TheEvilKing Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Do you prefer the classic orcs of Tolkien, or mayhaps Saruman's Uruk-hai? Do you like Jordan's trollops, or the flatheads of Abercrombie? Or maybe the perverted Sranc of Bakker? As with the dragons, I've got to give Bakker the win again here. Tolkien wins in terms of giving some of them actual personalities rather than just making them generic baddies, but Bakker wins by giving them the unique motivation of sexual pleasure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='TheEvilKing' post='1661463' date='Jan 25 2009, 12.58']As with the dragons, I've got to give Bakker the win again here. Tolkien wins in terms of giving some of them actual personalities rather than just making them generic baddies, but Bakker wins by giving them the unique motivation of sexual pleasure.[/quote] I agree with you TEK, the Sranc are right up there. The only slight problem here is that the Fantasy purists might argue that they are pretty far removed from the classic Orc and thus aren't really Orcs at all: the Sranc are hairless, with bone-white faces and beautiful "to the point of being repulsive". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Warhammer 40000 and Fantasy has the best Orks around, no if, buts or maybes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sio Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Do the Imperial Stormtroopers count as Orcs? I guess not. Tolkien's Orcs and Saruman's Uruk-Hai, definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatole Kuragin Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Ouroboros' post='1661472' date='Jan 24 2009, 22.14']Warhammer 40000 and Fantasy has the best Orks around, no if, buts or maybes.[/quote] Too cartoony. Tolkien wins the orc throw down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-ahrairah Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Considering that the very idea of an "Orc" as an evil goblin-like being was invented by Tolkien, there is really no contest. Within Middle-earth, the Uruk-Hai (as shown in the films) are the pinnacle of orchood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Yeah, I'm afraid I'd have to throw my lot in with Tolkien as well. I don't really see those other creatures as orcs... influenced surely but not orcs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 <------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. X Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Stego' post='1661500' date='Jan 24 2009, 23.53']<------[/quote] You are a damn sexy orc. It is known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='El-ahrairah' post='1661491' date='Jan 25 2009, 05.38']Considering that the very idea of an "Orc" as an evil goblin-like being was invented by Tolkien, there is really no contest. Within Middle-earth, the Uruk-Hai (as shown in the films) are the pinnacle of orchood.[/quote] But they aren’t very Tolkienesque. I’m sure a Tolkien Orc isn’t much larger than a Hobbit. Uruk-Hai may reach up to man-height. Warhammer Orcs for me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenryng Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Tolkien Orcs, definitely. Anything else isn't a damn orc, but a derivative thereof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I have a fondness for General Vrakk, the orcish general who led the troops of Zhentil Keep in the grand crusade against the Tuigan horde in the [b]Forgotten Realms[/b] [i]Empires Trilogy [/i]and later rose to command the city garrison of Zhentil Keep (before the city got obliterated by its own patron god when he didn't have a good day). Otherwise, Tolkien's orcs are up there. And absolutely not, under any cirmumstances, any of the orcs of Stan Nicholls' almost unreadably bad [b]Orcs Trilogy[/b]. [quote name='Stego' post='1661500' date='Jan 25 2009, 04.53']<------[/quote] Snarl is an orc? Who transforms into a stegosaurus? :stunned: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I am an Orc in World of Warcraft. He is named Stegho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenryng Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Werthead' post='1661724' date='Jan 25 2009, 09.44']I have a fondness for General Vrakk, the orcish general who led the troops of Zhentil Keep in the grand crusade against the Tuigan horde in the [b]Forgotten Realms[/b] [i]Empires Trilogy [/i]and later rose to command the city garrison of Zhentil Keep (before the city got obliterated by its own patron god when he didn't have a good day). Otherwise, Tolkien's orcs are up there. And absolutely not, under any cirmumstances, any of the orcs of Stan Nicholls' almost unreadably bad [b]Orcs Trilogy[/b]. Snarl is an orc? Who transforms into a stegosaurus? :stunned:[/quote] You know, it has been so long since I read that Empires Trilogy that I had forgotten all about that realm. (Inside joke, there. Horrible, yes, I know.) :-) Anyway, all I can remember of it was the third book. I should re-read it someday. While I know about the destruction of Zhentil Keep, I cannot remember when it was. Was it actually depicted in a book or series? As for Stan's series, I was disappointed by your comment, as that is in my to-be-read pile. That bad, huh? Snarl....HA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='TheEvilKing' post='1661463' date='Jan 25 2009, 03.58']Do you like Jordan's trollops?[/quote] What do Aes Sedai have to do with it? :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I have to go with the Orks of Warhammer, especially Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatuous Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Hereward' post='1661888' date='Jan 25 2009, 13.50']What do Aes Sedai have to do with it? :unsure:[/quote] Ok, that made me laugh. If Tolkien's Orcs are just evil goblin-like creatures then why aren't they just called Goblins? I thought Orcs were more porcine like but I don't know why I think that. From wiki: [quote]In Letter #210, Tolkien describes the Orcs as "degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types". Since the publication of Tolkien's epic novel, The Lord of the Rings, creatures called "orcs" have become a fixture of fantasy fiction and role-playing games. In these derivative sources, orcs and goblins are usually considered distinct races of goblinoids. For some time they were often depicted with pig-like faces, although there is no such description in Tolkien's work. A possible explanation of this is the coincidence with Irish orc (cognate of English pork) that means 'swine'. An alternative theory is that they were often depicted as pig-like due to the tusked and pig-like description of the orco (ogre) in Canto 17 of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. (The orco is, of course, described as pig-like because it gave Ariosto a chance to rhyme orco with porco "pig".)[/quote] Orco, porco, orc, pork; I still have no idea... Tolkien describes the Orcs as "degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types" Ok, I'm sticking with the pigs. Tolkien's are not the best Orcs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Fatuous' post='1661935' date='Jan 25 2009, 20.41']Ok, I'm sticking with the pigs. Tolkien's are not the best Orcs.[/quote] Maybe we could have some of the fans of Tolkien’s Orcs tell us what they like so much abou them? As far as I know, we know almost [i]nothing[/i] about them. The only thing I’m pretty sure about is that they are [i]small[/i]. (I’ve studied this question in detail many years ago, when arguing, on another forum, about what kinds of stats Orcs should have in a wargame. There’s extremely little information to be found in Tolkien, especially if you leave the Uruks out of it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 [quote name='Fatuous' post='1661935' date='Jan 25 2009, 20.41']If Tolkien's Orcs are just evil goblin-like creatures then why aren't they just called Goblins?[/quote] They [i]are[/i], throughout the entire Hobbit. The word [i]orc[/i] does not appear. Vice versa in LotR, as far as I remember. (It should be easy to prove me wrong on this. Please do so if I’m mistaken.) ETA: The Wikipedia article has all the details, actually. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc_(Middle-earth)"]Orc (Middle-earth)[/url] Nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadaad Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Narg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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