Orc
Encyclopedia
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien.
These creatures have since become popular figures in other fantasy and science fiction literature as well as many types of fantasy games. While some writers portray orcs as large, misshapen humanoids who are brutal and warmongering, others works, such as those in the Warcraft
universe, describe them as a proud warrior race with a strong sense of honor. They are variously portrayed as physically stronger or weaker than humans, but always high in numbers. They often ride boar
s, wolves and warg
s. In many role-playing and computer games, orcs have green or greenish skin (earning the name 'Greenskins' in such games as Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000). Usually, and in contrast with other fantasy races such as Elves, orcs use shamanistic
magic, or no magic at all. Their fighting skill is honed to maximum power and efficiency.
term orc to denote a race of evil, humanoid creatures has its inception with J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's earliest Elvish dictionaries include the entry Ork (orq-) 'monster', 'ogre', 'demon', together with orqindi 'ogresse'. Tolkien sometimes used the plural form orqui in his early texts.
Tolkien sometimes, particularly in The Hobbit
, used the word goblin
instead of orc to describe the same type of creature, with the smaller cave-dwelling variety that lived in the Misty Mountains
being referred to as goblins and the larger ones elsewhere referred to as orcs. Later in his life, he expressed an intention to change the spelling to ork, but the only place where that spelling occurred in his lifetime was in the published version of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
, in the poem Bombadil Goes Boating: "I'll call the orks on you: that'll send you running!". In The Silmarillion
, published posthumously, 'orcs' was retained.
112 orc-neas and the gloss orc = þyrs ('ogre'), heldeofol ('hell-devil')). This is supposed not to be connected with modern English
orc, ork, a name applied to various sea-beasts of the dolphin order". Tolkien also observed a connection with the Latin
word orcus
, noting that "the word used in translation of Q
urko, S
orch is Orc. But that is because of the similarity of the ancient English word orc, 'evil spirit or bogey', to the Elvish words. There is possibly no connection between them. The English word is now generally supposed to be derived from Latin
orcus
". He also stated that, "Orc I derived from Anglo-Saxon, a word meaning demon, usually supposed to be derived from the Latin Orcus – hell. But I doubt this, though the matter is too involved to set out here".
The word orcné, attested in the plural word orcnéas, is a hapax legomenon
in the poem Beowulf. It is generally supposed to contain an element -né, cognate to Gothic
naus and Old Norse nár, both meaning 'corpse'. The usual Old English word for corpse is líc, but -né appears in nebbed 'corpse bed', and in dryhtné 'dead body of a warrior', where dryht is the name of a military unit that can be vaguely translated as 'band' or 'host'. In, If *orcné is to be glossed as orcus 'corpse', the meaning may be "corpse from Orcus (i.e. the underworld)", or "devil-corpse", understood as some sort of walking dead creature. This etymology is plausible, but it remains conjectural. Orc appears in two other locations in the poem Beowulf, but refers to cups of precious metal
found in a treasure-hoard.
The Old English word þyrs, given as a gloss for Latin orcus, is cognate
to Old Norse
þurs 'giant
', 'ogre
', both originating from the unattested Common Germanic
term thurisaz
, which in Norse mythology
refers to one of the monstrous descendants of the giant Ymir
. But it is to be noted in connection with Tolkien's reference to a gloss orc=þyrs, that while there is an entry in an 11th century English glossary which implies such an equivalence, [Latin] orcus [Old English] orc þyrs oððe heldeofol, this is in fact a conflation
of two glosses in an earlier glossary of the 7th century, found in two different places: [Latin] orcus [Old English] orc and [Latin] orcus [Old English] þyrs oððe heldiubol". The first of these two glosses is in a section devoted to household implements and 'orcus' is, in that place, a corruption of Latin urceus 'jug', 'pitcher', or of orca 'pot', 'jar'. The word 'orc' in the first gloss has the meaning 'cup': it is descended from an early Germanic borrowing from urceus, related to Gothic
aurkeis 'cup', both related to Modern English ark 'vessel', 'container'. In the second gloss, the Latin orcus is equated to Old English 'giant', 'hell-devil', but not to any already-existing Old English word 'orc', as Tolkien mistakenly thought.
Tolkien's error in assuming that orc and þyrs were co-existent Old English words that had a shared meaning was shared for several decades by other scholars, as it entered into commonly-used dictionaries of Old English such as Bosworth and Toller's An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), which was corrected in later editions.
Tolkien, being a linguist and historian, probably knew of Orkney. The old Gaelic name for Orkney that was used by Irish historians was Insi Orc 'Island of the Orcs (wild boars)'. This has led to the theory that at one time a predominant tribe in the islands - possibly Pictish
- had the boar as some form of tribal totem
. It is interesting to note that the early Norwegian
settlers in Orkney referred to the chambered cairn Maeshowe
as Orkahaugr, which could mean 'the howe (or mound) of the Orcs. However, it could also derive from Orkis' Howe, where Orkis was the name of a person.
refers to orke, used in 1656 in a way that is reminiscent of giants and ogres. It is presumed that 'orke'/'ogre' came into English via continental fairy-tale
s, especially from the 17th century French writer Charles Perrault
, who borrowed most of his stories and developed his 'ogre' from the 16th century Italian writers Giambattista Basile
,
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
(who has been credited with introducing the literary form of the fairy tale) and
Basile, who wrote in the Naples dialect
(though Naples was, at that time, controlled by Spain) and claimed simply to be passing on oral folktales from his region that he had collected. In at least a dozen or more tales, Basile used huorco, huerco or uerco, the Neapolitan form of orco [Italian] 'giant', 'monster', to describe a large, hairy, tusked, mannish beast who could speak, that lived away in a dark forest or garden and that might capture and eat humans, or be indifferent or even benevolent — all depending on the tale.
The first English use of 'orke', in 1656 (forty-one years before Perrault published his Mother Goose
tales), comes from Don Zara, a fairy tale by Samuel Holland. It is a pastiche and a parody of fantastical Spanish romances such as Don Quixote and presumably is populated by beasts and monsters in common to them.
Orc is also a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology
of William Blake
. Unlike the medieval sea beast, or Tolkien's humanoid monster
, Blake's Orc
is a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy, and stands opposed to Urizen
, the embodiment of tradition
. He is, however, publicly perceived to be demonic in nature.
The word ultimately comes from Latin Orcus
, the demonic Roman god of death, who should not to be confused with Pluto
, the god of the underworld, and has transformed by several stages from the meanings 'underworld', 'hell', 'devil', 'evil creature' to 'ogre'. Tolkien and the lexicons he used attributed the origin of the doubtful Old English orc to 'Orcus' and in one of his invented languages
, the word for orc also had the form orco.
Words derived from or related to the Italian term orco are exist in other Mediterranean countries: in addition to Italian dialectal uerco, huerco and huorco and the Spanish
word güercu, there is also Tyrolean
ork, 'a house gnome' or 'a mountain spirit' that acts as a protector of wildlife.
Tolkien explicitly denied any intended connection between his orcs and the killer whale Orcinus orca and other cetaceans, that are also referred to as orcs. This is a borrowing from Latin orca, as used by Pliny the Elder
, that refers to some kind of whale, quite likely Orcinus orca and which also appears in John Milton
's poem Paradise Lost
during a description of the Great Flood.
*porkos 'young pig' and the Old Norse word ørkn 'seal'.
is the invention of J. R. R. Tolkien, albeit one which he stated in a letter
was influenced by George MacDonald
's The Princess and the Goblin
. The word is usually capitalised in Tolkien's writing, but not necessarily in other works.
Within Tolkien's invented languages, the Elvish words for orc are derived from a root ruk referring to fear and horror, from which is derived an expanded form of the root uruk. A noun *uruku is produced from the extended root. This eventually turns into Quenya
urco, plural urqui. A related word *urkō produces Sindarin
orch, plural yrch. The Quenya words are said to be less specific in meaning than the Sindarin, meaning 'bogey'. For the specific creatures called yrch by the Sindar, the Quenya word orco, with plurals orcor and orqui, was created.
These orcs had similar names in the other languages of Middle-earth
: in Orkish uruk (restricted to the larger soldier-orcs); in the language of the Drúedain gorgûn; in Khuzdul
rukhs, plural rakhâs; and in the language of Rohan and in the Common Speech
, orc.
They fight ferociously as long as a guiding 'will' (such as Morgoth
or Sauron
) compels or directs them. Tolkien sometimes describes Orcs as mainly being battle fodder. Orcs are used as soldiers by both the greater and lesser villains of The Lord of the Rings
, such as Sauron
and Saruman
.
Orcs eat all manner of flesh, including the flesh of Men. In Chapter II of The Two Towers
, Grishnákh, an Orc from Mordor
, claims that the Isengard
Orcs eat Orc-flesh, but whether that is true, or a statement spoken in malice, is uncertain. What does seem certain is that the Orcs resented that description. From descriptions and events relating to the Orcs, it seems likely that they indulge in cannibalism
. In The Two Towers, Merry
and Pippin
are presented with meat by an Orc after a fight occurred in which the Uruk-hai
killed several Orcs; the narration is vague as to what species the flesh belongs to.
as "foul broodlings of Melko who fared abroad doing his evil work". In The Fall of Gondolin Tolkien wrote that "all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime. Their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko."
In The Silmarillion, Tolkien conceived the Orcs to be Elves
who had been enslaved and tortured by Morgoth
and broken and twisted into his evil soldiers. In other versions of their origin, including those from Tolkien's notes, the Orcs are depicted as the parodies or false-creations of Morgoth, animated solely by his evil will or perhaps, by his own diffused essence, and made intentionally to mock or spite Eru Ilúvatar
's creations — the Eldar and Edain
.
See - The origin of Orcs for a full list of possible Orc origins proposed by Tolkien.
fiction and role-playing game
s, where the orcs and goblins are usually considered to be distinct races of goblinoid
s. They were once often depicted with pig-like faces, although they were never described as such by Tolkien. In the 1980s, another orc archetype was introduced by the table-top miniature war games
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
, a heavily-muscled, green-skinned barbarian with exaggerated tusks, brow, and lower jaw, whose personality is not so much evil as crudely thuggish, often to a comical degree. This style of orc has since become popular in a vast number of fantasy settings and games, including a signature of the Warcraft
series of computer games and spin-offs.
's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 games feature Orcs ('Orks' in Warhammer 40,000). The latter setting is unique for featuring Orks in a science fiction
environment that are capable of building crude, but functional vehicles, firearms and even spaceships. Anatomically, Warhammer Orcs are no taller than humans, unless when they are standing upright instead of slouching, but are substantially broader, with ape-like short legs and long arms. They have massive heads that come directly forward on their necks, giving them a stooping appearance. They have tough thick green skin that is highly resistant to pain. Warhammer Orcs lack intelligence, but can be cunning at times. They are warlike and their society is geared towards constant warfare. Their constant need to fight is an expression of Orc culture: Orcs do not form alliances except for temporary alliances with each other. In combat they can transform even the most common object into a lethal killing instrument. Orcs tend to ally with Goblins, who are called Gretchin in Warhammer 40,000, and Snotlings, but when allied, the Orcs act as bullies towards their smaller Goblinoid (Orkoid in Warhammer 40,000) cousins, using them as servants, Human (Goblin) shields
, or an emergency food source. They worship a pair of gods known as Gork and Mork (other gods were included in earlier editions of the game, but are no longer included), one of which is described as brutally cunning and the other as cunningly brutal, though the orcs themselves do not seem to know which is which. In Warhammer 40,000, orcs develop from a fungus-like beginning. They are spread by spores which are emitted constantly during an orc's lifetime and are all expelled when it dies.
computer game series, Orcs are depicted as ethically and socially complex. The great Orcish race is a savage but noble society made of shamanistic, fierce warriors. Their race came from the world of Draenor and was corrupted by a demonic force known as the Burning Legion, which realised that they could be made into a powerful army. Under the Legion's influence, the Orcish Horde slaughtered many of the Draenei, who consequently fled from Draenor to escape the Legion and then were led to the world of Azeroth. After two devastating wars, the Orcs were finally defeated on Azeroth by the Human Alliance and rounded up into internment
camps. They remained there until a young Orc named Thrall, who had been raised by humans, rallied them together, freed the Horde from their demonic taint and helped to return them to their shamanistic roots.
Warcraft Orcs are humanoid, but prodigiously muscled, with broad noses and distinctive tusked mouths. There are many tribes of orc, leading to varying skin colors amongst them. The orcs of the Horde are predominantly green, but other possible skin colors include a dark brown, or red. Male orcs are significantly larger than humans, around 6.5 feet (2 m) tall when standing straight. Females, which first appeared as playable characters in World of Warcraft
, are slightly larger than a human female and while much more slender than their male counterparts, are nonetheless well-muscled. The tusks of female orcs are very small, and are arguably more exaggerated canines than tusks. Orc warriors wear little armor but have horned helmets and carry wielding axes. Warcraft is one of the few settings in which Orcs are not inherently evil and, after significant plot developments in the latest Warcraft games, can even be heroic. One could consider the orcs to be unfairly treated by humans and not only misunderstood, but vilified. The humans' enmity and prejudice towards the Orcs can be traced back to the first and second invasions and could be partially justified, as it was orcs under the control of the Burning Legion that invaded. Despite the best efforts of reformist orcs (such as Thrall) to usher in an era of peace between humans and orcs, humankind's suspicions towards the orcs are further exacerbated by the bellicose and expansionist attitudes of parts of orc society, such as the Warsong Outriders, who encroach upon the ancestral territories of the Night Elves, the allies of the humans. Thrall's orcs have occasionally formed successful alliances with humans.
Their political standpoint in the Warcraft universe is set as being the leading race of the Horde, an association of races created to promote mutual survival. The Trolls, a similar species in the game, live in the same area as the Orcs.
and Shadowrun
, orks are neither good nor evil. In Earthdawn they have their own place among the other name-giving races: humans, dwarfs, elves, obsidimen, T'skrang, trolls and windlings.
In Shadowrun, the orks are one subspecies of Homo sapiens among others living on post-2011 Earth. They emerged during the Unexplained Genetic Expression in 2021, as either young humans transformed into orks, or babies that were born as orks from human parents. They are categorized as Homo sapiens robustus and are considered to be metahumans, like trolls, elves, and dwarfs. They are able to interbreed with humans and other fellow metahumans. Despite this, their offspring (like the offspring of all inter-racial metahuman matings in Shadowrun) is of the race of only one of their parents. Being an ork is due to the expression of a gene, and thus half-breeds do not exist. They grow much faster than humans, reach maturity at 12, and give birth to a litter of about four children, though six to eight are not uncommon. Their average life-expectancy is about 35 to 40 years. They are physically larger and stronger than humans and their mental capacities are considered slightly inferior, though they are still not as dull as the average troll.
Magic:The Gathering, Orcs are portrayed as cowardly warriors who rely on the smaller, less intelligent Goblins when waging warfare. Very few creatures of the Orc type were printed: most of them appeared in the Fallen Empires
and Ice Age
expansion sets. While Orcs were reprinted in more recent core sets, they never appeared in any subsequent expansion sets until Coldsnap
, which introduced more Orc cards, along with a legendary Orc Shaman: Sek'kuar, Deathkeeper.
franchise, orcs are portrayed as orange, green, or brown. In Heroes of Might and Magic
, they are associated with the Barbarian faction.
In Ashan, the orcs are orange, extremely muscular humanoids, that were created by wizards (by fusing demon blood with human flesh) to be used as shock troops against a demon invasion. In Dark Messiah
, a player spends a significant amount of time facing members of the Redskull Clan, a group of orcs living on an island that is important to the plot. They are led by a shaman (which is implied by a conversation between two orcs to be a popularly-elected position) and make references to worshiping an unnamed fire goddess. In Tribes of the East
, the mainland orcs are modelled after the Mongols
, are led by a khan
and worship a personified Father Sky
.
and sabre-tooth tigers, known as Swogs, indicating that the Orcs are accomplished animal tamers.
's Discworld
series, Orcs are a race that is close to extinction. They were originally bred (or made) from men and not goblins, as was commonly believed, in order to be used as weapons in a great war.
To date only one living Orc, called Nutt, has been shown as a character, although it has been indicated that there are others that exist in the wilds of far Uberwald. Because of the brutal reputation and legends of Orcs, which reflect the traditional fantasy concept of soulless killers, Nutt was originally kept ignorant of his species. He is depicted as being not necessarily a bad creature, and by extension members of his species are portrayed as the victims of victors' propaganda.
Given opportunity and guidance, Orcs can easily educate themselves and they display a great sense of honesty and morality. As they were originally created as warrior slaves and know only how to be cruel and violent, they have a fearsome reputation.
.
These creatures have since become popular figures in other fantasy and science fiction literature as well as many types of fantasy games. While some writers portray orcs as large, misshapen humanoids who are brutal and warmongering, others works, such as those in the Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
universe, describe them as a proud warrior race with a strong sense of honor. They are variously portrayed as physically stronger or weaker than humans, but always high in numbers. They often ride boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
s, wolves and warg
Warg
In Norse mythology, a vargr is a wolf and in particular refers to the wolf Fenrir and his sons Sköll and Hati. Based on this, J. R. R. Tolkien in his fiction used the Old English form warg In Norse mythology, a vargr (often anglicised as warg or varg) is a wolf and in particular refers to the...
s. In many role-playing and computer games, orcs have green or greenish skin (earning the name 'Greenskins' in such games as Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000). Usually, and in contrast with other fantasy races such as Elves, orcs use shamanistic
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
magic, or no magic at all. Their fighting skill is honed to maximum power and efficiency.
Etymology
The modern use of the EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
term orc to denote a race of evil, humanoid creatures has its inception with J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's earliest Elvish dictionaries include the entry Ork (orq-) 'monster', 'ogre', 'demon', together with orqindi 'ogresse'. Tolkien sometimes used the plural form orqui in his early texts.
Tolkien sometimes, particularly in The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, used the word goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
instead of orc to describe the same type of creature, with the smaller cave-dwelling variety that lived in the Misty Mountains
Misty Mountains
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, the Misty Mountains is a mountain range, running for 795 miles from north to south, between Eriador and the valley of the Great River, Anduin, and...
being referred to as goblins and the larger ones elsewhere referred to as orcs. Later in his life, he expressed an intention to change the spelling to ork, but the only place where that spelling occurred in his lifetime was in the published version of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring...
, in the poem Bombadil Goes Boating: "I'll call the orks on you: that'll send you running!". In The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, published posthumously, 'orcs' was retained.
The influence of Old English
Tolkien referred to the Old English origins of the word 'orc', observing that "the word is, as far as I am concerned, actually derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability" and "I originally took the word from Old English orc (BeowulfBeowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
112 orc-neas and the gloss orc = þyrs ('ogre'), heldeofol ('hell-devil')). This is supposed not to be connected with modern English
Modern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
orc, ork, a name applied to various sea-beasts of the dolphin order". Tolkien also observed a connection with the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word orcus
Orcus
Orcus was a Roman god of the underworld.Orcus can also refer to:* Orcus , a demon prince in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game*90482 Orcus, a Trans-Neptunian object* Orcus , a genus of ladybird...
, noting that "the word used in translation of Q
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
urko, S
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
orch is Orc. But that is because of the similarity of the ancient English word orc, 'evil spirit or bogey', to the Elvish words. There is possibly no connection between them. The English word is now generally supposed to be derived from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
orcus
Orcus
Orcus was a Roman god of the underworld.Orcus can also refer to:* Orcus , a demon prince in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game*90482 Orcus, a Trans-Neptunian object* Orcus , a genus of ladybird...
". He also stated that, "Orc I derived from Anglo-Saxon, a word meaning demon, usually supposed to be derived from the Latin Orcus – hell. But I doubt this, though the matter is too involved to set out here".
The word orcné, attested in the plural word orcnéas, is a hapax legomenon
Hapax legomenon
A hapax legomenon is a word which occurs only once within a context, either in the written record of an entire language, in the works of an author, or just in a single text. The term is sometimes used incorrectly to describe a word that occurs in just one of an author's works, even though it...
in the poem Beowulf. It is generally supposed to contain an element -né, cognate to Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
naus and Old Norse nár, both meaning 'corpse'. The usual Old English word for corpse is líc, but -né appears in nebbed 'corpse bed', and in dryhtné 'dead body of a warrior', where dryht is the name of a military unit that can be vaguely translated as 'band' or 'host'. In, If *orcné is to be glossed as orcus 'corpse', the meaning may be "corpse from Orcus (i.e. the underworld)", or "devil-corpse", understood as some sort of walking dead creature. This etymology is plausible, but it remains conjectural. Orc appears in two other locations in the poem Beowulf, but refers to cups of precious metal
Precious metal
A precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value.Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high lustre, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals...
found in a treasure-hoard.
The Old English word þyrs, given as a gloss for Latin orcus, is cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
to Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
þurs 'giant
Giant (mythology)
The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology.In various Indo-European mythologies,...
', 'ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...
', both originating from the unattested Common Germanic
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Germanic , or Common Germanic, as it is sometimes known, is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Germanic languages, such as modern English, Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Luxembourgish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish.The Proto-Germanic language is...
term thurisaz
Thurisaz
The Germanic rune is called Thurs in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems.-Rune poems:The Germanic rune ᚦ is mentioned in three rune poems:- Usage :...
, which in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
refers to one of the monstrous descendants of the giant Ymir
Ymir
In Norse mythology, Ymir, also called Aurgelmir among the giants themselves, was the founder of the race of frost giants and was later killed by the Borrs.-Etymology:...
. But it is to be noted in connection with Tolkien's reference to a gloss orc=þyrs, that while there is an entry in an 11th century English glossary which implies such an equivalence, [Latin] orcus [Old English] orc þyrs oððe heldeofol, this is in fact a conflation
Conflation
Conflation occurs when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, become confused until there seems to be only a single identity — the differences appear to become lost...
of two glosses in an earlier glossary of the 7th century, found in two different places: [Latin] orcus [Old English] orc and [Latin] orcus [Old English] þyrs oððe heldiubol". The first of these two glosses is in a section devoted to household implements and 'orcus' is, in that place, a corruption of Latin urceus 'jug', 'pitcher', or of orca 'pot', 'jar'. The word 'orc' in the first gloss has the meaning 'cup': it is descended from an early Germanic borrowing from urceus, related to Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
aurkeis 'cup', both related to Modern English ark 'vessel', 'container'. In the second gloss, the Latin orcus is equated to Old English 'giant', 'hell-devil', but not to any already-existing Old English word 'orc', as Tolkien mistakenly thought.
Tolkien's error in assuming that orc and þyrs were co-existent Old English words that had a shared meaning was shared for several decades by other scholars, as it entered into commonly-used dictionaries of Old English such as Bosworth and Toller's An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), which was corrected in later editions.
Tolkien, being a linguist and historian, probably knew of Orkney. The old Gaelic name for Orkney that was used by Irish historians was Insi Orc 'Island of the Orcs (wild boars)'. This has led to the theory that at one time a predominant tribe in the islands - possibly Pictish
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
- had the boar as some form of tribal totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
. It is interesting to note that the early Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
settlers in Orkney referred to the chambered cairn Maeshowe
Maeshowe
Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney...
as Orkahaugr, which could mean 'the howe (or mound) of the Orcs. However, it could also derive from Orkis' Howe, where Orkis was the name of a person.
Early modern usage
The Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
refers to orke, used in 1656 in a way that is reminiscent of giants and ogres. It is presumed that 'orke'/'ogre' came into English via continental fairy-tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s, especially from the 17th century French writer Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
, who borrowed most of his stories and developed his 'ogre' from the 16th century Italian writers Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...
,
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola was an Italian writer and fairy tale collector from Caravaggio, Italy. He has been termed the progenitor of the literary form of the fairy tale in Europe...
(who has been credited with introducing the literary form of the fairy tale) and
Basile, who wrote in the Naples dialect
Neapolitan language
Neapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
(though Naples was, at that time, controlled by Spain) and claimed simply to be passing on oral folktales from his region that he had collected. In at least a dozen or more tales, Basile used huorco, huerco or uerco, the Neapolitan form of orco [Italian] 'giant', 'monster', to describe a large, hairy, tusked, mannish beast who could speak, that lived away in a dark forest or garden and that might capture and eat humans, or be indifferent or even benevolent — all depending on the tale.
The first English use of 'orke', in 1656 (forty-one years before Perrault published his Mother Goose
Mother Goose
The familiar figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes which are often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a character, she appears in one "nursery rhyme". A Christmas pantomime called Mother Goose is often performed in the United Kingdom...
tales), comes from Don Zara, a fairy tale by Samuel Holland. It is a pastiche and a parody of fantastical Spanish romances such as Don Quixote and presumably is populated by beasts and monsters in common to them.
Orc is also a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology
William Blake's mythology
The prophetic books of the English poet and artist William Blake contain a rich invented mythology , in which Blake worked to encode his revolutionary spiritual and political ideas into a prophecy for a new age. This desire to recreate the cosmos is the heart of his work and his psychology...
of William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
. Unlike the medieval sea beast, or Tolkien's humanoid monster
Orc (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs or Orks are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings — Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman...
, Blake's Orc
Orc (Blake)
Orc is a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology of William Blake. Unlike the medieval sea beast, or Tolkien's humanoid monster, his Orc is a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition.In Blake's...
is a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy, and stands opposed to Urizen
Urizen
In the complex mythology of William Blake, Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional culture...
, the embodiment of tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
. He is, however, publicly perceived to be demonic in nature.
The word ultimately comes from Latin Orcus
Orcus
Orcus was a Roman god of the underworld.Orcus can also refer to:* Orcus , a demon prince in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game*90482 Orcus, a Trans-Neptunian object* Orcus , a genus of ladybird...
, the demonic Roman god of death, who should not to be confused with Pluto
Pluto (mythology)
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Pluto was a name for the ruler of the underworld; the god was also known as Hades, a name for the underworld itself...
, the god of the underworld, and has transformed by several stages from the meanings 'underworld', 'hell', 'devil', 'evil creature' to 'ogre'. Tolkien and the lexicons he used attributed the origin of the doubtful Old English orc to 'Orcus' and in one of his invented languages
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
, the word for orc also had the form orco.
Words derived from or related to the Italian term orco are exist in other Mediterranean countries: in addition to Italian dialectal uerco, huerco and huorco and the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word güercu, there is also Tyrolean
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
ork, 'a house gnome' or 'a mountain spirit' that acts as a protector of wildlife.
Tolkien explicitly denied any intended connection between his orcs and the killer whale Orcinus orca and other cetaceans, that are also referred to as orcs. This is a borrowing from Latin orca, as used by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, that refers to some kind of whale, quite likely Orcinus orca and which also appears in John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's poem Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
during a description of the Great Flood.
Similar words of distinct origin
The orc in any of its monstrous senses should not be confused with other words, including Gaelic orc, a Goidelic form of the unattested Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*porkos 'young pig' and the Old Norse word ørkn 'seal'.
Tolkien
The humanoid, non-maritime race of orcs that exists in Middle-earthMiddle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
is the invention of J. R. R. Tolkien, albeit one which he stated in a letter
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien is a selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's letters published in 1981, edited by Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter assisted by Christopher Tolkien...
was influenced by George MacDonald
George MacDonald
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...
's The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co.The sequel to this book is The Princess and Curdie....
. The word is usually capitalised in Tolkien's writing, but not necessarily in other works.
Within Tolkien's invented languages, the Elvish words for orc are derived from a root ruk referring to fear and horror, from which is derived an expanded form of the root uruk. A noun *uruku is produced from the extended root. This eventually turns into Quenya
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
urco, plural urqui. A related word *urkō produces Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
orch, plural yrch. The Quenya words are said to be less specific in meaning than the Sindarin, meaning 'bogey'. For the specific creatures called yrch by the Sindar, the Quenya word orco, with plurals orcor and orqui, was created.
These orcs had similar names in the other languages of Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
: in Orkish uruk (restricted to the larger soldier-orcs); in the language of the Drúedain gorgûn; in Khuzdul
Khuzdul
Khuzdul is a constructed language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is one of the many fictional language set in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth...
rukhs, plural rakhâs; and in the language of Rohan and in the Common Speech
Westron
Westron, or the Common Speech, is a fictional language in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien.Westron is the closest thing to a lingua franca in Middle-earth, at least at the time during which The Lord of the Rings is set. "Westron" is an invented English word, derived from West...
, orc.
Description
In Tolkien's writings, Orcs are of human shape, of varying size but always smaller than Men. They are depicted as ugly and filthy, with a taste for human flesh. They are fanged, bow-legged and long-armed and some have dark skin as if burned. In a private letter, Tolkien describes them as "squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes... ...degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types". They are portrayed as miserable, crafty and vicious beings.They fight ferociously as long as a guiding 'will' (such as Morgoth
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
or Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
) compels or directs them. Tolkien sometimes describes Orcs as mainly being battle fodder. Orcs are used as soldiers by both the greater and lesser villains of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, such as Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
and Saruman
Saruman
Saruman the White is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the tale, but later on aims at gaining...
.
Orcs eat all manner of flesh, including the flesh of Men. In Chapter II of The Two Towers
The Two Towers
The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.-Title:...
, Grishnákh, an Orc from Mordor
Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Mordor or Morhdorh was the dwelling place of Sauron, in the southeast of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to...
, claims that the Isengard
Isengard
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Isengard , a translation of the Sindarin Angrenost, was a large fortress. Both names mean "Iron fortress" In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Isengard , a translation of the Sindarin Angrenost, was a large fortress....
Orcs eat Orc-flesh, but whether that is true, or a statement spoken in malice, is uncertain. What does seem certain is that the Orcs resented that description. From descriptions and events relating to the Orcs, it seems likely that they indulge in cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
. In The Two Towers, Merry
Meriadoc Brandybuck
Meriadoc Brandybuck, usually referred to as Merry, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured throughout his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings....
and Pippin
Peregrin Took
Peregrin Took, more commonly known as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. Pippin is introduced as a Hobbit who plays a major role as one of the companions of Frodo Baggins, in his quest to destroy the One Ring.Peregrin was the only son of...
are presented with meat by an Orc after a fight occurred in which the Uruk-hai
Uruk-hai
The Uruk-hai are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth. They are introduced in The Lord of the Rings as an advanced breed or breeds of Orcs that serve Sauron and Saruman...
killed several Orcs; the narration is vague as to what species the flesh belongs to.
Origins
Orc origins are first described in The Tale of TinúvielLúthien
Lúthien Tinúviel is a fictional character in the fantasy-world Middle-earth of the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. She appears in The Silmarillion, the epic poem The Lay of Leithian, The Lord of the Rings and the Grey Annals, as well as in other material.-Character overview:Lúthien is a Telerin ...
as "foul broodlings of Melko who fared abroad doing his evil work". In The Fall of Gondolin Tolkien wrote that "all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime. Their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko."
In The Silmarillion, Tolkien conceived the Orcs to be Elves
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
who had been enslaved and tortured by Morgoth
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
and broken and twisted into his evil soldiers. In other versions of their origin, including those from Tolkien's notes, the Orcs are depicted as the parodies or false-creations of Morgoth, animated solely by his evil will or perhaps, by his own diffused essence, and made intentionally to mock or spite Eru Ilúvatar
Eru Ilúvatar
Eru Ilúvatar is a fictional deity in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the creator of all existence . In Tolkien's invented language of Elvish, Eru means "The One", or "He that is Alone" and Ilúvatar signifies "Father of All"...
's creations — the Eldar and Edain
Edain
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Edain were men who made their way into Beleriand in the First Age, and were friendly to the Elves....
.
See - The origin of Orcs for a full list of possible Orc origins proposed by Tolkien.
Other fantasy works
Since the publication of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, orcs have become a fixture of fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
fiction and role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s, where the orcs and goblins are usually considered to be distinct races of goblinoid
Goblinoid
Goblinoids are a category of humanoid legendary creatures related to the goblin. The term originated in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, in which goblins and related creatures are a staple of random encounters. Goblinoids are typically barbaric foes of the various human and...
s. They were once often depicted with pig-like faces, although they were never described as such by Tolkien. In the 1980s, another orc archetype was introduced by the table-top miniature war games
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
, a heavily-muscled, green-skinned barbarian with exaggerated tusks, brow, and lower jaw, whose personality is not so much evil as crudely thuggish, often to a comical degree. This style of orc has since become popular in a vast number of fantasy settings and games, including a signature of the Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
series of computer games and spin-offs.
Dungeons & Dragons
Warhammer
Games WorkshopGames Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 games feature Orcs ('Orks' in Warhammer 40,000). The latter setting is unique for featuring Orks in a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
environment that are capable of building crude, but functional vehicles, firearms and even spaceships. Anatomically, Warhammer Orcs are no taller than humans, unless when they are standing upright instead of slouching, but are substantially broader, with ape-like short legs and long arms. They have massive heads that come directly forward on their necks, giving them a stooping appearance. They have tough thick green skin that is highly resistant to pain. Warhammer Orcs lack intelligence, but can be cunning at times. They are warlike and their society is geared towards constant warfare. Their constant need to fight is an expression of Orc culture: Orcs do not form alliances except for temporary alliances with each other. In combat they can transform even the most common object into a lethal killing instrument. Orcs tend to ally with Goblins, who are called Gretchin in Warhammer 40,000, and Snotlings, but when allied, the Orcs act as bullies towards their smaller Goblinoid (Orkoid in Warhammer 40,000) cousins, using them as servants, Human (Goblin) shields
Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
, or an emergency food source. They worship a pair of gods known as Gork and Mork (other gods were included in earlier editions of the game, but are no longer included), one of which is described as brutally cunning and the other as cunningly brutal, though the orcs themselves do not seem to know which is which. In Warhammer 40,000, orcs develop from a fungus-like beginning. They are spread by spores which are emitted constantly during an orc's lifetime and are all expelled when it dies.
Warcraft
In the WarcraftWarcraft Universe
Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media originally created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of Four core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World of Warcraft...
computer game series, Orcs are depicted as ethically and socially complex. The great Orcish race is a savage but noble society made of shamanistic, fierce warriors. Their race came from the world of Draenor and was corrupted by a demonic force known as the Burning Legion, which realised that they could be made into a powerful army. Under the Legion's influence, the Orcish Horde slaughtered many of the Draenei, who consequently fled from Draenor to escape the Legion and then were led to the world of Azeroth. After two devastating wars, the Orcs were finally defeated on Azeroth by the Human Alliance and rounded up into internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
camps. They remained there until a young Orc named Thrall, who had been raised by humans, rallied them together, freed the Horde from their demonic taint and helped to return them to their shamanistic roots.
Warcraft Orcs are humanoid, but prodigiously muscled, with broad noses and distinctive tusked mouths. There are many tribes of orc, leading to varying skin colors amongst them. The orcs of the Horde are predominantly green, but other possible skin colors include a dark brown, or red. Male orcs are significantly larger than humans, around 6.5 feet (2 m) tall when standing straight. Females, which first appeared as playable characters in World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, are slightly larger than a human female and while much more slender than their male counterparts, are nonetheless well-muscled. The tusks of female orcs are very small, and are arguably more exaggerated canines than tusks. Orc warriors wear little armor but have horned helmets and carry wielding axes. Warcraft is one of the few settings in which Orcs are not inherently evil and, after significant plot developments in the latest Warcraft games, can even be heroic. One could consider the orcs to be unfairly treated by humans and not only misunderstood, but vilified. The humans' enmity and prejudice towards the Orcs can be traced back to the first and second invasions and could be partially justified, as it was orcs under the control of the Burning Legion that invaded. Despite the best efforts of reformist orcs (such as Thrall) to usher in an era of peace between humans and orcs, humankind's suspicions towards the orcs are further exacerbated by the bellicose and expansionist attitudes of parts of orc society, such as the Warsong Outriders, who encroach upon the ancestral territories of the Night Elves, the allies of the humans. Thrall's orcs have occasionally formed successful alliances with humans.
Their political standpoint in the Warcraft universe is set as being the leading race of the Horde, an association of races created to promote mutual survival. The Trolls, a similar species in the game, live in the same area as the Orcs.
Earthdawn and Shadowrun
In the fantasy role-playing games EarthdawnEarthdawn
Earthdawn is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the Second Edition...
and Shadowrun
Shadowrun
Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
, orks are neither good nor evil. In Earthdawn they have their own place among the other name-giving races: humans, dwarfs, elves, obsidimen, T'skrang, trolls and windlings.
In Shadowrun, the orks are one subspecies of Homo sapiens among others living on post-2011 Earth. They emerged during the Unexplained Genetic Expression in 2021, as either young humans transformed into orks, or babies that were born as orks from human parents. They are categorized as Homo sapiens robustus and are considered to be metahumans, like trolls, elves, and dwarfs. They are able to interbreed with humans and other fellow metahumans. Despite this, their offspring (like the offspring of all inter-racial metahuman matings in Shadowrun) is of the race of only one of their parents. Being an ork is due to the expression of a gene, and thus half-breeds do not exist. They grow much faster than humans, reach maturity at 12, and give birth to a litter of about four children, though six to eight are not uncommon. Their average life-expectancy is about 35 to 40 years. They are physically larger and stronger than humans and their mental capacities are considered slightly inferior, though they are still not as dull as the average troll.
Magic: The Gathering
In the collectible card gameCollectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
Magic:The Gathering, Orcs are portrayed as cowardly warriors who rely on the smaller, less intelligent Goblins when waging warfare. Very few creatures of the Orc type were printed: most of them appeared in the Fallen Empires
Fallen Empires
Fallen Empires was the ninth Magic: The Gathering set and the fifth expansion set, released in November 1994. Out of the set of 187 cards, 102 were functionally unique, with the remainder being variant illustrations of other cards in the set. The mechanics of Fallen Empires include a tribal...
and Ice Age
Ice Age (Magic: The Gathering)
Ice Age is the eleventh Magic: The Gathering set and the sixth expansion set, released in June 1995. Set in the years from 450 to 2934 AR, the set describes a world set in perpetual winter due to the events in Antiquities...
expansion sets. While Orcs were reprinted in more recent core sets, they never appeared in any subsequent expansion sets until Coldsnap
Coldsnap
For other uses of this term, see Cold snap.Coldsnap is the third set in the Ice Age block for the Magic:The Gathering collectible card game. It was released on July 21, 2006 by Wizards of the Coast. The set came out over ten years after Ice Age was released in June 1995, the longest period of time...
, which introduced more Orc cards, along with a legendary Orc Shaman: Sek'kuar, Deathkeeper.
Might and Magic
Within the universe of the Might and MagicMight and Magic
Might and Magic is a series of role-playing video games from New World Computing, which in 1996 became a subsidiary of The 3DO Company...
franchise, orcs are portrayed as orange, green, or brown. In Heroes of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic is a series of video games originally created and developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing. As part of the Might and Magic franchise, the series changed ownership when NWC was acquired by 3DO and again when 3DO closed down and sold the rights to Ubisoft...
, they are associated with the Barbarian faction.
In Ashan, the orcs are orange, extremely muscular humanoids, that were created by wizards (by fusing demon blood with human flesh) to be used as shock troops against a demon invasion. In Dark Messiah
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, additionally subtitled Elements on Xbox 360, is a first-person action game developed by Arkane Studios and Floodgate Entertainment. Kuju Entertainment developed the multiplayer mode...
, a player spends a significant amount of time facing members of the Redskull Clan, a group of orcs living on an island that is important to the plot. They are led by a shaman (which is implied by a conversation between two orcs to be a popularly-elected position) and make references to worshiping an unnamed fire goddess. In Tribes of the East
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East is the second expansion pack to the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic V and the first stand-alone expansion pack released for the fifth series...
, the mainland orcs are modelled after the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
, are led by a khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
and worship a personified Father Sky
Tengri
Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger (Old Turkic: ; Mongolian: Тэнгэр, Tenger; Chinese: 腾格里, Mandarin: Ténggélǐ, Hungarian: Tengri, Turkish: Tanrı, Bulgarian: Tangra (Тангра) is a sky god, formerly the chief deity of the early Turkic peoples, including the Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars,...
.
Heroscape
In Hasbro's Heroscape line of game products, Orcs come from the pre-historic planet Grut and are thus known as Grut Orcs. They are blue-skinned, with prominent tusks or horns protruding from their chins or cheeks. They are slightly smaller than humans, except for the elite heavy gruts, which are the size of a normal human. Several Orc champions ride prehistoric animals (including a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a VelociraptorVelociraptor
Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils...
and sabre-tooth tigers, known as Swogs, indicating that the Orcs are accomplished animal tamers.
Elder Scrolls
In Tamriel, orcs are civilized humanoids and are noted for their unshakable courage in battle. They have large under-teeth that protrude from the bottom jaw out from their mouths. One of the taller races of the Elder Scrolls series, they are, contrary to other renditions, not muscle-bound and war-like, but are still significantly bulkier than most other races. They are distinguishable by their green skin. The orcs, or Orsimer (meaning 'the Pariah Folk' in the elven tongue), are a strain of descendants of the original elven race. The Orsimeri were followers of the god Trinimac, but transformed from gold-skinned elves to green-skinned orcs when Trinimac was transformed into Malacath by Boethia, the Daedric Prince. Another unique quality about the Orcs in the Elder Scrolls are that they are talented smiths and excellent rank-and-file soldiers, traits that are generally given to dwarves.Shadowspawn
In the land of Nodothril, the orcs are a strong race of savage goblinoid creatures that live in the Venodril Mines. They have adapted specifically to life in the dark caverns and their eyes are highly sensitive to light. They have a high rate of attack and low intelligence: their weapon capabilities include hammers, clubs, axes, bows, knives and short swords.Discworld
In Terry PratchettTerry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
series, Orcs are a race that is close to extinction. They were originally bred (or made) from men and not goblins, as was commonly believed, in order to be used as weapons in a great war.
To date only one living Orc, called Nutt, has been shown as a character, although it has been indicated that there are others that exist in the wilds of far Uberwald. Because of the brutal reputation and legends of Orcs, which reflect the traditional fantasy concept of soulless killers, Nutt was originally kept ignorant of his species. He is depicted as being not necessarily a bad creature, and by extension members of his species are portrayed as the victims of victors' propaganda.
Given opportunity and guidance, Orcs can easily educate themselves and they display a great sense of honesty and morality. As they were originally created as warrior slaves and know only how to be cruel and violent, they have a fearsome reputation.
Fate
In the Fate video game, Orcs are portrayed as tall, clothed creatures of might, similar in concept to Yetis and Ogres, except that they are usually armed. They are gray-skinned, robust and have horns protruding from their head, which look vaguely like that of a rhinocerosRhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
.
See also
- GoblinGoblinA goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
- GremlinGremlinA gremlin is an imaginary creature commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Gremlins' mischievous natures are similar to those of English folkloric imps, while their inclination to damage or dismantle machinery is more...
- KaijuKaijuis a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
- OniOni (mythology)thumb|Oni depicted in [[Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki]] by [[Toriyama Sekien]] are creatures from Japanese folklore, variously translated as demons, devils, ogres or trolls...
- Orc (Blake)Orc (Blake)Orc is a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology of William Blake. Unlike the medieval sea beast, or Tolkien's humanoid monster, his Orc is a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition.In Blake's...
- Ork (folklore)Ork (folklore)The ork is a demon of Tyrol alpine folklore. He lives on mountains, Almen, rock holes, or valleys. It warns the noble game of hunters, or can be savage and bring geisser to the cattle. It was feared like the aufhocker. As a dwarf, the ork was a well-behaved kobold/house spirit in wine cellars...
- Orcs: First Blood, one of the few series where orcs are the main characters.