ABOUT ORCS--THE ORIGINS OF TOLKIEN'S ORCS, THEIR VARIETIES, ETC.


ARE ORCS IMMORTAL??

That's the big question! According to the Silmarillion in its published form, the elves believed that orcs were first formed from corrupted and ruined elves who had been captured by Morgoth. Elves are immortal, of course (that is, they do not die of old age), while men are given mortality as a special gift of Eru. So presumably Morgoth would not be able to remove elvish immortality when he made his first orcs. Not that he'd really want to, of course, since it's much easier to build up an army if the troops aren't dying off or retiring.

By this train of logic, the orcs and goblins seen in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are immortal like elves. It would explain why the Great Goblin and his buddies who capture Bilbo and the dwarves recognize Glamdring and Orcrist, swords which were made in Gondolin TWO AGES before! It would also explain why Shagrat and Gorbag apparently remember the Great Siege of Barad-dur at the end of the Second Age. (At the very least, these two incidents must reflect an orcish culture with a very rich and strong oral history!)

It should be noted that Tolkien himself was undecided on this issue. His later versions of Silmarillion stories has orcs being derived from corrupted men, though in all fairness his very earliest writings say they were formed directly from stone by Morgoth. But as published, the Silmarillion definitely seems to have orcs showing up long before men do, so they must have been made from elves.

I'll admit that I found the idea of orcish immortality very hard to swallow at first, but it has grown on me. I console myself with the thought that very few orcs survive long enough to realize they are immortal!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gnolls in Dungeons & Dragons

Image
Gnoll flind Physical description In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game , gnolls greatly resemble hyenas [1] . They are usually between seven and eight feet tall, weighing around 250 to 320 pounds, [2] and use armor made of horn, metal, or leather [1] . Gnolls are generally depicted in the game world as feral nomads who kill and pillage without warning [3] . Their whole bodies are covered in reddish-brown fur which becomes shorter as it surrounds their faces and clawed hands to reveal grey colored skin. Their pelts vary from mono-colored to spotted and their eyes are either yellow or black. Subraces Within the context of the Dungeons & Dragons game, one notable subrace of gnoll is the flind (alternately spelled flynd ), which is shorter, broader, and stronger than other gnolls [4] ; flinds are often found leading a tribe or settlement of gnolls [4] . Flinds use a nunchaku -like weapon called a flindbar , which consists of a pair of metal rods linked t
Read more

Frost Giants - Heavy Support

Image
A frost giant’s hair can be light blue or dirty yellow, and its eyes usually match its hair color. Frost giants dress in skins and pelts, along with any jewelry they own. Frost giant warriors add chain shirts and metal helmets decorated with horns or feathers. An adult male is about 15 feet tall and weighs about 2,800 pounds. Females are slightly shorter and lighter, but otherwise identical with males. Frost giants can live to be 250 years old. Combat Frost giants usually start combat at a distance, throwing rocks until they run out of ammunition or the opponent closes, then wading in with their enormous battleaxes. A favorite tactic is to lay an ambush by hiding buried in the snow at the top of an icy or snowy slope, where opponents will have difficulty reaching them. Rock Throwing (Ex) The range increment is 120 feet for a frost giant’s thrown rocks. Frost Giant Characters Many groups of frost giants include clerics. A frost giant cleric has access to two of the following dom
Read more

ORCS: THE BAD GUYS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN'S MIDDLE EARTH

Image
I started doing historical reenacting in 1980, and have been involved in the Middle Ages, the American Revolution, the English Civil War, Roman (very intensely since 1991), Ancient Greek, and a couple other things on the side. (See links at bottom of page for evidence.) And now I want to be an ORC! Well, not really BE one, just assemble all the clothing and gear, an "impression", as we say in reenacting. It's only fair, since Tolkien was a big part of the reason I got into reenacting in the first place. So it's kind of like coming home again! Actually, I will be doing at least two impressions for starters. The Uruk-hai were always my heroes, and I loved the ones in the movie. But they do not match Tolkien's admittedly vague descriptions in the books. So, thought I, Do both! With my usual dedication to accuracy, I am attempting to recreate an Uruk-hai based closely on the movie, and an entirely different outfit following the books . Along the
Read more