how come there are no orcs in the hobbit?

Question

im a lord of the rings fan by J.R.R. TOLKIEN, but i often wondered why there are no orcs in the hobbit? there are goblins, but goblins are not the same as orcs........

is it because it was a time before the orcs were in middle earth?

Answer 1

The Orcs were further south and few in number at the time of The Hobbit. Keep in mind that the Misty Mountains are north of Gondor and the Lonely Mountain northeast but separated by more than a thousand miles. Orcs were created by the Dark Lord and they've stayed close to Mordor.

Answer 2

In all of Tolkien's published works goblins and orcs are synonymous (I won't get into his unpublished works). It would not be incorrect to use the terms interchangeably when referring to either of them.



The Hobbit was the first book Tolkien wrote/published, so goblin is the earliest term he used for the creatures. As his ideas developed Tolkien started using the term orc to refer to the creatures, i.e In the Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion, taken place thousands of years before the events of both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings uses the term orcs. So the time point in the fictional history of the series has nothing to do with the term, and more so when Tolkien himself created and wrote the creatures.



In Tolkien's legendarium (mentioned in The Silmarillion) it has been suggested that orcs were once elves. When the elves were first created (awoken) in Middle-earth, Morgoth (Sauron's master) captured some elves and tortured them until nothing good was left in them, creating orcs. Over time they evolved to what we see now.



TL;DR Orcs and Goblins are two different names for the same thing.

Answer 3

Tolkien had not created his version of the Orc when he wrote the Hobbit. He called them goblins and then defined the Orc in a later stage when he kept on writing. He then added the Orcs in writings about things that took place before the Hobbit too. In Simarillion you can read that Orcs are elves enslaved and tortured by Morgoth. In The Tale of Tinúviel they are mentioned as foul broodlings of Melko. The Simarillion can be seen as the creation mythology of the world where the Middle Earth is in a way, and is placed long before the Hobbit and LOTR.



Edit:

That there are Orcs in the movie is because they are mentioned in the appendix. That's created after the book was written.

Answer 4

As mentioned, Tolkien was still developing his ideas when writing The Hobbit. Neither Orcs nor Sauron were mentioned in the Hobbit. The Silmarilion described the orcs and it's my impression that orcs and goblins are not the same or at least are only related. However they co-existed as the wars in Moria and the battle with Smaug, etc. occurred within the same age.

Answer 5

Orcs and goblins are most likely the same, but are left to the imagination intentionally.



Straight from JRR Tolken:



"[The word 'Orc'] occurs in one or two places but is usually translated goblin (or hobgoblin for the larger kinds.)' The fact that the larger kinds are given their own special word might suggest that goblins tend to be smaller Orcs, but the evidence on this point is inconclusive."



The word 'goblin' is also used occasionally and indiscriminately in The Lord of the Rings; it never occurs in the The Silmarillion.

Answer 6

"goblins are not the same as orcs"



They're not? Wasn't Azog described as both Goblin and Orc?



"is it because it was a time before the orcs were in middle earth?"



If they are different you have to remember that the journeys in Hobbit weren't that ong - just compare the distance between the Shire and the Lonely Mountain to that between the Shire and Mordor, with diversions to places like Rohan and Minis Tirith.

Answer 7

Orcs are like Goblins, except bigger. I think its just because the orcs were not around in the places they happened to go. Maybe they were serving the Dark Lord.....

Answer 8

i wondered that as well especially as bilbos sword sting glows blue at orcs but in the hobbit it glows blue at goblins. i reckon he hadnt thought of orcs or he changed the name goblins to orcs.

Answer 9

Not the right area of the country for it. Remember the orcs were lower down on the map. It's a little like asking why there are no tigers in Europe. Or tapirs in Texas.

Answer 10

I've always liked to think of them as 2 varying ends of the same rope. Tolkien did say they were basically the same species/breed. There were, as in all species, variations: Larger, smaller, different colours......

Answer 11

Because the author didn't write them in?