- "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, prefatory note to The Hobbit
Hobgoblin was a name "for the larger kinds"[1] of Orcs found in Middle-earth in the Third Age. During the Quest of Erebor, Gandalf warned Bilbo Baggins that "the slopes of the Grey Mountains" were infested with hobgoblins in addition to the other kinds of Northern Orcs inhabiting the Wilderland.[2]
In other versions[]
In an early draft of The Hobbit, hob-goblins inhabited "the slopes of the North End of the Misty Mountains" instead of the Grey Mountains.[3]
In a letter on January 8, 1971 to Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green, Tolkien commented 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.[4]
It has been speculated that "the term perhaps, but doubtfully, refers to the large soldier-orcs known as Uruks",[5] possibly since J.R.R. Tolkien had not created the latter name by the time of his writing of The Hobbit.
In other writings[]
In The Motor-cyclists, the phrase "hooting hobgoblins on harsh horns" is mentioned in a metaphor.[6]
In adaptations[]
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game[]
In the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game, the "Hobgoblins" card was released in two editions: one for the expansion set Middle-earth: The Dragons (card art by Ron Chironna) and one for Middle-earth: The Lidless Eye (card art by Heather Hudson).
The Lord of the Rings Online[]
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 |
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ The Hobbit, "prefatory note"
- ↑ The Hobbit, ch. 7: "Queer Lodgings"
- ↑ The Hobbit, The Second Phase, VII: "Medwed"
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 319, pg. 406
- ↑ "Hobgoblins" on The Encyclopedia of Arda, September 5, 2010
- ↑ The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, Vol. One, no. 63: The Motor-cyclists