Rocks: The orcs' weakness.
 

Did anybody else notice that the orcs are very succeptible(sp?) to rocks thrown by Hobbits and young children? In the FotR, Merry and Pippin start throwing rocks at the Uruk-Hai right before they get captured, and the Uruks go down like a bag of...well, rocks. In the Two Towers, when the fully armed Uruks were charging the main gate, Those little kids above it were tossing those rocks and the Uruk-Hai again, went down like a bag of rocks. And finally, when the Ents attacked Isengard, Merry and Pippin again threw some rocks and the orcs went down like a smaller bag of rocks. Does anyone else think that rocks could have turned the tide in some of the battles? Or does anyone just want to discuss how orcs are so weak to rocks(at least in the movies).

Aye, it's called <B>Stormtrooper Syndrome</B>. PJ is obviously making a homage to one of his favourite movies. Hobbits are just Ewoks, after all, even though they do wear pants.<P>"No, Gollum! I have to save you!"<P>"You already have, Lu... erm... Frodo.... you already have."

It says in the FoTR that all young Hobbits are deadly aims throwing stones.Might not of killed the Orcs but you hit someone hard enough with a rock you can bet they will be taking a nice dirt nap.

Well, of course they're gonna go down from such expertly-aimed rocks. They're wearing iron buckets on their heads. The noise alone would knock them out.<P>*CLANG* "Eh..." *THUD*<P>And the rocks at Helm's Deep were dropped from ten feet up, and were considerably larger.

if somebody hit me on the head with a small stone the size of Merry and Pippins, I think all that would happen is it would make me want to squish them and dance on their little stone-throwing bodies!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Aye, it's called Stormtrooper Syndrome. PJ is obviously making a homage to one of his favourite movies. Hobbits are just Ewoks, after all, even though they do wear pants. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Lol, I agree.

I agree with Deathwail. And also, how soft were the orcses skins? Perhaps the stones got lodged in their throats. Remember, their armor was weak at the necks, and under the arms. I do not doubt that the might of a hobbit-thrown rock could have taken out an orc or Uruk Hai.<P>My brother says this too. He didn't care much for LOTR before the movies came out. And when we saw the SE of FOTR (the first time Merry and Pippin attacked orcses with rocks) he laughed out loud, and I quote: "Naw aw!" <P>Good topic Aerandir Carnesir!<P><I>Namarie noldonyar</I>,<BR>Maikafanawen

Its not too unbelievable that Orcs fall when hit in the head with a rock. Same would go for Elves and Men and Dwarves. The funny thing was that the Hobbits always had perfect hits but that was explained in the book.

I've been hit with a bunch of small rocks before and it hurts A LOT! ( My young next-door neighbor has the pilosophy of a twisted sadist ). I doubt not that full grown hobbits would make orcs feel very dizzy and lightheaded then fall to the ground.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>you can bet they will be taking a nice dirt nap.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>*has visions of X-Men: Next Dimension*<P>... Uh? Oh, I'm here!<P>Lots of people say that wearing a helmet would help protect you from going down when hit in the head. But, if it's metal, it's gonna make noise. Stick your head in a big bell and ring it and you'll see what I mean. <P>Besides, rocks hurt. I have bruises as testament to that.

The rocks would hurt, but I always pictured orcs as being kind of tough. Tough things don't go down when they get hit with rocks. I wouldn't change it though because it gives me a good laugh every time.

It worked for Goliath, why not Ents and Hobbits?

Well, ents threw great giant boulders...

The size of the boulders are relative surely to the size and strength of the Ents?

Young hobbits play bob-stones, which accounts for their accuracy. But it doesn't account for the force that would be necessary to kill something large from a distance.<P>Of course, orcs in general are easy to kill, as seen by the fact that our heros kill hundreds yet receive hardly a wound in return. Gamgee takes them out with pots and pans in Moria. Even in Boromir's death scene he never actually took a blow. It took three arrows while he was distracted fighting to fell him. But a small rock thrown from 30 feet at kills instantly. Go figure.

I'm not sure the Orcs that were hit by Merry and Pip died. At least not the ones at Amon Hem. I guess the rocks they threw while sitting atop a huge Ent might kill.

I think the rocks thrown on Amon Hen just knocked them off balance. And after that, its pretty hard to get back up immediately.<P>When they were with Treebeard the rocks were from a greater heigth and the orcs had no helmets on so they probably would have killed.