One little orc/uruk baby is in the middle of much discussion among the lovers of Middle-earth in our world. During The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two’s first episode, we got to meet the orc Glûg, who seemed very concerned about the orcs marching back off to war after they just found a home in Mordor. But it turns out, Glûg the orc’s motivation for peace runs deeper than just wanting a little quiet. The Rings of Power season two reveals to us that Glûg has an orc family waiting in the wings, which includes an orc wife and an orc baby. It turns out that neither orc ladies nor orc babies have ever been depicted in a The Lord of the Rings adaptation before. And for some, this was a shocking turn of events.
Aren’t the orcs just purely evil beings who could have no love in their hearts? Well, we suppose that’s a fair question to ask. But The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has long been veering away from that interpretation of orcs, or as they like to be called, Uruk. So, we feel it makes a lot of sense to have orc families in the narrative. But beyond that, J.R.R. Tolkien and his writings leave much room for orc babies and orc familial ties to exist. (And yes, orcs do reproduce like humans and elves. Once again, get over it!)
Here’s What J.R.R. Tolkien Has to Say About Orc Babies and Orc Families
Of course, it’s fair enough to ask what J.R.R. Tolkien, the creator of The Lord of the Rings world, would have to say about orcs having families and babies. Handily, Tolkien does address these ideas WHILE also leaving the door open in a way that 100% allows for The Rings of Power‘s interpretations of orc community.
Orcs Reproduce Like Men and Elves, and That Means an Orc Baby Is Totally Valid
Most notably, Tolkien said of the orcs in The Silmarillion, “And thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts, the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery.”
Two important aspects of that quote jump out. First, Tolkien makes it plain that orc babies do exist. He literally says, “Orcs multiply in the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar.” Yes, that’s elves and men. So, yes orcs have sex. I am sorry to break this to you, but it feels relevant in this case. They reproduce like elves and men, which means that orcs have babies. A totally incontestable fact.
Of course, one might argue that having a baby doesn’t necessarily mean having a family. Although most creatures on earth, especially our direct comparison point here, elves and men, do often have communities that revolve around children. That leads us to, second, the fact that Tolkien stresses specifically that orcs have life and, in the same breath, notes orcs actually loathe Morgoth. That information makes you feel like the Orcs are not just mindless evil but actually have nuanced feelings of their own. If they feel enough to feel misery, they probably feel enough to feel love.
Orc Family Ties And Friendships
In both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes of the orc Bolg and his father, Azog. Tolkien notes in The Hobbit, “Bolg of the North is coming, O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria.” Additionally, a footnote in the The Lord of the Rings books notes, “Azog was the father of Bolg.” While he doesn’t come right out and say it, Tolkien implies that Bolg seeks revenge against Dain. That is certainly the tact The Hobbit movies took when portraying the relationship. Seeking vengeance for a father would certainly indicate family ties and orc kin affinities, even though this, of course, is the darkest manifestation of them.
Additionally, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers book, we meet two orcs, Gorbag and Shagrat, who appear to be friends. Gorbat notes that he’d love to slip off with Shagrat, somewhere away Sauron’s control, to have their own equitable and easy lives. “Just like old times,” Shagrat says. Old orc times, sounds like the ones we see in The Rings of Power season two.
We Just Don’t Know That Much About The Lord of the Rings Orcs, Their Feelings, Hobbies, or Anything Else
Ultimately, though, Tolkien leaves the door fully open for The Rings of Power or any other adaptation to portray orcs, their families, babies, and their interior lives. Tolkien writes in his Letter to Mrs. Munby, “There must have been orc-women. But in stories that seldom, if ever, see the Orcs except as soldiers of armies in the service of the evil lords, we naturally would not learn much about their lives. Not much was known.”
Basically, Tolkien himself says that orcs have lives we just don’t know about. It sounds like he’s saying with complete certainty that orcs do engage in activities other than soldiering and menacing, but we just haven’t yet had occasion to hear about them. (And orc-women are totally an approved part of The Lord of the Rings‘ world.)
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Has Been Setting Up Sympathetic Orcs All Along
Happily, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a story that does want to take the time to get to know the orcs as more than just agents of pure evil. While the presence of an orc family might crystallize this on our screens, The Rings of Power has been working toward this moment ever since Adar told Galadriel in season one that each of his children were “creations of the secret fire” and had “a name and a heart.” If you were busily thinking Adar was the villain in that exchange, perhaps its time to watch once again. We even see Adar and the orcs engaging in a burial rite in season one of the series. Taking the time to honor one’s dead, again, implies a deep sense of community.
In The Rings of Power, the whole Uruk story has been about a search for a home in The Rings of Power and escaping the torment, some might say, misery, long placed on their shoulders. And so, it stands to reason that creatures looking for a home would be doing so for their families, orc or not.
The Time Has Come to Accept the Orc Family, the Orc Baby, and the Orc Community Into Our Hearts!
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s showrunners told Nerdist that whether the orcs were orcs or Uruk would play a big role in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. But whether the orcs eventually fall into total darkness or not, they’ll have at one point had enough love in their hearts to care for one another and their children. And we feel like that’s a much more fascinating story to explore than if they were just purely evil. If the orc baby and orc family on The Rings of Power is really such a bothersome concept to anyone, perhaps they should take a minute and evaluate why! Meanwhile, we’ll be buying Glûg a baby shower gift.