What Is the Meaning of Moriondor in The Rings of Power? First Orcs Explained

Episode 6 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power allowed us to get to know more about Adar and what he truly is. On top of that, he was one of the few characters to ever make us feel sympathy for the Orcs because he told the story of what they were and who he was to them. And we learned from Galadriel that he is one of the Moriondor, who were responsible for bringing forth the existence of the Orcs. So, what is the meaning of Moriondor in The Rings of Power?

Moriondor means “sons of the dark,” as these are actually Elves that were abducted, tortured, and twisted by Morgoth to become entirely new beings. From these beings came forth the Orcs that we know of today, and that’s why the Moriondor are often seen as the first Orcs.

There have been a lot of different accounts of how Orcs were created based on JRR Tolkien’s writings. But some accounts say that the Orcs came from Elves, as that is what the Moriondor are in The Rings of Power. It is also worth mentioning that the Moriondor were never mentioned in Tolkien’s writings. That said, let’s look at what we know about the Moriondor.

Who Are The Moriondor In The Rings Of Power?

In what was the only episode that showed us a lot of battle and fight scenes, episode 6 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was basically the battle for the Southlands, as the Men of the Southlands are looking to defend their home against the Orc armies led by Adar. Meanwhile, Galadriel has brought an entire army of Númenoreans to Middle-Earth to help her in her fight against Sauron’s forces in the Southlands.

As such, the Southlanders were able to valiantly hold the line against the Orcs until the Númenoreans came out of nowhere to defeat the Uruk. Meanwhile, Galadriel was quick to pounce on the opportunity to capture Adar while also stopping Halbrand from killing him. This led to an interrogation scene involving the Elven commander and the creature that the Orcs call father.

Of course, we already know that Adar basically means “father” in Elvish, as this mysterious man acts like a caring father to the Orcs. In fact, his ultimate goal was to make sure that his Orcs were able to have a home for themselves, as he wanted to recreate the world through the use of the sword hilt that was in possession of Arondir and the Men of the Southlands.

So, while Adar may look like an Elf, he isn’t the same kind of Elf that Galadriel, Arondir, and Elrond are because he lacks the fair appearance that comes with most Elves. In fact, he looks like he is somewhat a cross between an Elf and an Orc due to his deformed and dark appearance. And that’s where the word “Moriondor” came out.

While Galadriel was interrogating the captured Adar, she told a story about beings called Moriondor. She said that she was told a story about how Morgoth used to abduct Elves so that he could torture and twist them until they became entirely new beings that may still look a bit like Elves but were already too deformed and too twisted to be Elves. Those were the Moriondor. But what exactly does Moriondor mean?

The word “Moriondor” means “sons of the dark,” most likely in the language of the Elves. They are called such because they are literally creatures that were created by the dark lord Morgoth. The Moriondor were not created out of nowhere but were Elves that were made to be dark by Morgoth himself so that he could create an entirely new breed of creatures. And because only Eru Ilúvatar can create life, Morgoth had to be creative so that he could create new creatures that would serve him.

When Galadriel was interrogating Adar, it was implied that he was one of the Moriondor, as he used to be an Elf. That is why Adar, in the scene with Arondir back in episode 4, was quite familiar with his homeland, as that was where he probably came from before he became one of the sons of the dark.

Are The Moriondor The First Orcs?

The Moriondor, of course, when they were transformed into entirely different beings that were meant to serve Morgoth, essentially became the father of the Uruk race or the Orcs. That’s because from them came the next generations of Orcs that were no longer created from Elves. Instead, the new Orcs were entirely different and were now true Orcs that spawned from the Moriondor. 

This suggests that the Moriondor are the first Orcs, as that was what Galadriel told Adar. While they were not the same kind of Orcs that their “children” are, from them came the Orcs that we are familiar with. As such, while Adar and probably the other Moriondor did not look as ugly and as terrifying as the Orcs that we have grown accustomed to, it was from his blood that more Orcs were able to spawn.

That is basically the reason why Adar is called father by the Orcs, as he is their father in the sense that he was one of the Moriondor that bred the race of Orcs. And these Orcs turned into the foot soldiers that Morgoth and Sauron commanded during the different wars and battles they waged throughout the history of Middle-Earth.

Because the Orcs are basically his offspring, Adar cared for them as a true father would. He wanted to give them a home that they could call their own so that they would never have to cover themselves from the effects of sunlight. And the fact that Sauron merely used the Orcs for his ambitions was what drove Adar to kill him, as Galadriel herself was not willing to believe that someone like Adar had the power and capability to kill the dark lord.

After that, Adar led the Orcs as their father so that they could find the sword hilt that served as the key to recreate the Southlands into a realm fit for the Orcs. And that was what we saw at the end of the episode when Waldreg used the sword hilt to terraform the land into what eventually became Mordor.