Orcs are a fantasy race of (usually) violent and evil humanoid beings. They’re among the most common punching bags of modern fantasy stories.
They were created in their basically modern form by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I don’t believe it’s controversial to say that Tolkien created orcs and, prior to him, these didn’t really exist. There are obviously orc-like creatures across mythology, but nothing you can point to as definitive.

However! I don’t actually think most modern orcs derive from Tolkien. I think they instead derive from the orcs of D&D and Warhammer. This is part of my overall belief that those two franchises are what established most modern fantasy tropes.

The modern orc appears larger than a human (most of the time) with green or brown skin, tusks and usually violent. They are technologically primitive and tribal.

I think that orcs fall into two main categories: either the savage savage or the noble savage.
The noble savage is probably as a response to the Tolkienien orcs or the other savage orcs.

Good orcs are often just the noble savage cliché, just that it isn’t as noticeable for the simple fact that they remain violent (1) and they don’t exist (2) unlike the other groups that receive the noble savage treatment.

Goblins are probably the closest mythological/folkloric creature to the orc.

This relation is obvious as Tolkien used the word ‘goblin’ as a synonym for ‘orc’ in parts of the Legendarium.
Though, afterwards, Goblins and Orcs have had an unusual relationship indeed. But I’ll leave those descriptions to the individual media entries.

I’m making this connection because Tolkien translated Beowulf and was clearly a big fan. There are some similarities between Grendel and orcs…I think. The thing is: I haven’t read the original version of Beowulf.^A) So until I do, I’ll leave the comparisons alone.

There are a lot of similarities between Oni and Orcs. Like, I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Oni and Orcs are almost the same thing.
In fact (though this is a crack theory of mine), I think the Japanese Orc might be based more on the Oni – there are even some visual similarities (setting aside green). The visual similarities I’m referring to being the tusks, which are always prominent on Japanese Orcs, while not being as big of a deal among non-Japanese orcs.

Orcs probably have some relation to the mythological/folkloric Trolls. In the Legendarium, they do work alongside each-other. Though I don’t know enough about the mythological trolls to really say anything definitive.

The orcs here have brown skin and their weapons/armor are arabesque. They also tend to build out of mud and wood. And they live in the desert.
They have a violent and meritocratic culture. They’re often hired as mercenaries and frequently raid regions.

Their own campaign depicts them as semi-noble savages, which actually clashes a lot with how they’re depicted in all the other campaigns. To be clear, in all the other campaigns they’re mostly depicted as violent and blood thirsty.

I’m not making this up, but keep in mind that there is a separate arab faction.

Goblins also exist and are a part of Orc societal hierarchies. It’s stated that goblins and orcs are the same species, just that goblins are stunted in growth, which has them classified as separate from the other orcs. They are thus lower in the society…though they get to ride wolves and use bows (bows being a cowardly weapon of course).

The Piraka could be seen as…vaguely orc shaped. Yo yo Piraka.
I mean…they’re a species of criminals who are violent and who don’t get along with anybody else (including themselves).

Tolkien created the first orcs and, as a result, they’re quite different from the modern orc. Also, Tolkien used the word ‘goblin’ interchangeably with ‘orc’…with it apparently serving as the translation for ‘orc’.

First, the similarities: they are hyper-violent; they’re tribal;^B) they probably have dark/brown skin.
And that’s where the most obvious similarities end.

The orcs in Tolkien‘s Legendarium actually differentiate themselves in a few key ways.
They are shorter than men, for example and not any stronger than them.
They also aren’t stupid and technologically behind…when it comes to machines of war. They are really really good at coming up with ways to kill their opponents effectively.
They tend to be cowardly rather than courageous. If you kill a significant portion of an army of orcs, the rest will just scatter. This makes them closer to the modern image of the goblin, hilariously enough.
Orcs are suicidally committed to the task at hand (usually killing whatever their lord points at). This isn’t out of any sort of devotion, but because they fear punishment for failure/cowardice way more.
Orcs hate everything around them, including themselves. They will go out of their way to make life miserable for everyone involved.

These things don’t really matter individually but, when taken together, it’s pretty clear that by modern fantasy standards…Tolkien‘s orcs aren’t orcs, they’re goblins.

Tolkien also claimed to have used the word ‘orc’ because it was an Old English word for ‘demon’, though whether that’s true or not is something that I have read conflicting information on.

The orcs in Warcraft were explicitly evil until Warcraft 3, where they were suddenly and inexplicably turned into the Noble Savage trope. Afterwards, the writing continued to treat the orcs this way whilst actually depicting them as irredeemably evil.

I think most depictions of ‘good orcs’ that aren’t Japanese ultimately derive from these orcs.

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