Sanders, Rob. "Xenos: Seven Alien Species With A Shot At Conquering the 40k Galaxy". Rob Sanders Speculative Fiction . Retrieved 1 February 2020. The orc features in numerous Magic: The Gathering collectible cards, in the 1993 game series published by Wizards of the Coast. [i] [57] J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Notes" #28 In the early Third Age, Orcs of the Misty Mountains - whose chiefs were great Orcs from Barad-dûr- ambushed Isildur and his escort at the Gladden Fields. In the ensuing battle they slew the High-king of Gondor and Arnor and his guards. [8]

a b c d Mohr, Joseph (7 December 2019). "Orcs in Dungeons and Dragons". Old School Role Playing . Retrieved 31 January 2020.Tally describes the orcs as a demonized enemy, despite (he writes) Tolkien's own objections to demonization of the enemy in the two World Wars. [30] 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: Are they the same thing in LotR and The Hobbit?” To answer, here is a quote from Gandalf in The Hobbit: Utumno, Angband, Mordor, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Mount Gundabad, High Pass, Dol Guldur, Isengard, Rhûn Stuart, Robert (2022). Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-97475-6. a b 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.

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. a b Ibata, David (12 January 2003). " 'Lord' of racism? Critics view trilogy as discriminatory". The Chicago Tribune. Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR in 1997, and subsequently published editions of D&D and Monster Manual.

Development log

The fate of the Orcs after the Third Age is unknown. Though many of the Dark Lord's footsoldiers fought on and were slain in the weeks following the Battle of the Morannon, the true number of Sauron's hosts is unclear, as are the numbers of Orcs not within Mordor that may still inhabit the rest of Middle-earth. It is at least known that the Orcs of Moria either fled or were slain by the Fourth Age, as it is mentioned that the Dwarves managed to retake Moria and the mines within it. Orcs based on The Lord of the Rings have become a fixture of fantasy fiction and role-playing games. Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 9552942. Rogers, William N. II; Underwood, Michael R. (2000). Sir George Clark (ed.). Gagool and Gollum: Exemplars of Degeneration in King Solomon's Mines and The Hobbit . Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.121–132. ISBN 978-0-313-30845-1. {{ cite book}}: |work= ignored ( help)

EtymologyIt is said that the word "Goblin" came from the Old French word "Gobelin," referring to an evil gnome. It is also said that the word could come from the word "Gobelinus," which has German, Latin, and Greek roots. Gobelinus is the name of a demon or devil that was said to haunt Normandy during the twelfth century.Khuzdul: Rukhs (pl. Rakhās), possibly derived from an unknown Avarin word of the same meaning [30] [note 3] Even when united, the Orcs were consumed with petty rivalries and hatreds. Each time he rose as Dark Lord, Sauron had to contend with many tribes of "wild" Orcs who spoke many tongues and had become accustomed to independence. To meld these disparate, mutually despised groups into a coherent force and prevent them from slaying each other, Sauron had to keep their hatred focused on an outside enemy: the Men and Elves of the West. In this he was highly successful: the Orcs he pressed into his direct service in his trained armies were so completely dominated by his will that they would die for him on command without hesitation. [17] Lifespan [ edit | edit source ] 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. [T 1] He explained that his "orc" was "derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability", [T 1] [15] and J.R.R. Tolkien, " Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion During the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron sent many Mordor-orcs to reinforce the Northern Orcs in an attempt to slow the advance of his chief adversaries, Gil-galad and Elendil; the Dark Lord's hordes, however, cowered from the Last Alliance and hid themselves in what would become Mirkwood. Cut off from Sauron's main host, they would remain unaware of their master's defeat and believe he had won. [8] Third Age Steady resurgence " Orcs again multiply in secret and occupy many deep places (especially those anciently made by the Dwarves) in the Misty Mountains. They do this so stealthily that none are aware of it, until they have great forces hidden and are ready to bar all the passes from Eriador into Anduin's vales, according to the plan of their master in Dol Guldur." — The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Tale of Years of the Third Age

Tolkien said that one of the reasons for choosing “Orc” over “Goblin” was the similarity with his fictional languages.[16] Indeed most Elvish, Mannish, and other words for Orc are similar to the English word. J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 210, (undated, written June 1958) The Return of the King (1980)This is another animated adaptation, but this time, the goblins were portrayed to be the same as the orcs. In the movie, Sam says he sees orcs in the tower and that Bilbo called them goblins. The orcs and goblins in this film were similar to the creatures in the animated movie The Hobbit (1977). But there were more variations in sizes and shapes, and some of them had a more bluish color. [1]When Sauron invaded Eriador in S.A. 1695, hordes of Orcs invaded the mountains again. Gundabad was taken and Ered Mithrin was raided. It was not only Orcs the Alliance fought but also other savage Easterlings. [14] TechnologyGoblins may seem to be a tribal and barbaric race. Still, they have more advanced technology compared to the other races in Middle-earth. In “The Hobbit”, you can read about it in the Over Hill and Under Hill chapter. Here, Tolkien states that the goblins make use of dark technology. The goblins were able to create devices that can kill in groups, they were able to come up with wheels and engines, and they have always loved to deal with explosives. The goblins were often equipped with scimitars, spears, axes, and bows.