Hobgoblins

A Hobgoblin in The Lord of the Rings Online

"Orc is not an English word. It occurs in one or two places [in The Hobbit] but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin for the larger kinds)"

—J.R.R. Tolkien, Preface to The Hobbit

Hobgoblins were stronger, larger, and more menacing than other Orcs. They are mentioned only once, by Gandalf, in The Hobbit. He described them as one of the many kinds of Northern Orcs inhabiting the Wilderland. Many of them are probably some form of Uruk-hai or else a particularly large breed of Orcs living in the wilderland. There is however no specific orc-race called Hobgoblins but it is simply the name for all larger kinds of Orcs, used in The Hobbit.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in a 1971 letter that in folklore hobgoblins were actually particularly small goblins of the traditional (not the Tolkien) kind, which is opposite to the case with the "goblins" (orcs) of The Hobbit.

In other writings

In The Motor-cyclists, the term “hobgoblins” is mentioned in a metaphor.

In adaptations

In The Lord of the Rings Online, Hobgoblins are a breed of large, tusked Orc-kind found in the Grey Mountains. They are not servants of Sauron and instead belong to the Frost-horde, followers of the dragon Hrímil Frost-heart. Hrímil was imprisoned in the dungeons of Barad-dûr for refusing to give up one of Seven Rings that she had swallowed. For this, the Frost-horde and all hobgoblins detest Sauron and his followers, only allying with them briefly as part of deception to further their own plans.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Bengali	হবগবলিনগুলি
Hebrew	הובגובלינים
Japanese	ボギー
Kazakh	Хобыжық (Cyrillic) Xobıjıq (Latin)
Russian	Хобгоблин
Spanish	Hobotrasgo
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Хобгоблін
Welsh	Bwci