The most powerful orcs in Middle-earth include leaders like Azog the Defiler, a mighty chieftain who terrorized Dwarves, and the mysterious Boldogs, lesser Maiar (angelic beings) serving Morgoth in Orc form, making them incredibly strong. The strongest type were the Uruk-hai, bred for superior strength and resilience by Saruman and Mordor, while powerful individual captains like the unnamed leader in Moria also stood out.
Uruk-hai (a pure Black Speech form, rendered as Uruks in English) were brutal warriors of Middle-earth, and the strongest breed of Orc.
Sauron is, in fact, much stronger than Gandalf or Saruman.
Azog, the Defiler was a Gundabad orc who acted as the chieftain of the Morian orcs. He was considered the strongest orc to ever walk Middle-Earth and the greatest menace towards the dwarven race.
Basically, the Uruk-hai were faster, smarter, stronger, and larger than orcs (though they were still shorter than men.) And while orcs will generally refuse to travel during the day, and would be severely weakened if they had too, the Uruk-hai could do this with few problems.
Azog is also a very large and extremely powerful Orc, as tall if not taller than even the most advanced Uruk-hai, and far more bulky.
But no, orcs are not immortal,aside of the Boldogs ( with maiar origins ) ,and they do not come from elves . Kat Ya Great insight! Just to follow up, as Kat Ya said, Tolkien eventually settled on Orcs being corrupted men. Which makes more sense.
Azog is a beast, big, strong, vicious and completely fearless. It would be a very tough fight for Aragorn but in the end it would come down to heart and a focused mind to find the finishing touch. Aragorn wins, but injured.
Tolkien included scenes in The Lord of the Rings where Orcs displayed not-so-evil qualities such as loyalty, friendship, and even a rebellious attitude toward Sauron. They were soldiers enslaved to evil but not because they were born to evil.
Azog was an Orc-chieftain of Moria, who started the War of the Dwarves and Orcs when he slew Thrór. He was himself slain by Dáin II Ironfoot in the Battle of Azanulbizar, and was succeeded by his son Bolg.
Why was Sauron afraid of Aragorn potentially possessing the Ring? Gandalf explains it in the Return of the King (during the council after the battle of the Pelennor fields) that Sauron would never think somebody would want to destroy the One Ring.
Gandalf was able to hold off six Nazgul including the Witch King when they attacked him on Weathertop at night when they were their strongest.
Gandalf was one of the five Istari sent to Middle-earth by the Valar in the Third Age. In Valinor he was known as Olórin. Gandalf was instrumental in bringing about the demise of Sauron in T.A. 3019, chiefly by encouraging others and dispensing his wisdom at pivotal times.
........ ....... "GOD of Middle-Earth" ....... ...... Eru Ilúvatar/ Eä is the supreme deity & ultimate GOD in Tolkien's Middle-earth. It means "The One" in Elvish tongue, Eur is the creator of all existence, beyond time and comprehension in Tolkien's world.
Uruk-hai are described as a crossbreed between "Orcs and Goblin-men;" referencing the creatures mentioned by Gamling in the novel that blend the traits of Orcs and Men. In a scene in Isengard, they are shown as being released from a kind of membrane in the mud deep under Isengard.
Peter Jackson's films depicted Gothmog as an Orc, though the character could have been anything from an Uruk to even a Boldog.
Literature's greatest villain and by far the most well-known in The Lord of the Rings, Sauron was actually following in the footsteps of an evil that may have been greater than him.
Any good arms and armor they would have had would have been from looting dead soldiers and civilians. Uruks seemed to be a slightly more privileged orc. They were known to be bigger,stronger,better than normal orcs. Being clearly distinguished as improved orcs by Gandalf, Lord Denethor and many others in middle earth.
On 27 October 1916, as his battalion attacked Regina Trench, Tolkien contracted trench fever, a disease carried by lice. He was invalided to England on 8 November 1916.
History. In the Second Age, Shelob had been Sauron's ally and lover prior to him betraying her for an opportunity to corrupt Suladân with a Ring of Power. Surrounded by soldiers, Shelob slaughtered them in rage and retreated to Cirith Ungol, swearing revenge on her former lover.
Elrond chose the fate of the Elves and therefore the choice was presented to his children. The reason why Eldarion and his sisters (the children of Aragorn and Arwen) were born mortal was because Arwen chose mortality and therefore that fate was passed on to the rest of their line.
So much of what makes LOTR great as a piece of literature worked against being able to tell this story through film. Narration-heavy, a huge amount of worldbuilding, interweaving stories, and many, many characters.
It's not the years; it's the mileage. Gandalf isn't a Maia in the same way Sauron is. He was sent to middle earth as an old man, so his body is much more real than Sauron's “raiment”. He can't use his power to the same extent, he can't change his forms at will.
Everyone is going to have a different answer but, for elves, I assume this: The human equivalent is x5 up to 'mid-twenties' bracket. So, a '16yo' is 80 years while a '24yo' is 120 years. After that, the aging process essentially stops.