Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
Orc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An orc ( /rk/) is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as erce 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 gures in other fantasy and science ction 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 boars, wolves and wargs. 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 ghting skill is honed to maximum power and efciency.
Contents
1 Etymology 1.1 The inuence of Old English 1.2 Early modern usage 1.3 Similar words of distinct origin 2 Tolkien 2.1 Description 2.2 Origins 3 Other fantasy works 3.1 Dungeons & Dragons 3.2 Warhammer 3.3 Warcraft 3.4 Earthdawn and Shadowrun 3.5 Magic: The Gathering 3.6 Might and Magic 3.7 Heroscape 3.8 Elder Scrolls 3.9 Shadowspawn 3.10 Discworld 3.11 Fate 4 See also 5 References 6 External links
1 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
Etymology
The modern use of the English 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.[1] 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.[2] Later in his life, he expressed an intention to change the spelling to ork,[3] 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.
2 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
orcus [Old English] orc and [Latin] orcus [Old English] yrs oe heldiubol". The rst 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 rst 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 yrs 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.[10]
3 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
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 gercu, there is also Tyrolean ork, 'a house gnome' or 'a mountain spirit' that acts as a protector of wildlife.[13] 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.
Tolkien
Main article: Orc (Middle-earth) The humanoid, non-maritime race of orcs that exists in Middle-earth is the invention of J. R. R. Tolkien, albeit one which he stated in a letter was inuenced 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 *urk produces Sindarin orch, plural yrch. The Quenya words are said to be less specic in meaning than the Sindarin, meaning 'bogey'. For the specic 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 Dredain gorgn; in Khuzdul rukhs, plural rakhs; and in the language of Rohan and in the Common Speech, 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 lthy, with a taste for human esh. 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, at-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes... ...degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types".[14] They are portrayed as miserable, crafty and vicious beings. They ght ferociously as long as a guiding 'will' (such as Morgoth or Sauron) compels or directs them.
4 of 10 12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
Tolkien sometimes describes Orcs as mainly being battle fodder.[15] 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 esh, including the esh of Men. In Chapter II of The Two Towers, Grishnkh, an Orc from Mordor, claims that the Isengard Orcs eat Orc-esh, 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 ght occurred in which the Uruk-hai killed several Orcs; the narration is vague as to what species the esh belongs to.
Origins
Orc origins are rst described in The Tale of Tinviel as "foul broodlings of Melko[16] who fared abroad doing his evil work". In The Fall of Gondolin Tolkien wrote that "all that race were bred by Melko[16] 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."[16] 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 Ilvatar's creations the Eldar and Edain. See - The origin of Orcs for a full list of possible Orc origins proposed by Tolkien.
5 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
Games Workshop'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 ction environment that are capable of building crude, but functional vehicles, rearms 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 ght 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.
Warcraft
In the 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, erce 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 inuence, the Orcish Horde slaughtered many of the Draenei, who consequently ed from Draenor to escape the Legion and then were led to the world of Azeroth. After two devastating wars, the Orcs were nally 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 signicantly larger than humans, around 6.5 feet (2.0 m) tall when standing straight. Females, which rst 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 signicant 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 vilied. The humans' enmity and prejudice towards the Orcs can be traced back to the rst and second invasions and could be partially justied, 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
6 of 10 12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
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.
7 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
Heroscape
Main article: Heroscape In Hasbro's Heroscape line of game products, Orcs come from the pre-historic planet Grut and are thus known as Grut Orcs.[17] 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.[18] Several Orc champions ride prehistoric animals (including a Tyrannosaurus Rex,[19] a Velociraptor [20] and sabre-tooth tigers, known as Swogs,[21] indicating that the Orcs are accomplished animal tamers.
Elder Scrolls
In Tamriel, orcs are civilized elven 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 signicantly 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-le 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 specically 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 Pratchett'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 reect 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.
8 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
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 rhinoceros.
See also
Goblin Gremlin Kaiju Oni Orc (Blake) Ork (folklore) Orcs: First Blood, one of the few series where orcs are the main characters.
References
1. ^ Parmavilatkayat" volume XII: "Qenya Lexicon Qenya 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. ...]" 2. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937), Douglas A. Anderson, ed., The Annotated Hobbit, Boston: Houghton Mifin, 2002, foreword, ISBN 0-618-13470-0 3. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1993), Christopher Tolkien, ed., Morgoth's Ring, Boston: Houghton Mifin, p. 414, 422, ISBN 0-395-68092-1 4. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifin, #144, ISBN 0-395-31555-7 5. ^ Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings. 6. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994), Christopher Tolkien, ed., The War of the Jewels, Boston: Houghton Mifin, p. 391, ISBN 0-395-71041-3 7. ^ http://home.clara.net/andywrobertson/wolfemountains.html Unpublished letter to Gene Wolfe 8. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien, scholar and storyteller: Essays in Memoriam, Mary Salu, Robert T. Farrell (eds.), Cornell University Press, 1979, p. 291. 9. ^ Patricia Kathleen Brehaut, Moot passages in Beowulf, Dept. of English, 1961, p. 8. 10. ^ a b http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkney.htm 11. ^ See especially Basile's tales Peruonto and Lo Cuento dell'Uerco. 12. ^ Straparola was translated into Spanish in 1583. Independent of this, there is in Spain to this day the folktale of the huerco or gercu, which is a harbinger of impending death; a shade in the form of the person about to die. 13. ^ http://www.sphinx-suche.de/lexmonst/ork.htm (Google translation (http://translate.google.com /translate?u=http://www.sphinx-suche.de/lexmonst/ork.htm&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=de&tl=en) ) 14. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifin, p. 274, ISBN 0-395-31555-7 15. ^ See "The Battles of the Fords of Isen". 16. ^ a b c In Tolkien's mythology, the name of the Vala of evil was originally Melko; it was later altered to Melkor, a form that did not appear until the late 1930s. 17. ^ http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/default.cfm?page=Inside/CharacterDetail& char_id=2&set_id=3&set_type=2 18. ^ http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/default.cfm?page=Inside/CharacterDetail&
9 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc
char_id=103&set_id=8&set_type=2 19. ^ http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/default.cfm?page=Inside/CharacterDetail& char_id=42&set_id=1&set_type=1 20. ^ http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/default.cfm?page=Inside/CharacterDetail& char_id=39&set_id=3&set_type=2 21. ^ http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/default.cfm?page=Inside/CharacterDetail& char_id=33&set_id=4&set_type=2
External links
9 milestones in orcs history. Wired magazine article (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive /14.04/orcs_pr.html) Words at Random:The Maven's word of the day: Orc (http://www.randomhouse.com /wotd/index.pperl?date=19980622) Orcs History in Russian (http://fantsite.narod.ru/articles/9.html) RPG.NET Article about Orcs (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns /archetypology21dec01.html) Za Frmi (http://www.waerloga.com/zafrumi) The origin of "Orkney" (http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/orkney.htm) Orc Roleplaying Community website (http://www.orcs.ca/) Orc Magazine (orc-themed magazine parody) (http://www.orcmagazine.com/) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orc&oldid=467037717" Categories: Fantasy creatures Fantasy tropes Fictional life forms Fictional warrior races Orcs This page was last modied on 21 December 2011 at 15:47. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.
10 of 10
12/21/11 9:34 AM