Orc (Middle-earth)

Orc or Ork, an Old English word (orc-néas 'orc-corpses' in Beowulf) for the zombie-like 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.

Related Topics:
Grendel - J. R. R. Tolkien - Middle-earth - Legendarium - Orc

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In Tolkien's writing, 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.

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Orcs are used as soldiers by both the greater and lesser villains of The Lord of the Rings — Sauron and Saruman.

Related Topics:
The Lord of the Rings - Sauron - Saruman

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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.

Related Topics:
Sindarin - The Peoples of Middle-earth - Tolkien's languages

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