Q: How Many Different Types of Orcs are There?
ANSWER: J.R.R. Tolkien never provided a definitive count or description of the different types or tribes of Orcs. He included many physical descriptions of Orcs that suggested they varied in size and possibly coloring. In large Orc communities, such as both Moria and Mordor there appear to have been several types of Orcs living together.
For example, a Uruk of Mordor and a tracker are sent out to search for Frodo and Sam from the Tower of Cirith Ungol. The Uruk does not appear to match the physical characteristics of the Mordor Orcs led by Grishnakh who reinforce Ugluk’s Isengarders, who in turn do not resemble Grishnakh’s Orcs or the “northern” Orcs from Moria who had tracked the Fellowship as far south as Rohan.
The Uruks were the largest Orcs, and according to the Appendices in The Lord of the Rings they first appeared around the 24th Century of the Third Age. But they appear to have fragmented into multiple tribes, for the Isengarders called themselves “the Fighting Uruk-hai”, whereas no other Orcs referred to themselves as “Uruk-hai”. In fact, the Uruk from Cirith Ungol who tracked Sam and Frodo mentioned “a pack of rebel Uruk-hai” in passing, perhaps referring to the Isengarders (or, as some readers believe, to members of Gorbag’s company of Morgul Orcs).
Although the name Uruk-hai was Black Speech for “Orc folk” it seems to have been appropriated as a tribal name (a practice similar to the various Elven groups calling themselves the equivalent of “Quendi” in their individual dialects). Saruman’s Uruk-hai may only have been distinguishing themselves from non-Uruks, or they may have been claiming the name for their tribe. They are the only Orcs in the stories to use the full expression of themselves, and they do so repeatedly.
Gorbag and Shagrat both appear to be Uruks but it is not clear how much they physically resembled each other. Shagrat was described as having long, loping arms and large fangs.
Sam and Frodo encountered another company of Uruks while moving through Mordor — these Uruks charge into a company of smaller Orcs with whom Sam and Frodo have traveled for a while. It is clear that the many groups of Orcs felt little loyalty to each other, even if they shared common ancestors. But Tolkien makes little to no effort to identify any sort of “tribes” among the Orcs.
Broadly speaking, we can identify Orcs of Moria (probably of at least two or more kinds), Orcs from Isengard (including the tall Uruk-hai and smaller Warg-riders as well as a third group described in “The Battles of the Fords of Isen”), the half-Orcs of Isengard, the Orcs of Minas Morgul, the Orcs of Cirith Ungol, the tracker Orc(s) of Cirith Ungol, the small Orcs whom Sam and Frodo infiltrate, and the Uruks who disrupt the smaller Orcs’ march on the road. Tolkien seems to imply there may have been dozens or hundreds of Orc groups scattered across Mordor, the Misty Mountains, and Mirkwood.
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