birth of uruk-hai in fire pits...
 

In the movie, it appeared to me that the uruk orcs were being birthed in some type of lava/fire mixture - and were born fully grown.<P>Could someone explain what that was? Is there any indication in the books that would clear this up?

from what i heard, saw and read, I believe the Uruk-Hai are a magickal crossing of Orcs, Goblins and Men or just Orcs and Goblins. Saruman cannot create life but he can spoil it, I would believe it's a magickal crossing of the two. As for them being born grown-up... what good does it do to have to RAISE a bunch of baby uruk-hai to be soldiers, when you need them RIGHT NOW. So, I assume that this process was also sped up by Saruman's magic

Todd:<BR> To my knowledge, the Uruk-Hai of the LOTR are somewhat of a mystery. The only thing that seems to be known for sure is that they are "...half-orcs and goblin-men that the foul craft of saruman has bred...".

I think that the Uruk-Hai(Isengarder I believe) were more powerful then normal orcs say the ones up North(Lugburz). I really dont know this for sure, but their is a good chapter in TTT "The Uruk-Hai", that the two "breeds" work togehter.<BR>I dont know if the books go into detail about how the Uruk-Hai were born/made, I cant think of any. but Saruman created them to be in his army in his attempt to capture the ring before Sauron.

I didn't see them come out of lava and fire, it looked more like grey/blue goo to me. Spawned in mud? Magical mud.