Of Orcs and Men

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2iqMmVbXew&feature=g-u-u

So uh, launch trailer. I dont know much about the game itself, beside it apparently being a co-op game, and a seemingly great story, which is the part Im most interested about.

Comes out on Thursday, 11th. Might check it out. How about y'all?
 
What I mean is, and this is not a 100% serious comment in any way, is that Tolkien's intention was to make them orcs as undeniably black as humanly possible on the morality scale, what with that whole thing about the Enemy cannot create and can only mock and destroy, as a direct consequence of Melkor being a supreme **** to every other Vala. It's almost hilarious to see how popular culture from Warcraft and TES onward turned them into the ugly-but-noble-and-oft-misunderstood race.

And now we have orcs rebelling against humans in a complete reversal of the LotR stereotypes. I guess it's gone full circle. :wink:
 
Likely because the average person in Western society identifies more with a corrupted shadow of a human being than with the noble characters Tolkein portrayed the majority of his humans as.
 
I'm very keen on getting this, but I think I'll wait until some reviews are out and I can pick it up in person. Love what I've heard so far.
 
Vermillion_Hawk said:
Likely because the average person in Western society identifies more with a corrupted shadow of a human being than with the noble characters Tolkein portrayed the majority of his humans as.

That was what puzzled me the most about Tolkien's work TBH. He'd created such a meticulously thorough world with many millennia's worth of history, and yet his best known work might be described rather harshly as a cliched band of heroes filled to the brim with pure-good Mary Sues defeating a cliched dark lord by flinging his source of power into the depth of Mount Doomy Doom Doom. If it were anyone else who wrote a story as such I'd throw everything I have at him for such a cliched and uninspiring story. Sil is much better in that regard, in that the rather painfully obvious black-and-white morality is gone, characters are much more... shall I say realistic, and it isn't always about a crusade between a good and evil. And look how well known it is. :cry:

But anyway, I'll stop yammering off-topic now. :grin:
 
Argeus the Paladin said:
It's almost hilarious to see how popular culture from Warcraft and TES onward turned them into the ugly-but-noble-and-oft-misunderstood race.

And now we have orcs rebelling against humans in a complete reversal of the LotR stereotypes. I guess it's gone full circle. :wink:

It has, and frankly I love it. It has partially started with Warhammer, with it's dumb and lovable greenskins, and was popularized by the excellent job Blizzard has done with Warcraft.

I by far prefer orcs being a nomadic/tribal, rugged and warlike race to Tolkien's faceless meatgrinders, and I'm sure most would agree Orcs were the most relatable race in Warcraft. :smile:

Ontopic: I am very much lookings forward to Orcs and Men. Haven't had a decent RPG for at least a year now.
 
I don't even consider the Orcs from works such as Warcraft and Warhammer related in any way to the ones in Tolkien's work, other than by name, as their characteristics and appearances are far different from each other.

Argeus the Paladin said:
and yet his best known work might be described rather harshly as a cliched band of heroes filled to the brim with pure-good Mary Sues defeating a cliched dark lord by flinging his source of power into the depth of Mount Doomy Doom Doom. If it were anyone else who wrote a story as such I'd throw everything I have at him for such a cliched and uninspiring story.
I believe he needed to write it as such, for himself as much as anything. He'd gone through World War 1 and seen what humans were capable off. That's just my personal theory though.

Apparently the main characters are going to be a sneaky goblin and an elite Orc soldier. Haven't read a lot about the game but have they revealed anything about the story and game play? Is it going to be hack and slash?
 
I don't even consider the Orcs from works such as Warcraft and Warhammer related in any way to the ones in Tolkien's work, other than by name, as their characteristics and appearances are far different from each other

Me neither, but it's no secret that the Warhammer orcs(and many other warhammery things, such as halflings) were inspired by LOTR.
 
Pretty much everything in modern fantasy was inspired in one way or another by Lord of the Rings or a derivative of Lord of the Rings, and the few modern fantasy works that aren't are obscure for the most part.
 
Argeus the Paladin said:
It's almost hilarious to see how popular culture from Warcraft and TES onward turned them into the ugly-but-noble-and-oft-misunderstood race.
It's like I sense some indignation in your post. What's the problem with different people having different takes on a "race"? Besides, an universe where all races have their fair share of guilt, corruption and unique characteristics is a lot more interesting to me than establishing one race as unexplicably "evil" and chaotic. I'm not even saying any company does it right, and if this story just favours orcs entirely in a childish manner then it's probably quite bland, but adding sensitivity to every race gives it a lot more potential interest in the development of a story.
 
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