Myth Monsters

Orc

June 09, 2022 Season 2 Episode 21
Myth Monsters
Orc
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Show Notes Transcript

For this week's episode, we're heading into the fantasy world of Tolkien - and looking at the brutish Orcs from (technically) English folklore. How do these monsters represent real life racism from Tolkien's era? How has the description of them changed over the years? Find out this week!

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INTRO:


Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 


These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.


I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.


Happy June and happy Pride month! It’s getting beautiful over here in the UK, although we do not have AC in our homes, so I imagine it will soon become unbearably hot in the coming weeks. I’ve personally started a new job this week, if you didn’t know - in my real life, I’m a tech support specialist for tech startups, which sounds really boring, but ya know - it pays the bills and keeps my brain going outside mythical beings. 


Speaking of which, this week, we’re not even looking at a myth monster - how terrible. I’m taking us to a fictional land, where the monster is so well placed and described that it’s mistaken for a real mythical monster. If you love your Tolkien, this week will be your fave - because we’re covering Orcs from technically, UK folklore and fictional mythology.


DESCRIPTION:


Orcs are actually an interesting creature to describe as there are a couple of different descriptions of them depending on where you’re taking them from. 


We kind of have to talk about the fact that these monsters are basically purely fictional and in fact aren’t a myth monster at all if I’m completely honest, but they’re so massive in the folklore and fantasy community that I kind of have to talk about them. 


There are technically two types of Orc based on this idea of them being mainly created from one story and developed in another. We will be calling these Tolkien Orcs, and Warcraft Orcs as the easiest way to identify them - of course I’ll be focusing on Tolkien first as these are the original. 


Tolkien Orcs are described as goblin-like humanoid creatures that were hideous, animalistic and filthy. They were smaller in stature than most humans, but had large fangs and tusks, a variation of skin tones from bright white to dark, as if burnt. They had an intense allergy to the sun, and would avoid it at all costs much like vampires. However, later on their cousin species Uruk-hai would be created to withstand the sunlight. There were also some records of half-orc, half man beings, who could withstand sunlight also. 


So how did they come about? They were originally elves, but were deformed, tortured and forced into dark caves - making them into dark creatures, who cannibalised themselves and others, morphing into something so opposite to the species they were born to. They would keep their pointed ears and elongated limbs - but suffer horrendous deformities. They were really crafty and generally quite clever, able to craft weapons, armour and machinery from metals and wood, and even craft tunnels and siege weapons.


They were still able to breed though, and after the first orcs were created, they would sit out the wars of men in the caves and mines - forming massive armies of cannibalistic, bloodlusting warriors, easily manipulated by the dark forces that linger there. They went on to be the largest race in the armies of the dark, serving the dark wizards and sorcerers such as Sauron and Saruman. They were generally evil, and sadistic with a penchant for torture whether they were serving someone or not. 


Depending on where they were from though, they would have differing languages - if they were from Mordor, the heart of the dark lands, they would speak Dark Speech. If not, they would speak the Common Speech or Westron, meaning other races could understand them, unlike the Dark Speech orcs, who only other evil races could understand. 


So we have all this fantastic description from Tolkien, and we’ll get onto how he got this idea for this horrible tainted race later on. However, the other idea that you may have in your head might be a little different - and I’d like to call them Warcraft orcs after the biggest and most popular franchise that uses them. 


Warcraft Orcs are described as huge, humanoid monsters, who embrace a tribal-like culture. They were usually green-skinned, and built like absolute tanks - usually using animal skin pelts and metal for armour, and animals such as wolves as mounts or hunting companions. Although these orcs are bloodthirsty, they also have a desire to belong, and live in peace to breed and live out their customs.


They would still have the tusks, and their skin tones could actually vary from white, green, red and brown - but it would usually be a clan by clan species of orc. The Warcraft orcs would come after the Tolkien orcs, inspired by his creation of the former, and adjusting them to fit into a tribal based people. 


They would also eat the bodies of their enemies, however, it was rare that these orcs would cannibalise each other. They are susceptible to dark magic, however, can also operate outside of anyone else's control and live a peaceful clan based life with their families and traditions. However, if they were exposed to dark magic, they would be considerably more aggressive. 


They were able to stand the daylight, and would live in all types of environments, including in the frozen mountains, the humid jungles, the arid deserts or even in tribal style cities. They also got on with other races, just not humans - and spoke the common tongue as well as Orcish, which is a really interesting racial concept that I’ll get into later.


Orcs in this context are born, and are naturally occurring. However, depending on the universe we’re talking about, they are usually an invasive race - which also links back to the whole racial issue that I mentioned above. 


Both races though would favour wearing armour, be that animal pelt or metals, and they would usually wield polearms, swords, axes, maces or crossbows.


ORIGIN:


This moves us on really nicely to etymology, which if you listened to the Ogre episode, you might find a bit familiar. The word Orc comes from the latin word ‘orcus’ who was the Roman god of the dead - if you want more info on this, go give the Ogre episode a listen! Orcus was described as a giant, who was incredibly ugly and aggressive, and kept in the underworld as a punishment. The word Orcus has both the term ogres and orcs deriving from it, which nicely links these monsters together. 


The word Orcus in Latin without the godly context though, means ‘goblin, spectre or hell-devil’ and just Orc in Old English means the same. It’s use goes back as far as the 10th Century in the Cleopatra Glossaries, and was also used in the epic poem Beowulf, where they’re used as another evil creature in this stanza;


Thence all evil broods were born,

ogres and elves and evil spirits

—the giants also, who long time fought with God,

for which he gave them their reward


In the original script, that second sentence there is actually ‘eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas’ so the word Orc is not being used for Ogre, but for evil spirits in English. 


However, Tolkien, who realistically created this monster, had his own elvish definition for this word. He actually stated that the Elvish word for orc was derived from a root ruku, which means fear or horror.


Now why am I even covering this? They’re clearly a fictional monster - well they have such a presence in folklore and fantasy writings, that we can’t really ignore them - and are so ingrained and well described within this space that they’re totally believable. I’ve counted them as a strictly English monster too, as Tolkien was of course English, and their name comes from an Anglo-Saxon derived word, which again was mostly English. 


In regards to comparisons to other monsters that do have a real presence in folklore, we can totally compare them to Trolls, Goblins and Ogres - one of which I’ve covered in another episode. We know that Goblins come into the description of Orcs, and that Trolls are linked in the Tolkien stories as they are often the muscle and/or mindless-brute like slaves serving the dark magic powers of Middle Earth. 


Now speaking of races, I did mention that there is an interesting racial history here. This translates into real life racism too. The idea of Orcs are that they were an evil race from the East, and Tolkien even said originally described them as ‘squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the least lovely Mongol-types’ in a private letter once. And as a white Englishman, who was writing in 1919 in England - you can see how this use of language and the association of this monster to the East is very much of its time. 


This is very much backed up in other media with Orcs though, as I said about the Warcraft orcs, they’re usually described as an invasive race from elsewhere - which the original occupants of the land seem to racially discriminate against, and attempt to push them out or eliminate them with violence. A perfect example of this is Warcraft itself, where the lore is based on the Orcs coming through a portal after stripping their own world of its resources through the use of black magic - then the humans and other fantasy creatures of the world rally against them to remove the threat of these huge, ‘brutish’ and tribal races. I think it’s a really interesting concept, and definitely says something about the creation of them in the Tolkien universe and even in the small real life folklore, as well as alternative media representations of them.


CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 


Onto the fantastic modern media section for this week, this is kind of where the juiciest bit of content is this week - as they are technically fictional monsters.


We’ll start with art as usual, and I’ve got to tell you that even though they’ve been around from the early 1900’s - there’s not any formal paintings or pieces of artworks around Orcs. Unless you count the illustrations in the Tolkien books themselves, what I would recommend this week is having a look at all the independent art from the LOTR series, Warcraft and D&D franchises that have been drawn up by independent artists. I’d really recommend these, they’re just so unbelievably cool and varied. 


In movies, we have quite a few like; Bright, Warcraft, In the Name of the King, Futurama: Bender’s Game and obviously we have to talk about The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series as a big point here.


Not only the noughties movies by Peter Jackson and the 2010’s Hobbit trilogy - but also the fantastic animated versions from the 1978 and 1980 with possibly the catchiest song ever in the former - where there’s a whip, there’s a way. It’s an absolute classic and great adaptation of the Tolkien books. 


For TV, we have; Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Wheel of Time, Star Trek, Disenchantment, WITCH, X-Men: Wolverine, My Little Pony ‘n’ Friends, Delicious in Dungeon, Monster Musume, Interspecies Reviewer, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime & Voltron: Legendary Defender. We’ve talked about Lord of the Rings, so with TV I can’t not add that there is a new Amazon series called Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which is due out soon based in the first age - which is pretty much guaranteed to have orcs in at some point.


In video games, we have absolutely loads this week. So get ready as we have the following; Allods Online, Battle for Wesnoth, Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magik Obscura, Blackthorne, Dragon Age, DragonQuest, Dungeon Crawl, Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Maker 2, Dwarf Fortress, Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Endless Legend, Fairyland Story, Fallout, Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, Gothic, Halo, Heroes of Might and Magic, Hex, Kingdom of Loathing, Knight Orc, Kohan, Last Armeggedon, Spyro, Legend of Zelda, Lineage 2, Master of Magic, Minecraft, Mutant Football League, Of Orcs and Men, Okiku, Orcs Must Die, Paladins, Pillars of Eternity, Serious Sam 2, Soulcaliber 6, Spellforce, Thunderscape, Ultima, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Warlords Battlecry, Wizardry & Xenoblade Chronicles 10.


My book recommendation this week is of course going to be Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, The Hobbit series or any of the other spin offs. They’re absolutely breathtaking books, but my warning to anyone willing to attempt reading them is that Tolkien, as amazing a writer he was, takes about 6 pages to describe a grain of sand so they are long and tough reads. If you want to go a bit easier on the Tolkien front, I’d really recommend David Day’s series on Tolkien lore - they’re the most beautiful leather bound books, and I believe you can get all 8 for about £40 - they have amazing illustrations and are certainly not as taxing as the actual Tolkien series.


If you want more fact stuff and not put yourself through literature torture, have a read of Discover Orcs, Boggarts, and Other Nasty Fantasy Creatures by A J Sautter for a great summary of British folklore monsters. 


DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 


Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?


Well based on the fact that they are realistically a fictional race of monsters, I’m going to have to say no on this one. However, I love the Tolkien and the Warcraft series that embody this race so much within their lore that I would absolutely love it if these were a historic race. Although, I suppose how far were humans away from being Orcish when we were Neanderthals? I suppose that’s up for debate. 


Either way, I think that Orcs being so embedded into folklore and myth by just stories that we all know are fictional is a testament to Tolkien and his absolute crazy obsession with description - so much so that I can actually write a whole 15 minute podcast on them as if they are a mythical being, as people could possibly even believe they exist based on the immense amount of lore surrounding them, even outside the Tolkien series.


But what do you think? Could Orcs really have existed? Let me know on Twitter!


OUTRO: 


Oh it’s so good to cover something a little more fictional with so much information on this week. I must say that I managed to write this episode in about an hour, when it usually takes me around 4-5 hours per episode because there was so much content on them. I actually sat in a Starbucks in a shopping centre writing this with very limited internet access and a large iced latte, which again, I wouldn’t usually do as I need the constant use of research sites - but this week I didn’t need it!


Next week, we’re heading back over the US of A for the first time in a little while, and we’re covering another folklore legend rather than a mythical beast themselves. We’re going to be looking at the haunting Black Eyed Children from US urban legend - don’t answer the door next Thursday for this one.


For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.


But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.





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