From Old English orcneas to George MacDonald’s Goblins with Soft Feet: Sources of Inspiration and Models for Tolkien’s Orcs from English Literature

Habent sua fata monstra—monsters have their history, indeed, and so do the orcs. Yet their history has never been properly recorded so that the contributions to this volume constitute the first major attempt to explore their origins, developments, transmutations, and functions within myth, literary texts, and other media. My focus is going to be on those elements of their rich history that can be traced back to English literature and which lead to the formation of Tolkien’s Orcs.