In fantasy stories, how do the Big Bad Guys always get the massive armies of loyal followers fighting for them?

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star wars: episode 2: attack of the jews

s1ocki, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

The clones were bred to be less independent thinking

Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

Also its pretty obvious that droids are sentient.

Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

star wars: episode 2: attack of the jews

Episode 3: Revenge of the Bris?

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

more money, more perks (from PILLAGE), promise of power, I presume.

The bad guys never spend enough on training courses.

Pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Somewhere in here, there's a contradiction.

libcrypt, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

This cliche also helps in stories where the good guys kill the Big Bad Guy, which is dramatic high point of the story, and then you don't have to worry about what happens to the thousands/millions of his minions, because apparently all of them they stop fighting or die the moment the Big Bad is dead. In real life the minions would probably go on fighting for days if not months after their leader is finished, some of them might never even find out the Big Bad is dead, or some new leader(s) might take the place of deceased one, but that never happens in fantasy stories, because it would ruin the dramatic arc where killing the Big Bad automatically saves the word. Like in Lord of the Rings, it seems all hostilities stop after Sauron dies, because apparently all the orcs and evil men and other followers of Sauron are mere puppets who cannot function at all once their master is gone. You'd think it takes the orcs who weren't there at big battle days or weeks to find out Sauron has died? In the movie they try to patch up things a bit by making Sauron's death cause a massive earthquake that kills most of the army at the Black Gate, but it's a pretty convenient earthquake since it only kills the bad guys, even though the army of the good guys is also there.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 20:42 (sixteen years ago)

I asked this on the LOTR thread and got no serious answers but... do Orcs have genitals?

so, okay, Sauron (or Saruman, whatever) creates them through some combination of magic and science (orcs were originally elves, right?) and makes a whole bunch of them. afaik there's no orc women. so do orcs have genitals? It seems like it would make sense that they could do a little raping along with their pillaging and murdering or do some homo-bonding a la Roman centurions. On the other hand, having genitals and not reproducing is nonsensical.

Obama Death Panel (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:00 (sixteen years ago)

Raping would have detracted from the pillaging and murdering, so Sauron had the foresight to create them genital free.

Alex in SF, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:02 (sixteen years ago)

I asked this on the LOTR thread and got no serious answers but... do Orcs have genitals?

can't believe no one took this question seriously

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:04 (sixteen years ago)

I know!

it's like i have a couple worked up orc dicks under my arms (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:06 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=Myy&q=lotr+do+Orcs+have+genitals%3F&btnG=Search

google is not helping, either

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:08 (sixteen years ago)

Orcs have no genitals. One could consider their oft-mentioned acts of cannibalism a primordial attempt at satiating their psychosexual desires.

the stain specialist (Viceroy), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:09 (sixteen years ago)

the real question is whether orcs have belly buttons

congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:10 (sixteen years ago)

(obv no)

congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:10 (sixteen years ago)

Dan how do you do this? I'm seriously embarrassed posting on threads with this screenname.

it's like i have a couple worked up orc dicks under my arms (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:11 (sixteen years ago)

I feel like such a puritan now.

it's like i have a couple worked up orc dicks under my arms (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:12 (sixteen years ago)

Dan/Alex slash orc dork porn.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:19 (sixteen years ago)

really you should be more embarrassed at revealing your gender prejudices by assuming that orcs would have dicks instead of some other form of genital ;)

a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful (dyao), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:20 (sixteen years ago)

hahahaha quite honestly I stop paying attention to my screenname approximately 7 nanoseconds after changing it

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:20 (sixteen years ago)

Results 1 - 10 of about 187,000 for orc porn

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:20 (sixteen years ago)

i thought they just budded like amoeba

thomp, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:21 (sixteen years ago)

(also vadges are much less embarrassing than orc dicks)

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:23 (sixteen years ago)

Ladies and gentlemen, A Band of Orcs.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:30 (sixteen years ago)

Greetings Humans, Allow me to introduce myself.

They call me Gruesom Grimp. I am the Chaos Pundit and Manager for A Band of Orcs. If you have not yet heard of A Band of Orcs, methinks that is due to the fact that their meteoric rise has not quite yet exploded into your consciousness. Allow me to remedy this...

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:30 (sixteen years ago)


Gogog Bloodthroat--Vocals and Power Presence
Cretos Filthgrinder--Filthy Leads and Crushin' Guitars
Hulg ElfR.I.P.per--Undead Guitars
Gronk!--Bass guitar & Shamanism
Oog Skullbasher--drums & other bangings
Lukacs--Agent of Chaos, Chronicler & Illustrator
You--the fans proselytising the wicked, carrying the war-banner into battle, and crushin' lame music everywhere

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:31 (sixteen years ago)

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/l_3d0e4a3e887e43a9af088dd30a0d3282.jpg

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:32 (sixteen years ago)

You'd think it takes the orcs who weren't there at big battle days or weeks to find out Sauron has died?
the appendices to 'the lord of the rings' chronicle how kings aragorn and eomer get together periodically to go smoke out remaining bad guy strongholds. no naked orc pix though unfortunately

kamerad, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:33 (sixteen years ago)

so, orcs can be dicks, but we still don't know if they have dicks

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:33 (sixteen years ago)

we need the lyrics to "Procreation (Of the Wicked)" -- that should answer all these questions.

the stain specialist (Viceroy), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:33 (sixteen years ago)

"(also vadges are much less embarrassing than orc dicks)"

Esp. when they are worked up.

it's like i have a couple worked up orc dicks under my arms (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:34 (sixteen years ago)

yes, I believe quite a few of them were originally named Richard xxp

a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful (dyao), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:34 (sixteen years ago)

Lukacs?

goole, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:35 (sixteen years ago)

see, it's SCAKUL backwards...

it's like i have a couple worked up vadges under my arms (HI DERE), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:37 (sixteen years ago)

we need the lyrics to "Procreation (Of the Wicked)"

Well here's them performing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly-3XUahobY

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:37 (sixteen years ago)

Oh goodie, individual band member bios:

http://abandoforcs.com/Fear_the_Orcs____.php

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:38 (sixteen years ago)

Gogog hails from the Gore-Stained Axe Tribe of orcs. He has killed over 300 worthy and unworthy opponents, including 50 elves. His pastimes include breaking bones, pillaging villages, watching things burn, slapping around the slaves and watching monster trucks crush smaller cars. He prefers fist-fighting to weapons, but uses a two-handed axe in war, when necessary. His moniker comes from the fact that he once took an elf's arrow to the throat. He got better and now screams his way to superior Rock God Status.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 21:38 (sixteen years ago)

orcs: british soccer hooligans
uruk-hai: cockney factory workers
hobbits: irish belle and sebastian fans
elves: swedish royalty
dwarves: vikings
"men": british middle class
wild men: canadians?

omar little, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 22:02 (sixteen years ago)

wild men: canadians?

real answer is a bit more racisty methinks

Obama Death Panel (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 22:07 (sixteen years ago)

He never did like the Scots.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 22:16 (sixteen years ago)

Wizards: dudes with degrees in ancient literature

the stain specialist (Viceroy), Tuesday, 11 August 2009 23:24 (sixteen years ago)

"Like in Lord of the Rings, it seems all hostilities stop after Sauron dies, because apparently all the orcs and evil men and other followers of Sauron are mere puppets who cannot function at all once their master is gone. You'd think it takes the orcs who weren't there at big battle days or weeks to find out Sauron has died?"

Wasn't there a whole part of ROTK (the book) where the Hobbits come home and have to mop up a bunch of orcs who hadn't gotten the memo yet?

schwantz, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 23:47 (sixteen years ago)

Sorta but they were Saruman's henchmen.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 August 2009 23:47 (sixteen years ago)

and but so anyway

http://marvel.com/universe3zx/images/3/31/Taskmaster_Head.jpg

all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 00:16 (sixteen years ago)

'taskmaster_head.jpg'?

thomp, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 01:38 (sixteen years ago)

"If we were orcs, wouldn’t we, at a racial level, imagine ourselves to look like elves?”

jerk store (hmmmm), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 03:47 (sixteen years ago)

Actually not seeing any real-world shortage of Big Bad Guys with armies of loyal followers, y'know?

but it's the FEW, the proud...

Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 03:50 (sixteen years ago)

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/mp/2tGxgrg9q1Hc.jpg

kamerad, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 04:26 (sixteen years ago)

Wait, if orcs don't have genitals, how does Sauron come up with new orcs to replace the dead ones?

Tuomas, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 11:53 (sixteen years ago)

don't they just grow out of the ground or something? They did in the film.

that said, I think the Orcs do have genitals, but not for procreation.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 13:26 (sixteen years ago)

THIS is Frankfort on the Main, November 1960. I am taking a look at the 9 p.m. performance in a little suburban cinema. The seats are hard and uncomfortable. My knees are crammed painfully against the wall of what the woman in the ticket office calls 'the V.I.P. Box'. From under the door cold gusts of mist blow into the hall. UGH! Those two lovers clamped together in the corner of my "box". They are devouring each other with the cannibalistic Salivation of mating frogs. And their moans! Ugh and Ugh again.

But I stay on.

On the screen is a thriller drama about the last war. It is all booming guns, marching steel helmets, Secret Service, and bombs. Yes, this is Frankfort, November 1960. And this, presumably, is what the German public wants. Or what the film producers think it wants.

The German Wehrmacht, it seems, was fighting two enemies during the last war, the allies and the Nazi Party. Brave young heroes from the Army, the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe, are constantly shooting it out with the Gestapo and the SS. It is just like listening to one of those speeches of old man Adenauer, when he is talking about the Eichmann affair. The Germans were all against Hitler-all except a small Nazi minority. The rest were victims of Hitler and Himmler, just like the Jews and the Poles.

http://www.seftondelmer.co.uk/1.htm

ambience chaser (S-), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 13:41 (sixteen years ago)

Female orcs stay in the hovel and bring up the kiddie orcs, while the big bad orc-husbands go out and get themselves killed for Sauron. That's why you don't see them. Tolkien was pretty old-school, don't forget. Maybe there's an orc middle-class of teachers, scribes etc that run it all from back in "the east" and are resented by the arrow fodder orcs that have to go out to Mordor or wherever.

it's after the end of the world (Matt #2), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 10:57 (six years ago)

rejected story orcs

Banáná hÉireann (darraghmac), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 11:06 (six years ago)

how does this happen irl also

Appleman Appears: 20/2/2020. Whose Cider You On? (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 11:08 (six years ago)

When a Saruman and a mud puddle love each other very much

Pizza is Really Yummy for Me (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 13:15 (six years ago)

this doesn't happen irl because orcs don't exist u oaf

que pasa picasso (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 13:17 (six years ago)

is that a reference to something itt cause i haven't bothered reading it

Appleman Appears: 20/2/2020. Whose Cider You On? (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 13:50 (six years ago)

I’ve never read it but I bet The Last Ringbearer has a take on this.

steer karma (gyac), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 14:00 (six years ago)

that sounds kinda great tbh

que pasa picasso (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 14:06 (six years ago)

It’s free to read online in English if you google!

steer karma (gyac), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 14:11 (six years ago)

Grudging respect for the language and anti-capitalism/industrialism, but Tolkien is such a racist colonialist anti-miscegenation mess.

Now We Know (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:36 (six years ago)

royalist and sexist should probably be in there too.

Now We Know (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:37 (six years ago)

idk, I think Eowyn killing the witch-king makes up for a lot on the gender front imo.

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:41 (six years ago)

it's definitely the most "fuck YEAH" moment in the film adaptation (with extra castration imagery)

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:42 (six years ago)

but there's no arguing about all the "swarthy" = evil language and the royal bloodline crap

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:43 (six years ago)

Most Brit fantasy seems to do the true blood trope - see CS Lewis, JK Rowling and even Philip Pullman.

it's after the end of the world (Matt #2), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:45 (six years ago)

Moorcock otoh

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 18:46 (six years ago)


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