[Zsinj16]

I've always been confused about the difference between orcs and goblins. I've heard people say they are different, but somehow I always end up calling goblins orcs, and orcs goblins. I've always thought of them as the same race only with two names.
So could anyone here please tell what the difference is between orcs and goblins?

[Warewolf]

Now, I don't have my D&D Monster Manual in front of me, so I'll just give you my impression...

Goblins are short in stature (maybe a little shorter than a dwarf) and kinda scrawny. They live underground or in caves. Orcs, on the other hand, are big, beefy, and slightly porcine in appearance (think of the Gamorreans from Star Wars). A little more organized, but almost equally as dumb.

I'll look it up when I get home later...

[BigBadMick]

Yeah, I always thought of orcs as big hulking brutes and goblins as smaller scrawny nasty little critters.

I guess that's the Games Workshop miniatures influence coming out in me! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[wolfshead]

If your referring to Tolkien, they are the same.
If not, it depends on the user, I guess.
I always wondered about the use of the word 'orc' in fantasy outside of JRRT. I mean, he didn't invent the word--it appears in Beowulf and denoted some kind of monster--but he was the first to use it to describe a goblinish being.
I've sen a lot of orcs depicted as piggy things, reptiles etc, but Tolkien's are 'ruined' mockeries of elves and hence appear humanoid though demonic. i think the movie actually got it quite right...indeed i see people around the town where I live looking and behaving in a manner I'd call orc-ish!!!

[Zsinj16]

Yeah, Wolfshead, I'm more referring to the Tolkien interpretation of orcs and goblins.
But how can they be the same race, when Elrond said in FOTR that Saruman was cross-breeding orcs with goblins to create the Uruk-Hai warriors?

[Cadfael]

The Tolkien thing...

Orcs were bred in mockery of elves, Goblins are dwellers in darkness... and in earlier times called Orcs...

Go figure... http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

But the point is they are the same race, but goblins are hardier... all saruman was doing was breeding that hardiness into Orcs... Orcs are goblins... but they are in the service of Sauron, and have been stunted in their developemt.

[kaseryn]

The most salient difference, noted by the majority of Tolkien professors.. is that they're spelt differently. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

And what are the Uruk'hai? And another question: are they half-orcs, or just uruk'hai?

[kassimir funk]

"The most salient difference, noted by the majority of Tolkien professors.. is that they're spelt differently. "

Hmmmmmmmm... they are indeed! Interesting.

[Mithfânion]

As I understand it, the primary difference in Tolkien's world is that in the Hobbit he calls them Goblins and in the LoTR and the Silmarillion (in other words, the later books), they were called Orcs. I don't recall mentions of Goblins in the Lord of the Rings though I wasn't paying attention at that so there may have been one or two mentions. I thought that what Saruman did was breed half-men and the dark people from over the hills, that were in his service, with normal Orcs. I think that's how he created the Uruks. But I'm not sure anymore because that blasted movie twisted everything!