Which real race were the Orcs modelled upon?

[Quackers]

The only qualification to be an Avari is to have not seen the "light of valinor" or some vague, tolkeinesque term. So by your own qualification legolas is a Dark Elf because he did not make it that far. Plus I'm not certain whether they "followed" the Gods, Tolkein is very unclear about this it sounds like there were just messages in nature urging them to sail to the undying lands.
Also that makes Legolass part-maia too :O

 

[Plotinus]

It wasn't the "light of Valinor", it was the light of the two Trees that existed before the Sun and Moon, Telperion and Laurelin. The Avari or Moriquendi are those elves who never saw that light because they awoke in Middle Earth and refused to go to Valinor while the trees still existed. It wasn't a vague summons either - it was issued by Oromë, I believe, who was the Valar who found them while travelling through Middle Earth.

 

[Quackers]

Light of valinor is synonomous with the trees.

 

[Plotinus]

Right, but it's not vague. It has a specific meaning.

 

[Glassfan]

Thank you all for the replies. The reason i asked was that currently i am creating some orc buildings and run out of concept art i could model, so guessing what real race might have been behind them would help me make more without demanding specific art by others

I didn't address this earlier, sorry - I just assumed everybody knew orcs lived in caves. Soldier orcs of Sauron and Saruman may have lived in tents or buildings built by the human slaves of the evil ones.

 

[Kyriakos]

Oh, no i did not know that- only read the hobbit. But my work uses architecture from various orc types, those found in Warcraft and Age of Wonders for example

 

[Plotinus]

But the orcs in The Hobbit all live in caves!

 

[Kyriakos]

Well i read it almost 12 years ago, when i was 19 something. Don't recall much of it apart from a big battle, and the beginning.

 

[aelf]

Tolkien's world may not be allegorical, but that doesn't mean it isn't imbued with some latent racism. I like LotR and The Silmarillion, but I'm quite prepared to accept the real possibility that it is.

 

[Glassfan]

Well i read it almost 12 years ago, when i was 19 something. Don't recall much of it apart from a big battle, and the beginning.

So if you're 31 and interested in battle, why aren't you out rioting with the others?

The word "Orc" seems to come from Beowulf, and apparently means "ogre". Tolkien revived the word to be a larger, fiercer kind of goblin. Lots of other writers, graphic artists and game designers have picked up on the idea. You can make of it whatever you will.

 

[Kyriakos]

Actually i recall there was a large battle for the opposite reason: i dislike battles, even more so in literature.

And rioting does not seem to lead to much, and even if it did one less rioter means nothing in the grand scale of things.

 

[Ajidica]

For orcish habitations, you might want to look at the custom cities for Third Age: Total War for Medieval Total War 2. Their art direction is borrowed from the movies but since actual orcish architecture featured so little in the movies, they had to make alot up. You can't have every city with Barad-Dur, can you?

 

[Kyriakos]

For orcish habitations, you might want to look at the custom cities for Third Age: Total War for Medieval Total War 2. Their art direction is borrowed from the movies but since actual orcish architecture featured so little in the movies, they had to make alot up. You can't have every city with Barad-Dur, can you?

That was a Great idea, but it came too late I have already finished the set by now. Its in the spoiler if you want to see it, i was mostly influenced by Warcraft and Age of Wonders orcs.

Spoiler :

 

[Glassfan]

Spoiler :

Inadequate debris. Insufficient carnage. Requires more jetsam and flotsam. Altogether too tidy and neat. Orcs live here?! No, Burgundians live here and Orcs are about to pillage the place.

 

[Kyriakos]

Inadequate debris. Insufficient carnage. Requires more jetsam and flotsam. Altogether too tidy and neat. Orcs live here?! No, Burgundians live here and Orcs are about to pillage the place.

Speaking of Burgundians, this is the comparison between the orc set and my medieval French one.

You are right that the orcs could have lived in something worse than these towns, but i tried to be consistent with the rest of my sets

 

[holy king]

they live in caves, i understand?

 

[Glassfan]

Speaking of Burgundians, this is the comparison between the orc set and my medieval French one.

You are right that the orcs could have lived in something worse than these towns, but i tried to be consistent with the rest of my sets

Those are fine towns Kyriakos, and I'd be happy to play them. But I imagine an Orc "town" to be along the lines of a teenager's bedroom, writ large, with lots of piles and heaps and funny smells.

 

[Lord Baal]

Those are fine towns Kyriakos, and I'd be happy to play them. But I imagine an Orc "town" to be along the lines of a teenager's bedroom, writ large, with lots of piles and heaps and funny smells.

Detroit?

 

[Kyriakos]

I do plan to make a nomad set in the future, so i might still create a more desolate landscape