The orcs are one of the most iconic fantasy races, having appeared in countless books, films, video games and other media over the decades. With their muscular frames, greenish skin, tusks and often aggressive behavior, orcs have cemented themselves as a staple adversary in many fantasy worlds. But where did orcs originally come from? Who first created them and established their appearances and characteristics? Let’s take a look at the early origins of the orcs.
Tolkien’s Orcs
The most direct origin of the archetypal fantasy orc can be traced back to the influential author J.R.R. Tolkien and his legendary Middle-earth books. Tolkien first introduced orcs in his 1937 novel The Hobbit as goblin-like creatures serving the dark lord Sauron. He expanded on their origins and culture in his later The Lord of the Rings trilogy, depicting them as brutish, bow-legged humanoids bred by the evil wizard Morgoth to serve as his soldiers and minions in the First Age.
Tolkien’s orcs were generally barbaric, living in tribes and lacking finer cultural qualities beyond a certain base cunning and skill at weapons-making. They feared sunlight and were bent solely on destruction, conquest and carrying out the will of dark powers like Morgoth and Sauron. Their appearance was similarly crude, with slanting eyes, long arms, dark and sallow skin and fangs. Tolkien thus codified the general perceptions of orcs that would carry through much of later fantasy fiction.
Tolkien’s Influences
In crafting his seminal orcs, Tolkien drew upon a number of mythological and literary sources. The description of orcs as ‘goblins’ links them to the goblins of European folklore, mischievous and grotesque sprites thought to cause misfortune and trouble for humankind. Tolkien was inspired by goblin depictions in the fairy tale works of George MacDonald and the hunting fantasy novel The Well at the World’s End by William Morris.
Another influence may have been H.G. Wells’ Morlocks from The Time Machine, with their lurking underground cannibalism and symbiosis with the surface-dwelling Eloi mirroring features of Tolkien’s orcs. Tolkien was also impacted by Norse and Old English epic poetry he studied as an academic, which have various goblin-like creatures. All these influences melded in Tolkien’s writings to generate a new vision of menacing orcs that would change fantasy fiction forever.
Orcs After Tolkien
With the runaway success of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, his concept of orcs quickly proliferated throughout fantasy literature and beyond. They became staple villains and monsters in countless imitator epics and pulp fantasy works in print and film. Major examples include the orcs and goblins in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia books, which borrow heavily from Tolkien’s model. Tabletop war games like Warhammer and RPG series like Warcraft and Elder Scrolls similarly adopted conventional Tolkien-esque orcs as marauding humanoid clans for players to battle.
D&D Orcs
Perhaps no work had a bigger impact in codifying orcs for future fantasy than the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Drawing direct inspiration from Tolkien, the first 1974 edition of D&D portrayed orcs as wicked goblin-folk who lived underground and served evil powers. They had grotesque features like snouts, fangs and stooped postures, and were defined by their hostility, hate and greed. Their god was even named Gruumsh, an obvious nod to Tolkien’s orc chieftain Grishnakh.
These D&D orcs became the template for orc depictions in RPG series like Warhammer and video games like World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls. Game artists and designers faithfully reproduced all their visually ugly features and violent behavior. Given D&D’s massive influence on the fantasy genre, this interpretation of savage, beastly orcs became truly ubiquitous. By the 21st century, orcs had developed an identity completely distinct from their goblin progenitors, but still fundamentally rooted in the essence of Tolkien’s harsh vision.
Reimagining Orcs
In recent decades, some authors have started to rethink conventional portrayals of orcs that paint them as universally evil creatures. Works like Mary Gentle’s Grunts! novel and Stan Nicholls’ Orcs fiction depict more nuanced orc societies capable of compassion, culture and cooperation. They push back against a monolithic view of orcs as irredeemable monsters deserving only to be slain by heroes. Stories like these restore some of the trickster qualities harkening back to orcs’ mythological goblin roots.
Similarly, many modern RPGs allow players to create orc characters that can rebel against their prescribed warlike culture to follow other alignments and pursuits. There is also greater sensitivity toward the uncomfortable racial connotations of orcs as dark-skinned savages pitted against white human protagonists. Calls for orc depictions to move beyond these racist undertones have grown. The modern orc image is thus gradually shifting away from thoughtless demonization toward more varied portrayals within diverse settings and genres.
Conclusion
In tracing the origins of orcs, we see how profoundly they were defined and established as a core fantasy race by J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings in the mid-20th century. Tolkien synthesized elements of mythological goblins, fairy tales, and classic literature to craft a new vision of the brutal orc that was perfect for standing as the threatening but unrefined foil to mannish heroes and elegance of elvish races. This template was codified and propagated across fantasy by the far-reaching influence of Dungeons & Dragons, turning orcs into the beastly green marauders most recognize today. But renewed imaginings of orc cultures reveal possibilities to take orcs beyond just a mindless horde for fantasy protagonists to vanquish. The archetypal orc lays the foundation, but modern tales continue to refine and redefine their potential.