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Mordor orcs cannot endure the light of day, it tires and frightens them. They were not bred out of a desire to wage war but out of cruelty, and this shows in their ineffectiveness as soldiers. They are weak and cowardly. But they are also violent and cruel and know only hate and fear; both for their enemies and their masters, even themselves. Orcs are pitiful little wretches who enjoy hurting and killing others.
Orcs are not so much individuals as they are tools of destruction who occasionally think and speak and murder each other. They are the lowest of the low, doomed to a life of servitude and a violent death. Contrary to certain assumptions, the orcs have free will, as some of them apparently rebel against Sauron and desert from Mordor’s army. (Most likely out of greed and anger rather than moral objections, lol). Both the Dark Lord and the traitor Saruman actively keep certain information, such as knowledge about the Ring, from their orc and uruk servants. They speak either a butchered form of Westron or their own dialect of the hideous Black Speech, an evil language devised by Sauron for his servants to speak.
Their origin has been lost in the mists of time, but some claim that they are the descendants of the first Elves who were captured in the dark woods of Middle-Earth before sun or moon pierced that shadow, and twisted beyond recognition. Yet others claim they are beasts given sentience, or animated dead, or evil spirits given evil bodies.
~~~~~~
So, I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings again. Here's a bit of my thoughts behind this piece.
Appearance: The wrinkly appearance of this orc was inspired by bog bodies. Bog bodies are disgusting and frighten me very much. The original plan was to give him green-black skin like bog bodies, but I figured that a paler skin would make more sense given their weakness to sunlight. The cat-like reflecting eyes were chosen because of their nocturnal habits. The pointy ears where chosen because of the orcs’ similarity to the goblins and kobolds of folklore (and, if we’re to follow the fallen elves version, because they are fallen elves. This shit is easy.)
Armour: Its armour was decided by a bit of literary detective work and a bit of good old fashioned bullshitting: in Middle-Earth plate armour is not common. Prince Imrahil of Gondor wore full plate during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but he was one of the select few. Undoubtedly the industrial skill of Sauron is many times greater than that of the men of Gondor, but even then the complexity involved in making plate armour for his orcs (getting the iron, smelting the iron, measuring up the individual orcs, keeping a record of it all, etc.) would mean that Sauron most likely wouldn’t bother. Perhaps elite soldiers would be clad in plate armour, but the others would most likely go dressed in mail. The fur cloak and leather are made either of the animals in the newly annexed land of Ithilien or of the unkown animals which are kept on the strange farms in the east of Mordor, in Nurn.
Ornaments: On its scimitar, its forehead, and its shield are displayed the Eye of Sauron. The Eye serves as a portent of terror to its enemies and as a sign demanding obedience from its servants. On the belt buckle of the upper belt is carved an ugly face grinning wickedly. FOUNTAIN OF SPECULATIVE BULLSHIT INCOMING This ornamentation is a problem because it implies artistic intent and creation in orcs. (Unless you’d say “but it’s ugly, so it’s just part of their desire to ruin everything”, to which I would say “You are avoiding interesting discussions, get out of here”) In the books an orc knife is described as having an ugly face carved on its hilt. When I first read this it struck me as odd. I had only seen the movies at that point, so those where my point of reference, but in there everything about the orc equipment is purely functional (and of course, evil, with spikes and whatnot, but this is more an artistic impulse from the art department than from the orcs themselves). Oramentation is art, and art only happens in cultures. The movie orcs do not have a culture. Their lives are dominated by violence, and their gear is obviously made for violence and nothing else. But in the novels there is art, so there must be culture. This could mean that Tolkien royally fucked up by describing orcs as destructive impulse made flesh, but who carve intricate displays of their emotions into their weapons as a hobby. He’s trying to have his cake and eat it. It could also be that he did it on purpose and that it’s a rather tragic reminder of how the orcs are fallen elves (in some versions) and that a certain impulse to create still lingers in them, except that they only make ugly things now. BULLSHIT OVER, ALL CLEAR
The forest is supposed to be Ithilien, a wild strip of land that used to belong to Gondor between the Mountains of Shadow on Mordor’s western border and the great river Anduin. It was annexed by Sauron early in the days of the War of the Ring. It is here that Faramir son of Denethor and his rangers still dwell.
TL;DR I tried to put my own twist on “the orc”, using only the books and my own imagination, but the movies did such a good job that this has basically become a movie orc.
I might do a follow up with uruks, uruk-hai, trolls, goblins, southerlings, easterlings, nazgul. That Tolkien guy made up so much shit it’s unreal.
Alright, peace out mothafuckas.
Marius Koelink, 2012
Also, press download to check out the (bizarrely huge) full resolution. ------>
Mordor orcs cannot endure the light of day, it tires and frightens them. They were not bred out of a desire to wage war but out of cruelty, and this shows in their ineffectiveness as soldiers. They are weak and cowardly. But they are also violent and cruel and know only hate and fear; both for their enemies and their masters, even themselves. Orcs are pitiful little wretches who enjoy hurting and killing others.
Orcs are not so much individuals as they are tools of destruction who occasionally think and speak and murder each other. They are the lowest of the low, doomed to a life of servitude and a violent death. Contrary to certain assumptions, the orcs have free will, as some of them apparently rebel against Sauron and desert from Mordor’s army. (Most likely out of greed and anger rather than moral objections, lol). Both the Dark Lord and the traitor Saruman actively keep certain information, such as knowledge about the Ring, from their orc and uruk servants. They speak either a butchered form of Westron or their own dialect of the hideous Black Speech, an evil language devised by Sauron for his servants to speak.
Their origin has been lost in the mists of time, but some claim that they are the descendants of the first Elves who were captured in the dark woods of Middle-Earth before sun or moon pierced that shadow, and twisted beyond recognition. Yet others claim they are beasts given sentience, or animated dead, or evil spirits given evil bodies.
~~~~~~
So, I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings again. Here's a bit of my thoughts behind this piece.
Appearance: The wrinkly appearance of this orc was inspired by bog bodies. Bog bodies are disgusting and frighten me very much. The original plan was to give him green-black skin like bog bodies, but I figured that a paler skin would make more sense given their weakness to sunlight. The cat-like reflecting eyes were chosen because of their nocturnal habits. The pointy ears where chosen because of the orcs’ similarity to the goblins and kobolds of folklore (and, if we’re to follow the fallen elves version, because they are fallen elves. This shit is easy.)
Armour: Its armour was decided by a bit of literary detective work and a bit of good old fashioned bullshitting: in Middle-Earth plate armour is not common. Prince Imrahil of Gondor wore full plate during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but he was one of the select few. Undoubtedly the industrial skill of Sauron is many times greater than that of the men of Gondor, but even then the complexity involved in making plate armour for his orcs (getting the iron, smelting the iron, measuring up the individual orcs, keeping a record of it all, etc.) would mean that Sauron most likely wouldn’t bother. Perhaps elite soldiers would be clad in plate armour, but the others would most likely go dressed in mail. The fur cloak and leather are made either of the animals in the newly annexed land of Ithilien or of the unkown animals which are kept on the strange farms in the east of Mordor, in Nurn.
Ornaments: On its scimitar, its forehead, and its shield are displayed the Eye of Sauron. The Eye serves as a portent of terror to its enemies and as a sign demanding obedience from its servants. On the belt buckle of the upper belt is carved an ugly face grinning wickedly. FOUNTAIN OF SPECULATIVE BULLSHIT INCOMING This ornamentation is a problem because it implies artistic intent and creation in orcs. (Unless you’d say “but it’s ugly, so it’s just part of their desire to ruin everything”, to which I would say “You are avoiding interesting discussions, get out of here”) In the books an orc knife is described as having an ugly face carved on its hilt. When I first read this it struck me as odd. I had only seen the movies at that point, so those where my point of reference, but in there everything about the orc equipment is purely functional (and of course, evil, with spikes and whatnot, but this is more an artistic impulse from the art department than from the orcs themselves). Oramentation is art, and art only happens in cultures. The movie orcs do not have a culture. Their lives are dominated by violence, and their gear is obviously made for violence and nothing else. But in the novels there is art, so there must be culture. This could mean that Tolkien royally fucked up by describing orcs as destructive impulse made flesh, but who carve intricate displays of their emotions into their weapons as a hobby. He’s trying to have his cake and eat it. It could also be that he did it on purpose and that it’s a rather tragic reminder of how the orcs are fallen elves (in some versions) and that a certain impulse to create still lingers in them, except that they only make ugly things now. BULLSHIT OVER, ALL CLEAR
The forest is supposed to be Ithilien, a wild strip of land that used to belong to Gondor between the Mountains of Shadow on Mordor’s western border and the great river Anduin. It was annexed by Sauron early in the days of the War of the Ring. It is here that Faramir son of Denethor and his rangers still dwell.
TL;DR I tried to put my own twist on “the orc”, using only the books and my own imagination, but the movies did such a good job that this has basically become a movie orc.
I might do a follow up with uruks, uruk-hai, trolls, goblins, southerlings, easterlings, nazgul. That Tolkien guy made up so much shit it’s unreal.
Alright, peace out mothafuckas.
Marius Koelink, 2012
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