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In terms of "political factions", the Orcs served Morgoth in Angband and subsequently Sauron in Mordor. By the time of the War of the Ring, some served Saruman in Isengard. However, as Sauron laid low after losing the Ring at the end of the Second Age (before returning to Mordor), some Orcs must have worked independently. Before and during the time when The Hobbit takes place, some Orcs had Mount Gundabad as their capital, the Orcs of the Misty Mountains were apparently ruled by one "Great Goblin", the former Dwarf-realm of Moria was held by Orcs under one Azog and then his son Bolg, and one Golfimbul had led the Orcs of Mount Gram in a foray into the Shire.

Orkish culture

Tolkien does not elaborate much on Orc culture and customs. However, we do know that Orcs know some form of healing arts (as the Orc-band apply harsh Orkish medicine to Merry's injuries while in their captivity). We also know that their armour, though inferior to that of Elves and Dwarves, is serviceable enough. Also, they often use poisoned blades (as Aragorn states as he inspects a wound of Sam; the wound is fortunately not poisoned) and arrows (as they use such on Isildur). Also, they like to sing horrible songs (as in The Hobbit). The goblins of the Misty Mountains were a smaller breed of Orc, and could also invent horrid machines used to torture and kill things.

Orkish diet

In The Hobbit, Tolkien indicates that Orcs are "always hungry", although given the demeanour of that book, it is not clear if this is an exaggeration or not. Orcs do eat all manner of flesh, including those of men and horses, except perhaps their own, although the implications of cannibalism among Orcs is alluded to quite frequently. In Chapter II of The Two Towers, Grishnákh, leader of the Mordor Uruks, accuses the Uruks of Saruman (who look different from them) of eating Orc-flesh, which the latter angrily deny. Later Shagrat of Cirith Ungol threatens to "eat" a disobedient snaga (slave), although this could be simply an emotional or symbolic threat (prior to this, however, Shagrat indicates that Gorbag could be "for the pot" after suggesting that the envenomated Frodo should "go in the pot", itself indicating a stew or broth that the Orcs eat). In the film version of The Two Towers, the Uruk Uglúk beheads a rebellious orc, then says, "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!" Immediately, the other Uruks and orcs fall upon the dead corpse, and entrails are seen flying through the air.

Orkish language

The Orcs had no language of their own; merely a piecemeal of corrupted versions of words derived from various languages. However, individual tribes developed dialects that were so widely different from each other that the Orkish tongue was of no use for communication between tribes; for this purpose, Westron was used, albeit with a crude accent. The few words in common usage throughout Orc tribes extant in the text of The Lord of the Rings are from Black Speech; some examples are ghâsh, "fire", sharkǔ, "old man" (referring to Saruman's nickname of "Sharkey" during The Scouring of the Shire), snaga, "slave", and Uruk. Another "Orkish" word is tark, "man of Gondor", from Westron and ultimately Quenya tarkil, "high man".

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 Barad-dûr.

A substantial sample of debased Black Speech/Orkish can be found in The Two Towers, where the Mordor Uruk Grishnákh curses the Isengard Uruk Uglúk:

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!". However, in a note published in the Tolkien scholarly linguistic journal Vinyar Tengwar this alternative translation is given: "Uglúk to the dung-pit with stinking Saruman-filth, pig-guts, gah!"

Some speculate that Tolkien may have drawn upon the language of the ancient Hittites and Hurrians for his Black Speech/Orkish.

Orcs and Evil

On the subject of Orkish tendencies to good and evil, The Silmarillion states of the Last Alliance at the Battle of Dagorlad and the subsequent siege of Barad-dûr that "All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only. They alone were undivided and followed Gil-galad. Of the Dwarves, few fought upon either side; but the kindred of Durin of Moria fought against Sauron." ("Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age") Since the Elves alone were said to be undivided, this apparently implies that at least some Orcs fought against Sauron, though this may be an overliteral interpretation of the passage. Orcs are known to fight amongst themselves frequently, if not actually against Sauron. On the subject of orc redeemability Tolkien wrote in one of his letters "I nearly wrote 'irredeemably bad'; but that would be going too far. Because by accepting or tolerating their making — necessary to their actual existence — even Orcs would become part of the World, which is God's and ultimately good. That God would 'tolerate' that, seems no worse theology than the toleration of the calculated dehumanizing of Men by tyrants that goes on today."

To some extent Tolkien did not regard Orcs as inherently evil, or evil in their own right, but rather as tools and slaves of Morgoth and Sauron, hating themselves and their masters as they hated everyone else. He wrote once that "we were all orcs in The Great War".Template:ME-fact

The origin of Orcs

The origin of Orcs is an open question. In Tolkien's writings, evil is not capable of independent creation, making it unlikely that the Vala Morgoth, who was obviously the first to produce them, could do that ex nihilo.

Unlike the orc-néas ('orc-corpses') of Beowulf, no female Orcs are ever mentioned by Tolkien in any publication. However, in the published Silmarillion it is stated that Orcs "breed after the manner of Elves and Men", implying that there are; in The Hobbit the Orc Bolg is the son of one Azog, while Gollum is described as having eaten a young Orc child ("goblin-imp") shortly before he first met Bilbo. Tolkien confirms in a letter that female Orcs did exist.

Made from the earth

According to the oldest "theory" proposed by Tolkien (found in The Fall of Gondolin, from The Book of Lost Tales, circa 1917 — the first tale of Middle-earth to be written in full), Orcs were made of stone and slime through the sorcery of Morgoth ("bred from the heats and slimes of the earth" — The Book of Lost Tales, Vol. 2).

Corrupted Elves

Tolkien later changed the legendarium so that Morgoth could no longer produce life on his own, and amended the origins to the "theory" that would eventually be published in The Silmarillion: that the Orcs were transformed from Elves — the purest form of life on Arda (the Earth) — by means of torture and mutilation; and this "theory" would then become the most popular. Moreover, if Orcs were in fact Elves at their core, this could perhaps mean that they were also immortal — a fact which, if true, would seem inconsistent with J. R. R. Tolkien's treatment of Orcs, although the books do not openly confirm or deny it. If Orcs indeed were immortal, it holds no doubt that their fëar would not be allowed reincarnation by Mandos, if they even answered the calling. Most Orcs would probably fear the calling of Mandos, and therefore would see their fëar diminished to evil spirits. These may have been some of the evil spirits occasionally described in the books, such as the spirit which tempted Gorlim of Barahir's company, or the Barrow-wights.

There is some evidence for the immortality, or otherwise long life of Orcs in The Two Towers: Gorbag and Shagrat, during the conversation which Sam overheard, mention the "Great Siege" of the Last Alliance. It is possible to interpret from the sentence that they were actually there and remembered it themselves: an event which lay millennia in the past. Another interpretation of this conversation is that this "Great Siege" could have instead been merely the current siege ongoing at Minas Tirith, or the siege of Minas Morgul. They certainly did live for at the very least hundreds of years, since Bolg was the son of Azog and his death occurred over 140 years after the death of his father. This second theory is consistent with a statement made in the "Myths Transformed" essay of Morgoth's Ring that the orcs had short lifespans in relation to the Númenóreans. The published Silmarillion states also that the Orcs reproduce after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar (i.e. Men and Elves). In the Hobbit, Gollum remembers killing and eating a "small goblin-imp," which probably refers to a baby or child goblin.

Since this version of the origin of Orcs explicitly appears in the published Silmarillion, many have accepted it at face value as Tolkien's final views on the matter. However, as can be seen, Tolkien wrote later differing accounts, which may reflect his final intentions (see Middle-earth canon). This manner of the Orc's creation is referred to in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Saruman after creating the Uruk-hai. Note that the films are not canon, though.

Fallen Maiar

There are hints in the History of Middle-earth series of books, (especially in Morgoth's Ring in the section "Myths Transformed"), that some Orc leaders, such as the First Age's Boldog, or the Great Goblin encountered by Bilbo and the Dwarves, may in fact have been fallen Maiar which had taken Orc form:

Some of these things may have been delusions and phantoms but some were no doubt shapes taken by the servants of Melkor, mocking and degrading the very forms of the children. For Melkor had in his service great numbers of Maiar, who had the power, as their Master, of taking visible and tangible shape in Arda.

Boldog (…) is a name that occurs many times in the tales of the War. But it is possible that Boldog was not a personal name, and either a title, or else the name of a kind of creature: the Orc-formed Maiar, only less formidable than the Balrogs

Melkor had corrupted many spirits — some great as Sauron, or less as Balrogs. The least could have been primitive Orcs.

Some cross-bred with Men

Tolkien also "suggested" that Men were cross-bred with Orcs under Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron (and possibly under Morgoth himself). The Uruk-hai are speculated to be created in this way. The process was later repeated during the War of the Ring by Saruman, enabling him to make his own hybrids.

There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile.

While Tolkien at some point saw all Orcs as descended from tortured Elves, later comments of his indicate, according to Christopher Tolkien in Morgoth's Ring ("Myths Transformed, text X"), that he began to feel uncomfortable with this theory. At about the same time he removed the references to the Thrall-Ñoldorin, he also began searching for a new origin for the Orcs. The question of Orc origin may have been one of the problems Tolkien tried to solve by completely changing the cosmology and prehistory of Arda. By setting the origin of Men back to almost the same time as the Elves, he possibly allowed for Men to be the origin of Orcs all along. Tolkien died before he could complete this upheaval of the cosmology, however, so the Elf origin was adopted in the published version of The Silmarillion.

Sentient beasts

Yet other of Tolkien's theories proposes that Orcs may have begun as animals of vaguely humanoid shapes, empowered by the will of the Dark Lord (first Morgoth, later Sauron):

The Orcs were beasts of humanized shape .

It is certain all Orcs were dependent on the Dark Lord in various ways: after their leader was defeated, the Orcs were confused and dismayed, and easily scattered by their enemies. In the millennia after Morgoth's defeat and banishment from Arda, they were without a leader, and degenerated to small, quarrelsome tribes hiding in the Misty Mountains. Only when Sauron returned to power did they begin to reclaim some of their old power. The same happened after Sauron's defeat by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men: only when Sauron returned as the Necromancer of Mirkwood did the Orcs become a real danger for Middle-earth again.

Individual Orcs

for Orcs unique to the New Line films

Influence on later fantasy

Tolkien's Orcs are a major influence on fantasy fiction and games; they are the literary precursors of the Orcs (and similar races) of many different settings. The Orcs of Warhammer Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, Warcraft and other games most often differ from Tolkien's Orcs in that they are taller and larger than humans and usually have green or greyish-green skin (in the case of the Warcraft Orcs, they even become the protagonists in the third game, redeeming themselves from the pact they made with the Burning Legion).

C. S. Lewis may have inserted a nod to his friend's Orcs in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. When Aslan goes to his death on the Stone Table, the narrator mentions various evil creatures gathered around the White Witch — including "Orknies" (the name is also directly based on the above Old English term).

Adaptations

Orcs have been featured in many adaptations of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, from film to stage to video games. The Goblins in the 1977 animated adaptation of 'The Hobbit were likened to the work of Maurice Sendak. and are portrayed in exactly the same manner as the Orcs in the sequel The Return of the King (1980 film). Some adaptations have made Goblins distinct from Orcs. This was implied in New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, and can be seen in the real-time strategy games The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II. In the former, Goblins can be used alongside common Orcs and Uruk-hai, while in the latter Goblins get their own playable faction.

In The Rise of the Witch-king, an expansion pack for The Battle for Middle-earth II, the Angmar faction uses "Gundabad Orcs" as ordinary foot soldiers, referring to their capital of Mount Gundabad. Like the Goblins of the Misty Mountains, they sometimes ride wolves in battle.

Notes and references

1. http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/orkish.htm
2. Unpublished letter dated 21 October 1963 to Mrs Munby
3. Morgoth's Ring, "Myths transformed", text X
4. Author's footnote to the text X
5. Author's note to text
6. Morgoth's Ring, "Myths Transformed" - Text X
7. 'Morgoth's Ring', "Myths transformed", text VIII'
8. O'CONNOR, JOHN J. The Hobbit (review), New York Times November 25, 1977

External links

A more detailed and 'technical' approach to a problem of the origin of the Orcs can be found under the following link:

Origin of the Orcs

The essay puts emphasis to different theories of the origin of the Orcs and their validity in the light of Tolkien's writings.

• Middle-earth Orcs
• Fictional goblins
• Fictional cannibals