Armies of Middle Earth during WotR

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Originally Posted by Farael

What makes you think that the evil humans were harder to kill than orcs?

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Sunlight. Sauron brewed the Great Darkness for the sake of his sun-hating Orcs, but the great wind from the Sea (Manwe? Ulmo?) swept it away at dawn and the Pelennor was fought in broad daylight.

Also, the Orcs were small chaps and hardly a match for the tall and strong Men of Rohan and Gondor in one-to-one combat. I think this shows though clearly in the recount of the Battle of the Gladden Fields in Unfinished Tales, perhaps the most detailed description of fighting Tolkien provides us with.

When the fellowship was attacked in Moria the Orc who wounded Frodo is described as "a huge orc-chieftain, almost man high". Coupled with the fact that Frodo and Sam dress up as Orcs and get away with it this seems to suggest that regular orcs are only slightly larger than Hobbits but significantly shorter than Men, not to mention the tall Numenorians. The Uruk Hai were about as tall as men as far as I can remember (a quick browse didn't provide any clears anwers) which I interpret as them being shorter than taller than average Men like Gondorians or the Rohirrim.