Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Rings of Power episode 4, ‘The Great Wave‘
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has seen a standout character, or rather characters, start to emerge over recent episodes. Fans have been loving the orcs in the Amazon series, from a return to practical make-up and prosthetics to their ferocious attitude and fighting abilities, their return to the screen seems to be something that everyone is happy about and coming from a diehard (and sometimes toxic) fandom that’s no easy feat. After noticing a closed caption during the last episode, fans are loving them even more.
In the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the orcs were depicted as brutish but not the most skilled of combatants, using mainly strength in number to overcome their opponents. They were overpowered by the Uruk-hai and even by the diminutive Hobbit Sam when he got going and seemed to show no loyalty to one another, with hints of cannibalism thrown in too. They seemed to fight for their own purposes serving whoever promises them a bloody battle, rather than out of loyalty to that entity.
In the last two episodes of the series we have gotten a slightly more up close and personal look at the orcs who are currently serving under the mysterious Adar, whom they revere going as far as to call him “father”. Adar seems to feel for these orcs as well, looking sad to have to kill one of them to end its suffering. In the scene that introduces us to Adar as he walks through the orcs, one viewer noticed something else whilst watching with closed captions on, that the orcs have some semblance of manners!
Closed captions often bring forth hilarious moments as they try to describe sounds made, and in this case, the orcs grunt was one of respect. This user hopes the closed captions will continue to keep us informed on the orcs meaning behind their grunts.
Fans are happy to see more orc culture represented on the screen.
This fan thinks that the series is doing a good job when it comes to the world-building, allowing us insights like this.
It helps to actually showcase just how big a deal the creation of the Uruk-hai were, they didn’t come with the same limitations the orcs do.
This user feels like the whole entrance of Adar was well done, orcs and all.
And of course, many wondered where they had heard that sound before…
Parents and teachers are well versed with this particular grunting language.
It looks like we will continue to see more of the orcs and the mysterious Adar going forward, though it is doubtful they will remain as well-mannered when it comes to wiping the humans and elves off the face of the Southlands.