Do orcs have families?

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[neildaly]

Got a wife and kids in Gundabad, Jack. I went out for a raid and I never came back. Every Uruk has a hungry heart.

[davefarris]

Goblin in laws...I think I've already met those.

[errantwinds-upuu]

I've always appreciated that sometimes Tolkien was able to say "I don't know." In some writers that could be laziness, but clearly for him it was that his mythology was so much bigger than himself that he couldn't delve up every answer since it might conflict with the rightness, the sense, of his world to just "make something up" for people's satisfaction.

[SirBolsón]

"Do orcs have families?"
Tolkien: "Well yes but actually no..."

[Trance]

I imagine Orc upbringing is communal Agoge style akin to ancient Sparta, kill or die, steal or starve, fight or suffer.

[aetch]

I like Terry Pratchett's earlier view on female Dwarves, they're indistinguishable from their male counterparts so are in plain sight. I'd like to think Tolkien's orcs might be the same.

[willsummers]

I would just like to take a moment to appreciate how tactfully and respectfully you approach such nuanced subjects. Hats off to you sir!

[annecarter]

I always appreciate your rational , well-researched explanations of these complex lore issues- and there are many.
What we don’t know, we simply don’t know!!
Well done, Robert!

[lmr]

I love that Tolkien entertained all kinds of hypotheticals as deep thought experiments.

[THATGuy]

Now, I picture goblins raising their kids communally, by which I mean that as soon as they can walk on their own, they spend most of the day in a communal pen with all the other kids while an elder watches over them, half-heartedly yelling at them to stop biting each other from time to time.

[nateunderwood]

I simply chose to believe that Orc women were basically indistinguishable from Orc men, much like how dwarves are, plus it makes for some funny roleplay in D&D

[Schum]

I imagine orc children being raised in work houses where anyone who asked for more food would be thrown in the pot.

[holden]

I too, am a confirmed Orc bachelor. Purely by choice. Not because of my hideous appearance.

[hartyboys]

Sauron kidnapped the Entwives to be babysitters, let the orc-wives have a breather

[BLD]

Gives the phrase "bumping uglies" new meaning.🤔😁

[desallis]

I'm more disturbed that the orcs called a siege engine a Trebuchet (which is French for Siege Engine) which means there are French Orcs in Rings of Power

[wavetactics]

Considering orcs are portrayed akin to low functioning sociopaths in the books, the idea that their families would be anything other than horrifically abusive seems unlikely.

[justthinkingoutloud]

I imagine males treated females like chattle and children were born in litters, and they survived to adulthood by their strength, cruelty and cannabalism. All nurturing instincts were long ago bred out of them, as Morgoth and Sauron practically manufactured them like weapons.

[BierBart]

0:58 Bit off-topic, but I love the architecture in this artwork. A multi-story hobbit house. Made me imagine a hobbit skyscraper that's just a very tall hill with many cozy hobbit huts stacked on top of eachother

[infinitytoinfinitysquaredb]

It seems logical that orcs were organized as a *hive, * with different groups performing different functions, rather than as families. The young orcs would be raised by the females in a group setting while the adult males were out on raiding parties. The male leaders, the strongest, and the most resourceful would (of course) have the most access to the females, just like with most social animals. The fathers of specific orcs would be unknown in general, but the females would brag to their peers when they were "visited" by a powerful warrior or famous leader, as they would about any offspring that resulted from those encounters.