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Saruman: "My fighting Uruk-hai... ...whom do you serve?"

Lurtz: "Saruman!" — The Fellowship of the Ring (film)



Lurtz was the first leader of the Uruk-hai scouts created specifically for Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare in the first film, Fellowship of the Ring, in which he kills Boromir, and is later slain by Aragorn.

He is non-canonical as he was created for the films, and is not in the books. He was also in one of the most memorable shots of the first movie.

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Portrayal in adaptations

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Lurtz was the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, choking the first Orc he sees to death within seconds of his birth. Attempting to intervene, other Orcs (Snaga) move towards the newly born Uruk-hai warrior, but Saruman halts their advance, intrigued by the malice and violence present in the Uruk's blood, leaving the unfortunate Orc to its fate. He became Saruman's second-in-command, and led the first battalion of Uruk-hai into battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. Lurtz was born from the first group of Uruk-hai in Isengard's pits.

Hunt for the Ring-bearer

In the book-series, Boromir was slain by Orc archers, described as having been "pierced by many arrows". In the movie, he was killed by Lurtz, who shoots him three times in the shoulder, stomach, and chest after chasing the Fellowship of the Ring to Parth Galen.

As his soldiers grab Merry and Pippin, Lurtz slowly approaches Boromir to finish him off. Before Lurtz can send the final arrow to Boromir's heart, Aragorn intervenes, tackling Lurtz to the ground, and both begin engaging in a brutal fight.

During the struggle, Lurtz's incredible ferocity and brutality appear to rival Aragorn's skill and resourcefulness. Lurtz throws his shield at Aragorn, pinning him to a tree, but Aragorn escapes and physically brawls with him. Lurtz outmatches him, so Aragorn stabs him through the leg with a knife, only for Lurtz to pull it out, lick the blood off it and throw it at him. Aragorn deflects the knife with his sword and charges. The two clash in an intense sword-fight, before Aragorn severs Lurtz's right arm and stabs him in the stomach. While pierced by Aragorn's weapon, Lurtz grabs hold of Aragorn's blade and pulls the sword deeper into his stomach, (feeling no pain, for in the movie Saruman says that Uruk-hai "do not know pain") while dragging Aragorn closer in a final attempt to kill him. Before Lurtz can attempt to kill the Ranger with his teeth, Aragorn pulls his sword out of the Uruk leader's chest and decapitates him, finally killing him.

Boromir dies minutes later. In the book, Uglúk was the leader of the Orc-band from the beginning, with no mention of Lurtz at all. (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended Edition)

Character

Of all Uruk-hai bred in Isengard, Lurtz was probably the smartest, and bravest, and the most capable leader. He is highly intelligent, extremely violent and blindly loyal to Saruman. The only notable personality trait he displays is a high tolerance to pain, although he noticeably growls in pain when Aragorn stabs him through the leg with his dagger and when he pulls the dagger out of his leg, but doesn't feel it when his arm is sliced off. When stabbed through the stomach, he pulls the sword deeper into his body, closer to Aragorn to taunt him and in a last ditched effort to kill him - this shows that Lurtz has ultimate perseverance and tolerance for the odds.

He was a highly skilled swordsman who had an unorthodox, brute fighting style involving long-range attacks and close-range brawling moves. He held his own against Aragorn, managing to keep up with him for a period of time, landing several blows upon him and even making him bleed. However, he was eventually overpowered and slain by Aragorn due to the latter's superior skill and technique. Lurtz also had the skill of an archer.

Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the original film; it is only known from the franchise and credits. However, in the extended edition of the film, Lurtz's name is spoken by Saruman.

Voice dubbing actors

Foreign Language Voice dubbing artist Spanish (Latin America) Víctor Hugo Aguilar Spanish (Spain) Mark Ullod Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD) Mauro Castro German Ole Pfennig

Video games

The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" for the Isengard faction in the strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and its sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, and ironically doesn't appear in any The Fellowship of the Ring video games. He also appears as a playable character in the RPG's The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and LEGO The Lord of the Rings after he is unlocked.

He made an appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers video game as one of the bosses in the level Amon hen.

Lurtz makes an appearance in the GBA Game The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age as a playable hero for the forces of evil.

Toys

In the LEGO game Battle of Helm's Deep, a Lurtz microfigure is presented, named "Uruk-hai Leader".

In LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, there is a playable character actually named "Lurtz" along with his newborn variation obtained through obtaining 100% completion. In this game, Lurtz kills Boromir by throwing a banana in his chest.

Trivia

Lurtz was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare. Such was the size of Lawrence, that he did not have to wear the extensive amounts of padding as the other Uruk-hai actors did, needing only the minimum to give him the features of an Uruk-hai warrior.

Because Lawrence Makoare's vision was impaired while he was made-up to look like Lurtz, he could not pull punches during the sequence when he battles Aragorn in hand-to-hand-combat. Rather than having Makoare do the sequence over until he could pull his punches, Viggo Mortensen decided to fight back just as realistically - making the physical blows completely real. The Uruk-hai make-up also caused Makoare to throw Aragorn's dagger directly back at Viggo, even though he was supposed to try and miss. Viggo managed to deflect the knife with his sword, which made it into the final cut of the film.

In The Battle for Middle-earth, Lurtz has the ability to shoot an enemy hero with an arrow that roots them to the ground, much like Boromir's inability to move after being shot by him in the film.

Gallery

The LEGO kit "The Orc Forge" includes the Lurtz minifigure, alone of all LEGO kits.