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Orc
Humanoid monster in Tolkien's fiction

An orc (sometimes spelt ork) is a race of humanoid monsters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy fiction, often called "goblins". In The Lord of the Rings, orcs are brutish, malevolent creatures serving the Dark Lord Morgoth. Origin theories vary, including corrupted elves or evil beings bred in the wild. Tolkien adopted the term from Old English literature, where orcs were "hell-devils," and featured in Beowulf as corrupted descendants of Cain. Tolkien’s orcs have since appeared in other fantasy works and games like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and Warcraft.

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Etymology

Further information: Beowulf and Middle-earth

The Anglo-Saxon word orc, which Tolkien used, is generally thought to be derived from the Latin word/name Orcus,8 though Tolkien expressed doubt about this.9 The term orcus is glossed as "orc, þyrs, oððe hel-deofol"10 ("Goblin, spectre, or hell-devil") in the 10th century Old English Cleopatra Glossaries, about which Thomas Wright wrote: "Orcus was the name for Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, hence we can easily understand the explanation of hel-deofol. Orc, in Anglo-Saxon, like thyrs, means a spectre, or goblin."111213

The term is used just once in Beowulf, as the plural compound orcneas, in the sense of a tribe of monstrous beings descended from Cain, alongside the elves and ettins (giants), who were condemned by God:

þanon untydras ealle onwoconeotenas ond ylfe ond orcneasswylce gigantas þa wið gode wunnonlange þrage he him ðæs lean forgeald—Beowulf, Fitt I, vv. 111–1414Thence all evil broods were born,ogres and elves and evil spirits—the giants also, who long time fought with God,for which he gave them their reward—John R. Clark Hall, tr. (1901)15

The meaning of Orcneas is uncertain. Frederick Klaeber suggested it consisted of orc < L. orcus "the underworld" + neas "corpses", to which the translation "evil spirits" failed to do justice.1617 It is generally supposed to contain an element -né, cognate to Gothic naus and Old Norse nár, both meaning 'corpse'.1819 If *orcné is to be glossed as orcus 'corpse', then the compound word can be construed as "demon-corpses",20 or "corpse from Orcus (i.e. the underworld)".21 Hence orc-neas may have been some sort of walking dead monster, a product of ancient necromancy,22 or a zombie-like creature.2324

Tolkien

The term "orc" is used only once in the first edition of Tolkien's 1937 The Hobbit, which preferred the term "goblins". "Orc" was later used ubiquitously in The Lord of the Rings.2526 The "orc-" element occurs in the sword name Orcrist,272829 which is given as its Elvish language name,3031 and glossed as "Goblin-cleaver".32

Stated etymology

Tolkien began the more modern use of the English term "orc" to denote a race of evil humanoid beings. His earliest Elvish dictionaries include the entry Ork (orq-) "monster", "ogre", "demon", together with orqindi and "ogresse". He sometimes used the plural form orqui in his early texts.33 He stated that the Elvish words for orc were derived from a root ruku, "fear, horror"; in Quenya, orco, plural orkor; in Sindarin orch, plurals yrch and Orchoth (as a class).3435 They had similar names in other Middle-earth languages: uruk in Black Speech;36 in the language of the Drúedain gorgûn, "ork-folk"; in Khuzdul rukhs, plural rakhâs; and in the language of Rohan and in the Common Speech, orka.37

Tolkien stated in a letter to the novelist Naomi Mitchison that his orcs had been influenced by George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.38 He explained that his word "orc" was "derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability",3940 and

I originally took the word from Old English orc (Beowulf 112 orc-neas and the gloss orc: þyrs ('ogre'), heldeofol ('hell-devil')).41 This is supposed not to be connected with modern English orc, ork, a name applied to various sea-beasts of the dolphin order".4243

Tolkien also observed a similarity with the Latin word orcus, noting that "the word used in translation of Q[uenya] urko, S[indarin] 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".44

Description

Orcs are of human shape, and of varying size.45 They are depicted as ugly and filthy, with a taste for human flesh. They are fanged, bow-legged and long-armed. Most are small and avoid daylight.46

By the Third Age, a new breed of orc had emerged, the Uruk-hai, larger and more powerful, and no longer afraid of daylight.47 Orcs eat meat, including the flesh of Men, and may indulge in cannibalism: in The Two Towers, Grishnákh, an orc from Mordor, claims that the Isengard orcs eat orc-flesh. Whether that is true or spoken in malice is uncertain: an orc flings Peregrin Took stale bread and a "strip of raw dried flesh ... the flesh of he dared not guess what creature".48

Half-orcs appear in The Lord of the Rings, created by interbreeding of orcs and Men;49 they were able to go in sunlight.50 The "sly Southerner" in The Fellowship of the Ring looks "more than half like a goblin";51 similar but more orc-like hybrids appear in The Two Towers "man-high, but with goblin-faces, sallow, leering, squint-eyed."52

In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, the actors playing orcs are made up with masks designed to make them look evil. After a disagreement with the film producer Harvey Weinstein, Jackson had one of the masks made to resemble Weinstein, as an insult to him.53

Orkish language

Further information: Black Speech

The Orcs had no language of their own, merely a pidgin of many various languages. However, individual tribes developed dialects that differed so widely that Westron, often with a crude accent, was used as a common language.5455 When Sauron returned to power in Mordor in the Third Age, Black Speech was used by the captains of his armies and by his servants in his tower of Barad-dûr. A sample of debased Black Speech can be found in The Two Towers, where a "yellow-fanged" guard Orc of Mordor curses Uglúk of Isengard (an Uruk-hai chief) with the words "Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob búbhosh skai!" In The Peoples of Middle-earth, Tolkien gives the translation: "Uglúk to the cesspool, sha! the dungfilth; the great Saruman-fool, skai!"56 However, in a note published in Vinyar Tengwar he gives an alternative translation: "Uglúk to the dung-pit with stinking Saruman-filth, pig-guts, gah!"57 Alexander Nemirovsky [ru] speculated that Tolkien might have drawn upon the language of the ancient Hittites and Hurrians for Black Speech.58

In-fiction origins

Main article: Tolkien's moral dilemma

The origins of orcs were explained in multiple inconsistent ways by Tolkien.59 Early works depict them as creations of Morgoth, mimicking the forms of the Children of Ilúvatar.60 Alternatively, as in The Silmarillion, they may have been East Elves, enslaved, tortured, and bred by Morgoth;61 or, perhaps the Avari, the Elves who refused to go to Aman, turned "evil and savage in the wild".6263

The orcs "multiplied" like Elves and Men, meaning that they reproduced sexually.64 Tolkien stated in a letter dated 21 October 1963 to a Mrs. Munsby that "there must have been orc-women".656667 In The Fall of Gondolin Morgoth made them of slime by sorcery, "bred from the heats and slimes of the earth".68 Or, they were "beasts of humanized shape": possibly Elves mated with beasts, and later Men.69 Elsewhere, Tolkien wrote that they could have been fallen Maiar – perhaps a kind called Boldog, like lesser Balrogs – or corrupted Men.70

Shippey writes that the orcs in The Lord of the Rings were almost certainly created just to equip Middle-earth with a continual supply of enemies who one could kill without compunction,71 or in Tolkien's words from The Monsters and the Critics to serve as "the infantry of the old war" ready to be slaughtered.72 Shippey states that orcs nevertheless share the human concept of good and evil, with a familiar sense of morality, though he notes that, like many people, orcs are quite unable to apply their morals to themselves. Shippey suggests that Tolkien, as a Catholic, took it as a given that "evil cannot make, only mock", so orcs could not have an equal and opposite morality to that of men or elves.73 In a 1954 letter, Tolkien wrote that orcs were "fundamentally a race of 'rational incarnate' creatures, though horribly corrupted, if no more so than many Men to be met today".74 The scholar of English literature Robert Tally wrote in Mythlore that despite the uniform presentation of orcs as "loathsome, ugly, cruel, feared, and especially terminable", Tolkien could not resist "the urge to flesh out and 'humanize' these inhuman creatures from time to time", in the process giving them their own morality.75 Shippey notes that in The Two Towers, the orc Gorbag disapproves of the "regular elvish trick" (an immoral act) of abandoning a comrade, as he wrongly supposes Sam Gamgee has done to Frodo Baggins. Shippey describes the implied concept of evil as Boethian – that evil is the absence of good. He notes, however, that Tolkien did not agree with that concept of evil; Tolkien believed that evil had to be actively fought, with war if necessary. That is something that Shippey describes as representing the Manichean position – that evil coexists with good, and is at least equally as powerful.76

The origins and morality of Orcs: the Catholic Tolkien's dilemma
Created evil?Like animals?Created good, but fallen?
Origin of orcsaccording to Tolkien"Brooded" by Morgoth77"Beasts of humanized shape"78Fallen Maiar, or corrupted Men/Elves7980
Moral implicationOrcs are wholly evil (unlike Men).81Orcs have no power of speech and morality.Orcs have morality just like Men.8283
Resulting problemOrcs like Gorbag have a moral sense (even if they cannot keep to it) and can speak, which conflicts with their being wholly evil or not even sentient. Since evil cannot make, only mock, orcs cannot have an equal and opposite morality to Men.8485Orcs should be treated with mercy, where possible.

Orcs and race

Further information: Tolkien and race

Writers including Andrew O'Hehir and the literary critic Jenny Turner have likened Tolkien's descriptions of orcs to racial stereotypes.868788 In a private letter, Tolkien describes orcs as:89

squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.90

Writing for Salon.com, the journalist Andrew O'Hehir describes Tolkien's orcs as "a subhuman race [...] that is morally irredeemable and deserves only death". He adds that they are "dark-skinned and slant-eyed, and although they possess reason, speech, social organization and, as Shippey mentions, a sort of moral sensibility, they are inherently evil."91 O'Hehir concludes that while Tolkien's own description of orcs is a revealing representation of the "Other", it is "also the product of his background and era" and that Tolkien was not consciously "a racist or an anti-Semite", mentioning Tolkien's letters to this effect.92 Turner, in the London Review of Books, repeats O'Hehir's statement that orcs are "by design and intention a northern European's paranoid caricature of the races he has dimly heard about", and adds similar caveats, writing: "Tolkien does not appear to have been half as crackers on these topics [of race and race purity] as many others were. He sublimated the anxieties, perhaps, in his books."9394

Tally says the orcs are a demonized enemy, despite Tolkien's own objections to demonization of the enemy in the two World Wars.95 In a letter to his son, Christopher, who was serving in the RAF in the Second World War, Tolkien wrote of orcs as appearing on both sides of the conflict:

Yes, I think the orcs as real a creation as anything in 'realistic' fiction ... only in real life they are on both sides, of course. For 'romance' has grown out of 'allegory', and its wars are still derived from the 'inner war' of allegory in which good is on one side and various modes of badness on the other. In real (exterior) life men are on both sides: which means a motley alliance of orcs, beasts, demons, plain naturally honest men, and angels.96

Scholars of English literature William N. Rogers II and Michael R. Underwood note that a widespread element of late 19th century Western culture was fear of moral decline and degeneration; this led to eugenics.97 In The Two Towers, the Ent Treebeard says:98

It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun; but Saruman's orcs can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder what he has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended the races of orcs and Men? That would be a black evil!99

The journalist David Ibata writes that the interpretations of orcs in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films look much like "the worst depictions of the Japanese drawn by American and British illustrators during World War II".100 The Germanic studies scholar Sandra Ballif Straubhaar writes that there is evidence in Tolkien's writing of "a kind of racism perhaps not unremarkable in a mid-twentieth century Western man", but that this is often overstated, and must be balanced against the "polycultured, polylingual world" that is "absolutely central" to Middle-earth, as well as Tolkien's own "appalled objection" to those seeking to use his work to uphold racist ideas.101

Other fiction

As a response to the type-casting of orcs as generic evil characters or antagonists, some novels portray events from the point of view of the orcs, or make them more sympathetic characters. Mary Gentle's 1992 novel Grunts! presents orcs as generic infantry, used as metaphorical cannon-fodder.102 A series of books by Stan Nicholls, Orcs: First Blood, focuses on the conflicts between orcs and humans from the orcs' point of view.103 In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, orcs are close to extinction; in his Unseen Academicals, it is said that "When the Evil Emperor wanted fighters he got some of the Igors to turn goblins into orcs" to be used as weapons in a Great War, "encouraged" by whips and beatings.104

In games

Orcs based on The Lord of the Rings have become a fixture of fantasy fiction and role-playing games.

Dungeons & Dragons

Main article: Orc (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), orcs are creatures in the game, and somewhat based upon those described by Tolkien.105 These D&D orcs are implemented in the game rules as a multi-tribed race of hostile and bestial humanoids.106107108

The D&D orcs are endowed with muscular frames, large canine teeth like boar's tusks, and snouts rather than human-like noses.109110 While a pug-nose ("flat-nosed"111) was attributable to Tolkien's written correspondence, the pig-headed (pig-faced112) look was imparted on the orc by the D&D original edition (1974).113 It was later modified from bald-headed to hairy in subsequent editions.114 In the third version of the game the orc became gray-skinned,115116117 even though a complicated color-palleted description of a (non-gray) orc had been implemented in the Monster Manual for the first edition (1977).118 Newer versions seem to have dropped references to skin-color.119

Early versions of the game introduced the "half-orc" as race.120 The orc was described in the first edition of Monster Manual (op. cit.), as a fiercely competitive bully, a tribal creature often dwelling and building underground;121 in newer editions, orcs (though still described as sometimes inhabiting cavern complexes) had been shifted to become more prone to non-subterranean habitation as well, adapting captured villages into communities, for instance.122123 The mythology and attitudes of the orcs are described in detail in Dragon #62 (June 1982), in Roger E. Moore's article, "The Half-Orc Point of View".124

The orc for the D&D offshoot Pathfinder RPG are detailed in the 2008 book Classic Monsters Revisited issued by the game's publisher Paizo.125

Warhammer

Games Workshop's Warhammer universe features cunning and brutal orcs in a fantasy setting, who are driven not so much by a need to do evil as to obtain fulfilment through the act of war.126 In the Warhammer 40,000 series of science-fiction games, they are a green-skinned alien species, called Orks.127

Warcraft

Orcs are an important race in Warcraft, a high fantasy franchise created by Blizzard Entertainment.128 Several orc characters from the Warcraft universe are playable heroes in their crossover multiplayer game Heroes of the Storm.129

Other products

The orc features in numerous Magic: The Gathering collectible cards, in the 1993 game series published by Wizards of the Coast.130131

In The Elder Scrolls series, many orcs or Orsimer are skilled blacksmiths.132 In Hasbro's Heroscape products, orcs come from the pre-historic planet Grut.133 They are blue-skinned, with prominent tusks or horns.134 The Skylander Voodood from the first game in the series, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, is an orc.135

See also

  • Haradrim – the dark-skinned "Southrons" who fought for Sauron alongside the orcs
  • Orc (slang) – the modern pejorative usage of the word
  • Troll (Middle-earth) – large humanoids of great strength and poor intellect, also used by Sauron

Notes

Primary

Secondary

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orcs.

References

  1. Karthaus-Hunt, Beatrix (2002). "'And What Happened After': How J.R.R. Tolkien Visualized, and Other Artists Re-Visualized, the Denizens of Middle-earth". In Westfahl, Gary; Slusser, George Edgar; Plummer, Kathleen Church (eds.). Unearthly Visions: Approaches to Science Fiction and Fantasy Art. Greenwood Press. pp. 138n. ISBN 0-313-31705-4. 0-313-31705-4 ↩

  2. Lobdell 1975, p. 171. - Lobdell, Jared, ed. (1975). A Tolkien Compass. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-87548-316-0. ↩

  3. "Orc". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 26 January 2020. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/orc ↩

  4. Shippey 2005, pp. 362, 438 (chapter 5, note 14). - Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (Third ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0. ↩

  5. Schneidewind, Friedhelm (2007). "Biology of Middle-earth". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-4159-6942-0. 978-0-4159-6942-0 ↩

  6. Shippey 2005, p. 265. - Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (Third ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0. ↩

  7. Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison 25 April 1954 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  8. Shippey, Tom (1979). "Creation from Philology in the Lord of the Rings". In Salu, Mary; Farrell, Robert T. (eds.). J. R. R. Tolkien, scholar and storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-80141-038-3. 978-0-80141-038-3 ↩

  9. Carpenter 2023, #290a - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  10. Here: "orcus   [orc].. þrys ꝉ heldeofol" is the redaction given by Pheifer 1974, p. 37n but þrys appears to be a mistranscription for þyrs. The original text uses "ꝉ", the scribal abbreviation for Latin vel meaning "or", which Wright has silently expanded as Anglo-Saxon oððe. /wiki/%EA%9D%88 ↩

  11. Wright, Thomas (1873). A second volume of vocabularies. privately printed. p. 63. /wiki/Thomas_Wright_(antiquarian) ↩

  12. Pheifer, J. D. (1974). Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary. Oxford University Press. pp. 37, 106. ISBN 978-0-19-811164-1.(Repr. Sandpaper Books, 1998 ISBN 0-19-811164-9), Gloss #698: orcus   orc (Épinal); orci   orc (Erfurt). 978-0-19-811164-1 ↩

  13. The Corpus Glossary (Corpus Christi College MS. 144, late 8th to early 9th century) has the two glosses: "orcus, orc" and "orcus, ðyrs, hel-diobul.Pheifer 1974, p. 37n - Pheifer, J. D. (1974). Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary. Oxford University Press. pp. 37, 106. ISBN 978-0-19-811164-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=kN5ZAAAAMAAJ&q=orcus ↩

  14. Klaeber 1950, p. 5. - Klaeber, Friedrich (1950). Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment. Translated by John R. Clark Hall (3 ed.). Allen & Unwin. https://books.google.com/books?id=pEUkrusVxRIC ↩

  15. Klaeber 1950, p. 25 - Klaeber, Friedrich (1950). Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment. Translated by John R. Clark Hall (3 ed.). Allen & Unwin. https://books.google.com/books?id=pEUkrusVxRIC ↩

  16. Klaeber 1950, p. 183: "orcneas: 'evil spirits' does not bring out all the meaning. Orcneas is compounded of orc (from the Lat. orcus "the underworld" or Hades) and neas "corpses". Necromancy was practised among the ancient Germani and was familiar among the pagan Norsemen who revived it in England when they invaded". - Klaeber, Friedrich (1950). Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment. Translated by John R. Clark Hall (3 ed.). Allen & Unwin. https://books.google.com/books?id=pEUkrusVxRIC ↩

  17. Klaeber here takes orcus to be the world and not the god, as does Bosworth & Toller 1898, p. 764: "orc, es; m. The infernal regions (orcus)", though the latter seems to predicate on synthesizing the compound "Orcþyrs" by altering the reading of the Cleopatra glossaries as given by Wright's Voc. ii. that he sources. - Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Vol. 1 A-Fir. Clarendon Press. p. 764. https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlii1KgDngC&pg=PA764 ↩

  18. Shippey, Tom (1979). "Creation from Philology in the Lord of the Rings". In Salu, Mary; Farrell, Robert T. (eds.). J. R. R. Tolkien, scholar and storyteller: Essays in Memoriam. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-80141-038-3. 978-0-80141-038-3 ↩

  19. The usual Old English word for corpse is líc, but -né appears in nebbed 'corpse bed',[14] and in dryhtné 'dead body of a warrior', where dryht is a military unit. ↩

  20. Shippey 2001, p. 88. - Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0261-10401-3. ↩

  21. Klaeber 1950, p. 183: "orcneas: 'evil spirits' does not bring out all the meaning. Orcneas is compounded of orc (from the Lat. orcus "the underworld" or Hades) and neas "corpses". Necromancy was practised among the ancient Germani and was familiar among the pagan Norsemen who revived it in England when they invaded". - Klaeber, Friedrich (1950). Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment. Translated by John R. Clark Hall (3 ed.). Allen & Unwin. https://books.google.com/books?id=pEUkrusVxRIC ↩

  22. Klaeber 1950, p. 183: "orcneas: 'evil spirits' does not bring out all the meaning. Orcneas is compounded of orc (from the Lat. orcus "the underworld" or Hades) and neas "corpses". Necromancy was practised among the ancient Germani and was familiar among the pagan Norsemen who revived it in England when they invaded". - Klaeber, Friedrich (1950). Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment. Translated by John R. Clark Hall (3 ed.). Allen & Unwin. https://books.google.com/books?id=pEUkrusVxRIC ↩

  23. Shippey 2001, p. 88. - Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0261-10401-3. ↩

  24. Beowulf: A Dual-language Edition. Translated by Chickering, Howell D. Anchor Books. 1977. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-3850-6213-8. 978-0-3850-6213-8 ↩

  25. Gilliver, Peter; Marshall, Jeremy; Weiner, Edmund (2009). "Part III. Word Studies. Orc.". The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-0-19-956836-9. 978-0-19-956836-9 ↩

  26. Tolkien 1937, p. 149, n9 - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0. ↩

  27. Thorin Oakenshield's Elvish sword from Gondolin. /wiki/Thorin_Oakenshield ↩

  28. Tolkien 1937, p. 149, n9 - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0. ↩

  29. Gilliver, Peter; Marshall, Jeremy; Weiner, Edmund (2009). "Part III. Word Studies. Orc.". The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-0-19-956836-9. 978-0-19-956836-9 ↩

  30. Tolkien 1937, p. 62, n4 - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0. ↩

  31. Kemball-Cook, Jessica (February 1977). "Three Notes on Names in Tolkien and Lewis". Mythprint. 15 (2): 2. https://books.google.com/books?id=4s0qAQAAIAAJ&q=%22rist%22+%22cleave%22 ↩

  32. Tolkien 1937, ch. 4 "Over Hill and Under Hill" - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0. ↩

  33. Parma Eldalamberon volume XII: "Quenya Lexicon Quenya Dictionary": 'Ork' ('orq-') monster, ogre, demon. "orqindi" ogresse. [The original reading of the second entry was >'orqinan' ogresse.< Perhaps the intended meaning of the earlier form was 'region of ogres'; cf. 'kalimban', 'Hisinan'. 'The Poetic and Mythologic Words of Eldarissa' gives 'ork' 'ogre, giant' and 'orqin' 'ogress', which may be a feminine form. ...]" /wiki/Parma_Eldalamberon ↩

  34. Tolkien 1994, Appendix C "Elvish names for the Orcs", pp. 289–391 - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The War of the Jewels. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-71041-3. ↩

  35. Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison 25 April 1954 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  36. Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison 25 April 1954 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  37. Tolkien 1994, Appendix C "Elvish names for the Orcs", pp. 289–391 - Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The War of the Jewels. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-71041-3. ↩

  38. Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison 25 April 1954 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  39. Carpenter 2023, #144 to Naomi Mitchison 25 April 1954 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

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  41. In the Cleopatra Glossaries, Folio 69 verso; the entry is illustrated above. /wiki/Cleopatra_Glossaries ↩

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  102. Canavan, A. P. (2012). ""Let's hunt some orc!": Reevaluating the Monstrosity of Orcs". New York Review of Science Fiction. Retrieved 7 March 2020. A version of this essay was presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in 2012. https://www.nyrsf.com/2015/03/ap-canavan-lets-hunt-some-orc-reevaluating-the-monstrosity-of-orcs.html ↩

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  105. "'Orc' (from Orcus) is another term for an ogre or ogre-like creature. Being useful fodder for the ranks of bad guys, monsters similar to Tolkien's orcs are also in both games." Gygax, Gary (March 1985). "On the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D games". The Dragon. No. 95. pp. 12–13. /wiki/Ogre ↩

  106. Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte (1 October 2000). Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3 ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 146. ISBN 0-7869-1552-8. Orcs are aggressive humanoids that raid, pillage, and battle other creatures apud MacCallum-Stewart (2008), p. 41 0-7869-1552-8 ↩

  107. "Orcs gather in tribes that exert their dominance and satisfy their bloodlust by plundering villages, devouring or driving off roaming herd, and slaying any humanoids that stand against them".[40] quoted by Young (2015), p. 96. ↩

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  110. Crawford, Jeremy, ed. (July 2003). Monster Manual: Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook. Co-lead design by Mike Mearls (5 ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-7869-6561-8. 978-0-7869-6561-8 ↩

  111. Carpenter 2023, #210 - Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4. ↩

  112. Pramas, Chris (2017). Orc Warfare. New York: Rosen Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-5081-7624-4. 978-1-5081-7624-4 ↩

  113. Mitchell-Smith (2009), p. 219. - Mitchell-Smith, Ilan (May 2009). "11: Racial Determinism and the Interlocking Economics of Power and Violence in Dungeons & Dragons". In Harden, B. Garrick; Carley, Robert (eds.). Co-opting Culture. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7391-2597-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ar1yUk0aDS8C&pg=PA219 ↩

  114. Mitchell-Smith (2009), p. 219. - Mitchell-Smith, Ilan (May 2009). "11: Racial Determinism and the Interlocking Economics of Power and Violence in Dungeons & Dragons". In Harden, B. Garrick; Carley, Robert (eds.). Co-opting Culture. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7391-2597-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ar1yUk0aDS8C&pg=PA219 ↩

  115. Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte (1 October 2000). Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3 ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 146. ISBN 0-7869-1552-8. orcs... look like primitive humans with gray skin, coarse hair, stooped postures, low foreheads, and porcine faces with prominent lower canines... they have lupine ears. apud Young (2015), p. 95 0-7869-1552-8 ↩

  116. Williams, Skip; Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte (July 2003). Monster Manual: Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook (3.5 ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 203. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X. [The Creature] looks like a primitive human with gray skin and coarse hair. It has a stooped posture, low forehead, and a piglike face with prominent lower canines that resemble a boar's tusks. apud Mitchell-Smith (2009), p. 216 0-7869-2893-X ↩

  117. And the "Gray orc" introduced as a race.[42] ↩

  118. Gygax, Gary (December 1977). Monster Manual (1 ed.). TSR. p. 76. Orcs appear particularly disgusting because their coloration ― brown or brownish green with bluish sheen ― highlights their pinkish snouts and ears. Their bristly hair is dark brown or black, sometimes with tan patches. /wiki/Gary_Gygax ↩

  119. Crawford, Jeremy, ed. (July 2003). Monster Manual: Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook. Co-lead design by Mike Mearls (5 ed.). Wizards of the Coast. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-7869-6561-8. 978-0-7869-6561-8 ↩

  120. Either the D&D first edition[42] or Advanced D&D,[44] ↩

  121. Gygax, Gary (1977) Monster Manual, TSR. Also Young (2015), p. 97, citing this and subsequent editions of MM. /wiki/Gary_Gygax ↩

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