User:LotRfan01/essays/Concerning-Orcs and-Goblins: Difference between revisions

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“In The Hobbit, Tolkien primarily used the word "goblin" for Orcs. In The Lord of the Rings, "Orc" is used predominantly, though there are several references to "goblins".
“In The Hobbit, Tolkien primarily used the word "goblin" for Orcs. In The Lord of the Rings, "Orc" is used predominantly, though there are several references to "goblins".


"Goblin" is an English word, where as "Orc" is Old English, the language used by Tolkien to represent Rohirric.[8] Thus, there is no difference between Orcs and Goblins, and the two names of different languages have much the same relationship as dog (English) and hund (German).
"Goblin" is an English word, where as "Orc" is Old English, the language used by Tolkien to represent Rohirric. Thus, there is no difference between Orcs and Goblins, and the two names of different languages have much the same relationship as dog (English) and hund (German).


The original edition of the Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings first used 'goblin' everywhere and used 'hobgoblin' for larger, more evil goblins: when goblins were replaced with Orcs Tolkien invented the term Uruk-hai for his more evil Orcs.”
The original edition of the Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings first used 'goblin' everywhere and used 'hobgoblin' for larger, more evil goblins: when goblins were replaced with Orcs Tolkien invented the term Uruk-hai for his more evil Orcs.”

Revision as of 21:35, 5 July 2011

So this is a question many first- time Tolkien readers have: What is the difference between an Orc and a goblin?

First I will quote from the Orc page on this site:

“In The Hobbit, Tolkien primarily used the word "goblin" for Orcs. In The Lord of the Rings, "Orc" is used predominantly, though there are several references to "goblins".

"Goblin" is an English word, where as "Orc" is Old English, the language used by Tolkien to represent Rohirric. Thus, there is no difference between Orcs and Goblins, and the two names of different languages have much the same relationship as dog (English) and hund (German).

The original edition of the Hobbit and early drafts of The Lord of the Rings first used 'goblin' everywhere and used 'hobgoblin' for larger, more evil goblins: when goblins were replaced with Orcs Tolkien invented the term Uruk-hai for his more evil Orcs.”

Orcs and Goblins are therefore, one and the same. Why then does Tolkien use Goblin instead of Orc in the Hobbit? The first possible explanation takes a look outside of the books. Most likely what happened was, in writing a story for his son, he just used Goblin, and when he decided that it would become part of his legendarium, he changed it to Orc and explained this change as:

“Orc is not an English word. It occurs in one or two places but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin for the larger kinds). Orc is the hobbits' form of the name given at that time to these creatures.”

We can therefore see that these words were meant to be used interchangeably. Still, the question remains: Why didn’t he change references to Goblins into references of Orcs?

Well he does in fact make a reference or two throughout the book, such as orcrist meaning “Goblin-cleaver”. Another example of the interchangeable word would be in the chapter “The Riders of Rohan” where it states:

“Upon a stake in the middle was set a great goblin head; upon its shattered helm the white badge could still be seen."


As only the Uruks were marked with the white hand, this could only mean that the “great goblin head” Referenced here is actually the head of an Uruk-hai. This would mean that an Uruk is actually a Goblin, as are Orcs.

A theory put together by readers is that an Orc is a Goblin under the command and control of Morgoth, Saruman, or Sauron; whereas, a goblin is under its own command or under the command only of its tribe. This would explain why they are called Goblins in the hobbit and Orcs in The Lord of the Rings. However, this is only fan ideas and has no canonical basis and we must therefore discard it.

I therefore come to the inescapable conclusion that Orcs and Goblins are merely terms used to refer to the same creature and at any time could replace one another in any portion of Tolkien’s work.