# Uruk-hai shield

[   Uruk-hai shield   

Appearance

white-handed shield

Slot

shield

AC

1

Special

(none)

Base price

7 zm

Weight

50

Material

iron

The Uruk-hai shield is a kind of shield. When unidentified, it is a white-handed shield. (This is not an error for "white-handled"—the shield does not have a white handle but the image of a white hand, which is reflected in the default tileset image for the item. Compare the red-eyed shield.)
Since Uruk-hai tend to be more dangerous than Mordor orcs, because of their use of poisoned arrows, one might expect the Uruk-hai shield to be superior to the orcish shield used by Mordor orcs, but in practice the two shields are identical in all but name and appearance.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Mythology
3 Strategy
4 UnNetHack
5 References

Generation
As its name suggests, the Uruk-hai shield is usually encountered as part of the starting inventory of Uruk-hai (with about a 2/3 chance).[1] Orc-captains may start with an Uruk-hai shield or an orcish shield, with a 1/3 chance of each.[2]

Mythology
The white hand is the symbol of the wizard Saruman, one of the antagonists of The Lord of the Rings, who raised an army of Uruk-hai in an attempt to rival the titular "Lord of the Rings", Sauron. The white hand was a deliberate imitation of the red eye used by Sauron.

Strategy
Main article: Shield#Strategy
The high weight and poor armor make this a bad choice for almost all players. Even players who desperately need a shield should replace an Uruk-hai shield with any alternative shield they find. The Uruk-hai shield is mainly useful for role-playing, and for the racial armor unofficial conduct.

UnNetHack
Uruk-hai shields are considered racial equipment for orcs, for purposes of the racial AC bonus in UnNetHack[3].

References

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 424

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 400

↑ include/obj.h in UnNetHack revision 1986, line 215