Orcs

Orc or Ork, an Old English word (orc-néas 'orc-corpses' in Beowulf) for the undead monsters of Grendel's race, was revived by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth legendarium. For the origin of the word and its usage in other fantasy works, see Orc.

In Tolkien's writings, Orcs are described as humanoid, roughly human-sized, ugly and filthy. Although not dim-witted, they are portrayed as dull and miserable beings, who corrupt words (an insult to a philologist like Tolkien) and are only able to destroy, not to create. They have sour black blood; suggestive of reanimated corpses. Orcs are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings &mdash; Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman. The Orcs, here called goblins, also work independently as the common antagonists in The Hobbit.

In Tolkien's Sindarin language, "Orc" is orch, plural yrch. In his late, post-Lord of the Rings writings (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth), he preferred the spelling "Ork", evidently mainly to avoid the form Orcish, which would be naturally pronounced with the c as /s/ instead of /k/. (In Tolkien's languages the letter c was always pronounced /k/.) It is also possible that the word is a Common Tongue Version of 'orch', the Sindarin word for Orc. The original sense of the word seems to be "bogey", "bogeyman", that is, something that provokes fear, as seen in the Quenya cognate urko, pl. urqui.

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, and likewise Peter Jackson's films never show any of the Orcs as female. Presumably, an all male race would be incapable of sexual reproduction. However, one of Tolkien's theories possibly contradicts this (see below).

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").

Corrupted Elves
But, 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 &mdash; the purest form of life on Arda (the Earth) &mdash; 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 &mdash; a fact which, if true, would seem inconsistent with 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. This 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 Numenoreans.

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. (Morgoth's Ring, "Myths transformed", text X')


 * 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 (Author's footnote to the text X)


 * Melkor had corrupted many spirits - some great as Sauron, or less as Balrogs. The least could have been primitive Orcs. (Author's note to text)

Some cross-bred with Men
Later under Morgoth's lieutenant, the necromancer Sauron, it has been suggested that Men were cross-bred with the Orcs. This process was later repeated during the War of the Ring, creating the fierce Orcs known as Uruk-hai. This could suggest that there were, in fact, female orcs.

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 (…). ('Morgoth's Ring', "Myths transformed", text VIII')

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.

While Tolkien originally 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 Orc origin question 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.

It is interesting to note that to an extent, Tolkien did not regard Orcs as evil in their own right, but only as tools of Morgoth and Sauron. He wrote once that "we were all orcs in the Great War", indicating perhaps that an Orc for him was not an inherent build-up of personality, but rather a state of mind bound upon destruction.

Orcs and goblins
In The Hobbit, Tolkien used the word "goblins" for Orcs, because he had not yet identified the world of The Hobbit with Middle-earth (which predated The Hobbit by several decades, in early writings which would later become The Silmarillion). Fortunately Tolkien did include some references to his mythology in the Hobbit, which later allowed him to identify the lands of the Hobbit with his Middle-earth. The term "Orc" does occur, but only in an instance where Gandalf is trying to scare Bilbo by mentioning creatures of the wilderness.

In The Lord of the Rings, "Orc" is used predominantly, and "goblin" mostly in the Hobbits' speech.

This change can be seen either as a part of the shift towards the use of Elvish words that occurred during the period between the writing of The Hobbit and the writing of The Lord of the Rings, or a translation of the Hobbits' more colloquial manner (if we "accept" the books' authenticity and regard Tolkien merely as a translator). So essentially the race is correctly named "Orc", and "goblin" is a colloquial slang term for Orcs used by Hobbits and sometimes picked up by Men and Elves.

It is possible that "goblin" refers to the those of the orcish race who are not under the control of Sauron (or Morgoth), whereas using "orc" directly would refer to servants of (whichever) Dark Lord, but this is only readers' conjecture. Tolkien did mention several times that orcs were not inherently evil, something this theory would partly emphasize.

The original edition of The Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings first used 'goblin' everywhere and used 'hobgoblin' for larger, more evil goblins: when "goblin" and "goblins" were replaced with "Orc" and "Orcs", Tolkien invented the term Uruk-hai for his stronger Orcs.

Historical Notes
On the subject of orcish tendencies to good and evil, it is interesting to note that page 364 of The Silmarillion states 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." This refers to the Last Alliance at the Battle of Dagorlad and the subsequent siege of Barad-Dur and would seemingly imply that at least some orcs fought against Sauron.

Peter Jackson's movie version shows only men and elves on the side of the Last Alliance, though since we only see distance shots and close-ups this may not definitely be the case.

Azog
Azog was the name of an Orc chieftain who lived in Moria from about 2480 to 2799 Third Age.

He started the War of the Dwarves and Orcs in 2790 T.A. by killing Thrór, who came to revisit the ruins of Khazad-dûm.

In the following years, he was the common enemy of all Dwarves, and the war he started climaxed in the Battle of Azanulbizar, where he killed Náin, only to be himself slain by Náin's son Dáin.

His son, Bolg, inherited the rulership in Moria and continued it for another 150 years.

Boldog
The name Boldog was used by several Orc chieftains during the First Age. It is probable that Boldog was actually a title, given to lesser Maiar, servants of Morgoth, who had taken an orcish hröa. Several Orc leaders, such as the Great Goblin from The Hobbit, might have been Boldogs.

Bolg
Bolg was an Orc chieftain, the son of Azog, who came to power in Moria after Azog was killed in the war with Dwarves.

Bolg ruled Moria for some 150 years and led an army of orcs in the Battle of Five Armies. He was killed by Beorn.

Golfimbul
Golfimbul was a chieftain of the Orcs of Mount Gram, who led his band in an invasion of The Shire. He was defeated at the Battle of Greenfields by Bullroarer Took. His head was chopped off and fell into a rabbit's hole. According to Hobbit folklore, the name of golf is therefore a shortening of his name. Some fans consider his name specifically constructed for this pun.

The Orc incursion in the northern Shire occurred during the reign of Arassuil as Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and the Orcs led by Golfimbul were but the most western pack of Orcs which had left the Hithaeglir. The only reason Golfimbul could make it all the way to the Shire was that the Rangers at the time were fighting many battles with Orcs, preventing them from settling all of Eriador.

Gorbag
Gorbag was an Uruk-hai, the captain of an Orc troop of Minas Morgul, who was slain by Shagrat in the Tower of Cirith Ungol in a dispute during the War of the Ring.

In Peter Jackson's film version, Gorbag is an Orc, not an Uruk, and he is killed by Sam during Frodo's rescue.

Gorgol
Gorgol was an Orc chieftain, also called the Butcher, who lived in Middle-earth during the First Age. He was slain by Beren.

Great Goblin, The
The Great Goblin was an Orc leader who lived in the Misty Mountains during the Third Age, as recounted in The Hobbit. His followers captured Thorin, Bilbo and company during the quest for the Lonely Mountain, and took them to their underground stronghold, Goblin Town. He was slain by Gandalf.

Grishnákh
An Orc captain from the ashen wastes of Mordor, Grishnákh was part of a group of Orc hunters under Sauron's dominion that joined Uglúk's Uruk-hai troop on the plains of Rohan. Grishnákh's plans for the troops' captives, Merry and Pippin, were in conflict with Uglúk's orders to deliver them to Saruman. Believing they might have the treasure his lord sought, he tried to steal the Hobbits away from the Uruk-hai in order to take what they had for himself; eventually leading to his death by a Rider's spear.

In the Lord of the Rings movies, Grishnakh is killed by Treebeard, who steps on him.

In Sierra Entertainment's War of the Ring real-time strategy game, he is a playable hero.

Varg Vikernes of the Norwegian black metal band Burzum whose music has borrowed heavily from both Tolkien's writing and Norse mythology took the moniker Count Grishnackh for a period of time.

Lagduf
Lagduf was an Orc of the tower of Cirith Ungol under the command of Shagrat; he and Muzgash were killed by Gorbag's Orcs in the battle over Frodo's mithril-shirt.

Lugdush
He was one of Saruman's Uruk-hai, and appears to be a trusted subordinate of Uglúk.

Lurtz
Lurtz does not appear in the book. He is a character created specifically for Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare.

Lurtz was the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, and led them into battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. Lurtz also appeared to be the largest Uruk-hai. In the book, Boromir is slain by an unnamed orc or orcs; he is described as having been "pierced by many arrows". In the movie he is killed by Lurtz, who shoots him three times. Aragorn then intervenes, and after a brief fight stabs Lurtz and then removes his head, leaving his body standing for a few seconds before toppling over. In the book Uglúk was the leader of the orc-band from the beginning.

The name "Lurtz" may have been derived by Jackson and his co-writers from the style of Tolkien's Orkish language, specifically the name Lugburz, but it also sounds similar to Lurch from The Addams Family.

Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the film, and is only known from the franchise and credits. Despite some initial fears that he was an entirely new character, he really wasn't much different from other 'generic Orc leaders' already present in the book.

The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth.

Gothmog
Gothmog is Sauron's top general. It is unclear what species he truly belonged to, with possibilities of being Orc, Haradrim, Easterling or even Undead. Some confusion also arose because Gothmog is a name carried by the lord of Balrogs; showing that he was probobly meant to be a Ring Wraith. However, In Peter Jackson's film Return of the King, Gothmog was portrayed as a hideously deformed orc, and was castellan of Minas Morgul. He served as the top orc commander at the siege of Minas Tirith, ordering the use of catapults and siege towers as well as the Grond siege engine. He was caught up in the retreat when the riders of Rohan fell on the orc army.

In the extended edition, Gothmog is seen attempting to kill Éowyn, but his arm is removed by Aragorn and he is slain by Gimli son of Gloin.

Gothmog is also the name of one of the playable characters in the CRPG Dungeon Master

Mauhúr
Orc of Isengard. Mauhúr may have been an Uruk-hai. On the night of February 28-29, 3019, Mauhúr led a company of reinforcements through the eaves of Fangorn Forest to come to the aid of Uglúk. Uglúk's company had been surrounded by a group of Rohirrim led by Éomer. When Mauhúr's company attacked, some of the Rohirrim rode to meet them while the others closed in around Uglúk's camp. Uglúk's captives, Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took, found themselves outside the circle and were able to escape into Fangorn Forest. Mauhúr and his company were killed or driven off by the Rohirrim.

Muzgash
Muzgash was an Orc of the tower of Cirith Ungol under the command of Shagrat; he and Lagduf were killed by Gorbag's Orcs in the battle over Frodo's mithril-shirt.

Radbug
Radbug was an Orc, probably of the tower of Cirith Ungol, who was killed by Shagrat in the battle over Frodo's mithril-shirt.

Shagrat
Shagrat was the Orc in command of the tower of Cirith Ungol, which guarded a pass into Mordor. After the discovery of the unconscious Frodo, he had Frodo put into the highest room of the tower. In a dispute over Frodo's mithril-shirt, most of Shagrat's and Gorbag's Orcs were killed. Shagrat was one of only two Orc survivors. He took the mithril-shirt, as well as Frodo's Elven cloak and Sam's sword, to the Barad-dûr. These were used by the Mouth of Sauron as evidence of Frodo's capture.

Sharku
Appearing only in the film adaptation of The Two Towers, Sharku is the leader of Saruman's Warg-riders. Sharku means "old man" in the language of Saruman's servants and may be a designation that he is an elder. However, in the book Sharku refers to Saruman himself. Modifed to "Sharkey.

Snaga
Snaga is a name or title applied to two Orcs:


 * 1) A scout in the band of Orcs that captured Merry and Pippin.
 * 2) The only surviving subordinate of Shagrat after battle in the tower of Cirith Ungol (who subsequently died when he fell through the trap-door during Sam's rescue of Frodo).


 * (Snaga is translated as 'slave' in the Appendixes.)

Ufthak
Ufthak was in the service of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, under the command of Shagrat. He was captured, poisoned, and then forgotten by Shelob. Nonetheless, his fellow Orcs who discovered him made no attempt to rescue him, for they were humored at his hanging and because they didn't want to interfere with Shelob.

Uglúk
He was one of Saruman's Uruk-hai, and the leader of the band of Orcs that attacked the Fellowship of the Ring and captured Merry and Pippin. He and his band were slain by Rohirrim commanded by Éomer.

In Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of The Two Towers, Uglúk is played by Nathaniel Lees.

According to The Fellowship of the Ring movie, the initial leader of the orc-band was Lurtz, who was slain by Aragorn at Amon Hen.