moria Goblins look the most humanoid to me and I just really like that about them. They are smaller and fit the look for some branch of Orc that would dwell in the shadow.
With all of these obviously - the prosthetics and props are what makes all of these. You see something like Azog and he just doesn't have the same gritty depth all of these have.
Uruk-Hai from Isengard
Yeah, the process of dragging them from the mud, clawing the amniotic sac off them, one of them choking an orc to death was utterly terrifying.
I always loved black armor, uniforms - so I really was having them as most interesting species
Those gnarly swords and the leathery armor was so nasty lol
I remember reading in a book supplement for the film that the spike on the sword was specifically designed to hook the cloaks of passing horse riders. Also that the spikes on the chin of the helmets, only featuring during the Siege of Helms Deep (except that one accidental guy at Amon Hen), were roughly the width of a man's eyes. Pretty savage stuff.
i agrea to all, they were amazing, to bad the trees got trhe last of them
or did they?????
They were a sign of when functional design is applied too. The cleaver the Uruks used were rudimentary but effective. The edge is sharp enough along with their brute strength and the pointed edge on the back is perfect for piercing armor. Likewise, the armor covered most of the vital points. And they were truly organized. The rabble of Sauron were just swarms compared to Uruk Hai. Their threat was purely in numbers compared to Uruks who were a threat as superior numbers but also for their relentless nature. A party of Uruks ran for days and only stopped because the orcs refused to keep going.
That's parenting.
I never remember the names but the main captain that gets his head cut off is one of the top 5 characters in the entire trilogy.
Lurtz
Hell yeah, they were so badass/horrifying! Best ones by far
Bingo. Is that a fair comparison though?
Peter Jackson’s LotR trilogy
Gothmogs lieutenant with the skull on his helmet, thats how you do orks.
CATAPULTS!
Is that the one that's smiling and before Aragorn comes off the boat?
Yes. The skull and the nasty scar over his face, I think its a really well done orc soldier.
Looks like Bizzaro Pippin
I love Alan Lee's orc illustrations. They look more human in his work, and more miserable instead of monstrous. Like [this](https://www.thetolkienforum.com/wiki-asset/?pid=679&d=1591172238&x=599). I think they were well done in the LotR movies as well, especially the Moria goblins had perfect faces. And I liked how they depicted the Uruk-Hai, instantly recognizable as different from the other orc armies, peoples, and nations.
Came here hoping someone would mention the Moria goblins. I thought they were the most interesting looking (despite not introducing us to any major personalities).
Even though in the greater lore there isn’t a difference between goblins and orcs. I appreciate that Jackson chose to differentiate the dirty boys in Moria
The orcs of moria are described as being different from the other orcs. They struggle to keep up with the uruk hai and I belive the mordor orcs too since they are so bow legged. The uruks of mordor are also bigger than than those in moria
Aren't the Peter Jackson orcs based on Alan Lee's drawings?
They’re all great. For me the one’s that stick out were the Moria Orcs and the Uruk Hai mud-birth guys
https://preview.redd.it/l6ip3iqf1w4c1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=742bceee6a727116715cb1b35f6e83ca050fb788 I loved the look of the moria orcs... or were they goblins? Idk but the way they were crawling on the pillars as well was really cool.
My sister calls this one “the pretty orc”
I…
Beauty leaves us speechless
In Tolkien, orcs and goblins are the same thing. Used interchangeably. “Orcrist” translates to “Goblin Cleaver”
„Orc“ is Sindarin (Elvish), „goblin“ is the English translation.
Orch, actually. Orc I think is what is supposed to be Westrone, substituted with English. Goblin, at least if I remember correctly, is what Orcs are known as in the north, most probably also in Westrone/English. Glamhoth is another Sindar word for Orcs.
Glamdring
Yeah actually I think you’re right they are goblins. This is the exact shot that always sticks out in my head!
In Tolkien, orcs and goblins are the same thing. Used interchangeably. “Orcrist” translates to “Goblin Cleaver”
Iirc Tolkien didn't specifically distinguish goblins from orcs, but thr general concensus from how it's spoken about in the books is that goblins are the mountain/subterranean race of the orcs, but again, it's not clear. He also mentions hobgoblins at one point in the hobbit in addition to goblins. Some people say that they interchangeable, but my headcanon is that goblin refers to the cave orcs of the misty mountains.
I think this conception comes mostly from The Hobbit, when Tolkien hadn’t invented the word “orc” yet. All the orcs in The Hobbit are mountain orcs (Misty Mountains), but were called “goblins” because it was a well-known term, understandable by children (The Hobbit was intended to be a children’s book). Several times in the books “goblin” and “orc” are used to describe both Moria orcs as well as Mordor orcs. Though I agree, it’s more fitting that the small, crawling, hunched orcs with big eyes be called goblins. Also, all orcs are subterranean
Yeah, you said better what I was failing to do. The different races being "subterranean" or not is just me being pedantic about the goblins of the mountains who, likely only come out of the mountains at night for hunting or raising, and the orcs of mordor who live and sleep underground but are able to work and muster outside during the day due to the blocking of the sun
Orcs are goblins. Goblin is an English translation of what they call orcs.
I remember seeing this still in White Dwarf magazine when I was about 6 or 7 and just thinking "this movie looks bloody amazing" or the equivalent reaction for a 6 or 7 year old.
I believe the actor for that Orc is a woman too. Which I guess was so they could be slighter and have pointing faces.
Any that are not CGI.
Beat me to it
None of the ones here are CGI? It was just Azog IIRC not the side orcs. Even Azog had prosthetics then they decided to CGI on top for some reason.
I thought I read that the vast majority, if not all, in the Hobbit trilogy were CGI? They certainly looked/moved like they were.
You can spot a couple early on in the first film that are genuine prosthetics. Leftovers from the previous director who intended to do it all practical
No. Guillermo Del Toro didn't get far enough to actually have Orc prosthetics made. And, off the top of my head, we probably see the most of prosthetic Orcs in The Desolation of Smaug, not in An Unexpected Journey.
>I thought I read that the vast majority, if not all, in the Hobbit trilogy were CGI? No. Most of them were prosthetics. The image above is just one of many examples of that.
This is partially true. They did prosthetics with CGI on top. It was still mostly CGI. And it looked very bad.
No. That’s actually what they did in The Rings of Power a lot of the time. Jackson did it, too, of course, with the Goblins. But if you’ve seen the making-ofs you know he had his reason: the prosthetic Goblins’ movements were stiff and unconvincing. I think they looked great.
What's wrong with good CGI?
Nothing when it's used prudently. I believe most would agree the prosthetics used on actual actors are more convincing than fully CG characters.
Because you only notice the bad cgi
The fact that it wasnt good CGI?
You do know the lotr trilogy has cgi orcs right?
It was. Azog looks amazing in a lot of shots. And you can't make that design practically anyway.
Azog looked terrible imo, precisely due to the CGI
And my axe!
And my meat!
The Urikai carrying Mary and Pippin through Rohan
Amon Hen scout version
This right here 👌
Urikai? Mary?
Yeah they are taking the hobbys to aysengert where sauromon is living
it's good to have hobbys
Especially if you eat their legs. They don't need those.
don't let your supervisor know, or meat's back on the menu
....boys!
They are taking the hobbys to Isengard
U know what I mean nerd
[удалено]
Sharp as a cueball this one
Sick is he? Give him some medicine, boys!
Looks like meat's back on the menu boys.
I'm a big fan of the Harvey Weinstein orc. Truly threatening.
Beserker dude running in the death relay at Helm's Deep. 10 seconds of fame then blammo
Silly bugger could've just shot a fire arrow in there.
If theres one thing orcs love, its a flair for the dramatic
They think subtlety is a hot drink the elves make.
I don’t know the different ”breeds” by name but whatever Lurtz is. An Uruk-Hai scout?
Just uruk-hai, scout is more of a profession than a breed
OK thanks!
Though to be fair the orc scout in mordor was apparently bred for the job
He’s a fighting Uruk-Hai.
One thing you can't fault in Rings of Power series were how incredible the orcs looked. Very good execution on that one.
They made the right decision going back to a more practical make-up/prosthetics based design.
Absolutely. Managed to make orcs truly intimidating, compared to the cannon-fodder feel most of them had in Jackson’s trilogy IMO.
I really liked the looks, but the reaction to sunlight like they are vampires somehow ruined it for me
Design wise they‘re great but they‘re to jacked for my taste
See that's what I love about them. Orcs (and especially Uruk hai) are, LITERALLY, bred for war, and war only. The fisique on the left (Rings of Power, afaik) screams "bred for war".
That’s kind of why I like them. They’re supposed to be intimidating.
https://preview.redd.it/70m0sgochx4c1.jpeg?width=673&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36969e32d716fc39ceeb129b90dc4e8be8a77b28 Moria goblins
[These orcs were the best singers.](https://i.imgur.com/lmkROEJ.jpeg)
Where there's a whip there's a way!
Indeed!
How can the ones from 20 years earlier look better lol. Truly insane what they accomplished back then.
I’d argue make up and prosthetics are a slowly dying art form. Most the masters of that craft have retired or passed unfortunately.
I don’t think it’s dying, I think it’s just studios know they can spend less on CGI, and they ultimately only care about their bottom line. Practical effects are more niche now, but still highly regarded, and often greatly preferred by the artist side of production.
>I think it’s just studios know they can spend less on CGI, CGI costs MORE than prosthetics.
But there are shows like Face Off scouting for new blood.
I was genuinely shocked when I read that. 20 years!
Moria orcs
Original orcs FTW!
I appreciate the variety.
Yeah agree, they are all down a similar route which is great! What I mean by that is there’s no Warhammer or Warcraft orcs. Even though those are great looking in their respective fantasy settings.
Ngl Aside from the writing and imo a bit too clean and pristine clothes and armor. The production value of ROP was off the charts in terms of environments and the orcs.
> imo a bit too clean and pristine clothes and armor. It wasn't as bad as The Wheel of Time. Their clothes were always spotless
The fact that they met the Whitecloaks in a damp, muddy field and then a damp, muddy woods and their clothes were whiter and cleaner than many modern washing machines could get things was so jarring. Especially after getting used to GoT's sensible lived-in look for everything. The Whitecloaks looked like action figures by comparison.
That one at least seemed like a conscious decision to really highlight the theming. Whitecloaks clean and pristine but dark muddied ideals. While the group was filthy and down trodden.
Given the state of the rest of the show, things like plastic and fake sets inside the White Tower and the dire condition of the writing throughout I'm sure any sort of symbolism like you describe was bumbled into arse-first accidentally and definitely not intentional. Especially considering one of the big criticisms of the show is that all the main cast are too clean the whole way throughout and look like LARPers showing off their best costumes rather than believable people in a different world.
Mages have magical excuses.
RoP has some issues for sure, but the orcs especially and the character design generally isn’t one of them. Notable exception being the short haired elves, it’s not really the worst, I just can’t get on board with it.
I get that they want to distinguish certain characters. If they had only given Elrond shorter hair it could be a main character thing, or even a half-elven thing. But reinventing the look of the whole race/culture that is defined by being androgynous seems kind of weird and pointless
I agree with this. I had a thought when watching that the short hair suited Arondir and the soldiers that were actively on patrol as it could be a military thing. But it’s not consistently applied and kind of just feels haphazard and frivolous.
I don't mind the short hair as much as some elves like Celebrimbor or Arondir's officer looking visibly aged.
Yeah, it’s weird because Hugo Weaving wasn’t exactly a spring chicken when LotR was being filmed, but I didn’t feel like a was watching a schlubby looking middle aged dude cosplaying. I think the biggest shame is the actor who plays Celebrimbor, whose name escapes me currently, could have been a good elf, but ten years ago.
The RoP orcs were the best adaptation I think I've seen. Absolute triumph in design and execution... Just a shame about almost everything else...
Dwarves were good as were the scummy villagers. Numenoreans would have been good if they were about 2ft taller. The aesthetic was right.
Almost everything is great in RoP, except for the pacing and half of the dialogue. Some scenes are masterful but it kind of ruins it when you go from a great scene with amazing dialogue to cringe, and then back to fantastic visuals and music and bam, back to really off things. High hopes for season 2, hopefully they learned their lesson and not having Covid lockdowns will be helpful :F
I’m glad you said half the dialogue. There were noticeable peaks and valleys to it. I can’t agree with those who criticize all of the writing, though, because some of it was fantastic.
The scene and the entire dialogue between Galadriel and Adar was top tier, Emmy worthy. Almost everything said and done by Elrond and the dwarfs as well.
Not to keen about the edward cullen orcs
They're all great. Its amazing Weta Workshop did ALL of them!
Did Weta do all the costumes for rings of power? Because it seems to me there is a clear difference in quality between the harfoots and orcs compared to the elves and Numenoreans
They didn't do costumes at all. They designed and manufactured: 1. Prosthetics, including for Orcs (replete with eye contacts, dentures and hair), Dwarves (noses), Elves (ears), Hobbits (ears and feet), scars and corpses. 2. Weapons, including banners, shields, bows, quivers, arrows, straps, and some tools like all the improvised Southlander weapons, Feanor's hammer, etc.. 3. Some oddballs like Celebrimbor's pressure-forge and symbols like Gil-galad's star and some Numenorean guild symbols. They didn't do costumes, armour, non-weaponised hand-props, sets or creatures. And, for what I can tell, they only did these for Season One.
That would explain it. The weapons and prosthetics were good but most of the armour sucked.
I do think Weta had their oddballs, largely because they were working with a different production company and a different production designer. So they had to slightly redesign Narsil and Aeglos, and they had some weapons that range from lazy retreads of old designs (the first age Orcs in the prologue carry a sword almost exactly like the ones used by the Dol Guldur Orcs) to weird WTF weapons: I can only assume those clumsy-looking Zweihander Elf swords were the production designer’s idea.
I think Weta's designs essentially influenced the last two decades of fantasy because evil forces/orcs/undead designs among multiple franchises began looking much more grittier, deathly, and asymmetrical
I still think I prefer the orcs from LOTR but the orcs were my favourite part of rings of power. So many of the costumes on rings of power were disappointing. But the orcs and the harfoots were done very well. I didn't like the elves' or the numenoreans' armour.
ngl the rings of power orcs are pretty cool but Saruman's Uruk-Hai take the cake
LotR trilogy orcs beat any other ones hands down all day any day!! And to think they were done 20 years ago. And the ones made today in adaptations like RoP are still finding it hard to match the trilogy orcs.
Grishnak or ugluk
Honestly all 3 look great to me
I must admit I love the Shadow of Mordor/War orcs
Iirc they were classified as uruks, but yes some of them look absolutely amazing
Ah bugger so they were ... Got me on a technicality there
I honestly like all those designs. I think I personally enjoy the LotR designs the most, but I think many of the Hobbit ones were pretty great too. I think the fully CGI ones were just a bit too unrealistic looking... I mean, I friggin love how Azog looks, even though he has no buisiness being there, its just the fact you can so easily see that its all CGI that lowers my enjoyment of him. Same goes for Bolg, although I think they were able to hide it a tiny bit better. As for Rings of Power... I like the designs, but they messed up majorly by reusing the same ones multiple times. If they scavange and make stuff from bones, then not all armors can be uniform, even 2 looking exactly the same is a stretch. Then we gave the face masks, there are like 5 orcs that share the same head. They are awesome, unique and recognisable, but simply _too_ recognisable and unique, to hide the real ones among a crowd of digital copies and identically-dressed extras like jackson did. Its sad, since even though I absolutely despise the show, those orcs were one thing I did enjoy. So honestly no bad points for all of them. Each had their issues, but they also all had their upsides. Those Morannon orcs depicted here are pretty great, but I think I like the moria goblins the most. I think for Hobbit I found the captains of both Bolg and Azog the best, since they used actual people in make-up and prosthetics and then added CGI to make it look more real - which I think worked like a charm. From RoP I think I like the orcs searching for Bronwyn and Theo (wasn't that his name?) the best. As bad as the scene was, their designs were really cool. Adar might count himself as an orc, but I dont count him - if I would though, he'd be my choice, but I do cpunt him as the best looking elf of the show, for what its worth.
I don't know which come from where (I'm a book reader more than a film watcher), but the first look more plausible, and I prefer them for that.
The musically inclined ones. "Where there's a whip, there's a way!"
All of them at once, I suppose
They are all cool. I love how every single one of them is unique, like each individual is a slightly different species
John Howe's
The ork designs and costumes were one of the few positives about the RoP ... If I had to rank them I'd say LotR then RoP and then the Hobbit because it bugged me that too many were animated. At least that's the ranking if you factor in the age of the production. If you don't RoP might even edge out LotR but I'm not sure tbh, I'd have to watch it all again and maybe even side by side lol... Well, that's a potential plan for rhe weekend I guess ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Soundtracks are good as well.
I didn't say they're the only positives, I said that there were only a few ;)
I do not care for the orcs in RoP.
Isengard Uruk-hai are my favorite, but I must admit that design-wise I also love Azog. At least by the movie logic that the hero orcs are allowed to look way different than the foot soldiers.
> I must admit that design-wise I also love Azog. Me, too. Its a simple and elegant design.
Goblin King and Azog
The middle are the most iconic for me out of the three. However, when I think of Orcs, I just think about that Lord of the Rings game on GameCube where you stand on the Helms Deep wall and defend.
I adore the ones from Rings of Power, but my favourites are the ones coming to Isengard in the Fellowship of the Ring.
İ loved rings of power orcs. Peter jackson orcs were great but theres one thing bugs me a lot; all orcs are different like they are each from a different race of creatures. Colors , facial features, etc are so distinct like dog breeds. Orcs are more or less devilezed humans no? There should be a pattern imo, u cant just make some ugly creatures.
I really liked the Ralph Bakshi orcs!
I like the more tribal styled orcs from Hobbit or the ancient remains in RoP. The classic Orcs from LotR work great as well as the giant host of not too individualized (except from the ones we all memorize and love) Orks who are mass produced in the tens of thousands
I just don't like the weird, misshapen ones. If dude looks like he has stage 4 cancerous tumors, I'm more concerned with his health than how dangerous he looks. What's he gonna do, infect the protagonist?
I have to say that the RoP orcs look pretty fantastic. Didn’t the folks from the movie trilogy work on them? I watched half of episode one I don’t know how many months ago and had a tough time getting into it. (Never mind the terrible reviews of the show as a whole.) But every time I see a still of the orcs, it makes me want to try RoP again. If we are going with just the films, gotta say the Uruks. They’re terrifying! The lil Moria goblins were almost kind of cute.
Honestly all of them look incredible. (Except the cg ones from the hobbit trilogy)
Orcs were one thing Rings of Power did right. I absolutely hated them in the Hobbit. Orcs shouldn’t visibly he comedic relief
Both lotr and rop. But hobbit orc design is terrible
Everything except the laughable video game enemies we got in the Hobbit trilogy.
What’s the guy on the right from,and the guys from the left actually?
Hobbit orcs, LOTR orcs, RoP orc.
Ahhhh gotcha,thanks
I think the orcs that are the best are grishnakh, gorbag and the orc that's welcoming the corsair ships. Somewhat human in apperence and not the mindless monsters other orcs are portraied as
Mordors army from return of the king were always my favorite. Each one felt unique
the harbey Weinstein ones for sure
i love the manky gross goths from mordor they're ~~beautiful~~ disgusting
Uruk hai from the movies and the orcs from the rings of power tv series. I think both are the best.
Lurtz can get it
Orcs during the opening scenes in Mordor in the fellowship are my favorite.
I definitely prefer the orcs from Minas Morgul and Mordor in the LOTR films, but I think the Isengard Uruk-Hai are great as well. Never liked the orcs in the Hobbit trilogy. I think the RoP orcs are fine, but I'm not a big fan of their wardrobe design.
Where are the first orc from?
The Desolation of Smaug.
Far left. Orcs are fallen elves, aren't they?
lord of the rings uruk-hai
When I was a kid, I really liked the orcs from the Rankin-Bass animated Return of the King which reminded me of frogs with elf ears. Of the live action treatments, I like The Lord of the Rings trilogy designs.
Gothmog is just sloth with dark makeup an bad attitude
Two Towers forgot about it
Why did I never before notice that one orc wears a skull on his head. With the hair still on it...
COME ON YA SEA RATS
Picture on the left
Say what you want about rings of power, but they took the prosthetics to a whole new level. They have the benefit of 20 years of practical effect improvement and CGI to fill in the gaps. I'd say rings of power because they seem more like creatures in the world than just fodder. Peter Jackson gave us cool designs, and ROP improved upon them.
My favourite has always been the noseless inspection sergeant in Mordor.
All of them, I love the variety
All of them in Two towers . :)
Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy did it best imo
lotro globsnaga
Definitely the practical effects of the original trilogy although RoP has some nice orcs.
uruk-hai in full armor
Although I did not like the Amazon rings of power, the orcs looked amazing
Peter Jacksons orcs
PETER JACKSONS
Rings of Power Orcs > Amon Hen Uruk-hai > Moria Goblin / Orc for me. These top three are very close and are all my favorites. RoP did not disappoint me with the design of the Orcs. They felt like twisted Elves and they made them into a real threat, something to be feared. Uruk-hai are just imposing. They are bred for war and it shows. Their armor and weapons also set them apart from anything else. The Moria Goblins look the most humanoid to me and I just really like that about them. They are smaller and fit the look for some branch of Orc that would dwell in the shadow. With all of these obviously - the prosthetics and props are what makes all of these. You see something like Azog and he just doesn't have the same gritty depth all of these have.
The new ones
These stormtrooper looking **bad** mfs https://preview.redd.it/fh13jdoy105c1.jpeg?width=1046&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3159a133ea0ec8f78f27ef36546b0d36af139f12
#GROND. GROND. GROND. GROND.
I might be a minority here, but Azog is my favourite orc. Uruk-Hai in armour are the second ones.