Orc Babies?! How Orcs Come To Be

TV & Film

Sep 10

We have returned to the land of Middle-earth, as The Rings of Power has entered its second season. The Orcs are at it again, and this time, we see a baby. This leads to all sorts of questions of how that’s possible, most of which can be answered by going back to the books. J. R. R. Tolkien never fully revealed the origins of the Orcs, as he believed that nothing is entirely evil. He did offer some ideas and stories, and always spoke of them being bred, compared to how the movies famously had them grow out of a sac in the ground.

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The first origin story in The Book of Lost Tales had the Orcs created by Melko “of the subterranean heats and slime,” who also bred them with Noldor elves until they considered each other to be kin. This idea was expanded upon in Morgoth’s Ring, in which Melkor captured several newly awakened Eldar, where they were taken to Utumno and were “Corrupted and enslaved”, eventually becoming a twisted parody of their former race. They were also interbred with men to create the larger Uruk-hai, a process that was rediscovered by Saruman. This sighting of an Orc baby reinforces an idea from Tolkien himself, Orcs can breed, and can even interbreed with other races.

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