This little sweety-pie is hanging on by her finger and toe nails above a doorway in the Weta Cave, just above the counter. It's not unusual for people to pay for their purchases and not notice her until the last moment, which is often quite funny to watch.
Why is she counted as a female orc? I'm surprised you have to ask! Isn't she much prettier than, say, Lurtz?
Also, as you can see, she's got several earrings in, so she cares about her appearance. Doesn't sound like a male orc to me.
On the movie set, it wasn't uncommon for the male orcs in the movie to be played by women, however, this particular orc was originally sculpted as a female orc. I don't have any other details on her - if any of the Weta crew is reading this, I'd love to know more!
Next photo set (in the next few days or so), some closeups of various weapons, both Middle-earth and futuristic ones.
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Update : I got sent this photo of her, taken last Christmas by Lady Nerd... Note the lovely earrings on her... and didn't Lurtz look great with his santa hat? (if anyone has a photo of that, let me know!)
Lady Nerd : in answer to your query, I seem to remember that the staff have taken to calling her "Snookums" or something...?
PICTURES OF FEMALE ORCS! That is really neat!
ReplyDeleteAin't she a cutey though? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jack, you really are a fun, enthusiastic person... love ur blog (and the female orc) :p
ReplyDeleteI just checked your site as well - that's so awesome! I don't think I've ever seen the complete (translated!) lyrics of the LOTR music... that's going on my "websites to spend a whole day browsing through" list...!
ReplyDelete(talking about http://thehouseofeorl.googlepages.com/TheHouseOfEorl.htm )
- Jack
Thanks Jack :) But just so you know, those translated lyrics are not my work. They're from the Annotated Scores written by Doug Adams which are available for free download in PDF format from the Official LOTR Soundtrack Site. His new book will be an expanded version of the PDFs with additional content (lyrics, themes, and perhaps some stuff on LOTR music that's not yet been released).
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the stuff on the site is my handiwork though :)
Haha, you should've seen what Dan and the crew did with her at Christmas (she has a name butit escapes me...). I've got a picture somewhere on my hardrive of the female orc with a fun array of bright blue & red ornaments as Christmas earrings. :P
ReplyDelete@The Lady Nerd
ReplyDeleteYou have to share that pic :D
@Eorl
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link - I haven't had a lot of spare time lately (hence the lack of posts here) but I'll be sure to check that site out...
@Lady Nerd
I remember that one - didn't she have a bunch of christmas ornaments as earrings? And Lurtz had a santa hat for a while - sacrilege! The cave-crew has been told there'll be no repeat of that this year, as they're not allowed to touch the displays at all anymore. Also, it made Lurtz look like a sissy. :)
But if you send me a photo of her with the colourful ornaments, I promise to post them here... :)
- Jack M.
@Jack
ReplyDeleteThat cool.
Btw, I've now finished reading up on ALL of your older blog posts and I've made up my mind this is a really cool blog :o)
Well, I see there's three new posts since I last stopped over *scampers off* :o)
Do you have an email address I could send the photo to? (I checked on your profile, but I didn't see one) 'Tis a shame to hear there'll be no more decorating of the displays. Though I can understand why. Now I'm glad I have that one-of-a-kind shot!
ReplyDelete@The Lady Nerd
ReplyDeleteCheck your email. :)
- Jack M.
If orcs are produced in vats (goo filled pits), why would they need females? Probably all orcs are 'drones' with no sexual function, although as this orc shows, they are not necessarily without sex appeal. Amazing job!
ReplyDeleteI thought Gimli's joke on the road to Helm's Deep, about dwarves springing from holes in the ground, was ironic since that's pretty much what orcs do.
Okay, I have to admit - the only critters we can be sure are made in vats are the Uruk-hai. It's doubtful they retain the capability to reproduce their species after the fall of Isengard with its diabolical infrastructure.
It does not necessarily follow that orcs are also made it vats. It just seems highly likely to me, after all they show none of the emotions that "mothering" should have taught them. They're a lot like boys brought up in British boarding schools, just without the jumpers and school ties. (Kidding!)
Plus I don't think Saruman invented the whole "goo filled hole" (GFH) thing. I'd guess Tolkien took inspiration for his character from Milton's proud Satan, and the literary Satan is never a creator, he just appropriates existing ideas to his own purposes. (Like Japan did with the battleship and trousers, you know?) This strongly suggests that orcs do in fact reproduce via the GFH.
I dunno for sure, John. My take on the whole thing is that the Goo Filled Hole was invented for the film to show a nasty start to Orcs. I think it works quite well, visually.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's necessarily what Tolkien meant though - he said that the Orcs were twisted and tortured Elves, and are just lower versions of them. That would probably mean they would reproduce in the same way as Elves though - males and females would be needed for it.
But that would probably have meant that the the filmmakers would have had to raise the movie's ratings from a PG-13 rating to R, or even an X (plus, it's an image I don't need - Orcs doing the wild thang)...
Neither Saruman, nor Sauron (nor, in fact, Morgoth/Melkor) could create live, you're right - but creating Orcs from GFH's is just as bad as creating it outright, so I don't think that's how it would have gone. As I said though - it worked well in the movie. I don't have any problem with the artistic license Peter Jackson took to show us.
- Jack M.
(PS - sorry it took me so long to answer this - I missed your comment completely!)
I'm 18 months late the the conversation, but I was just pondering female orcs, googled it, and found this thread. I was hoping maybe someone had come across a reference to mama orcs that I hadn't...there is indeed mention of a father/son pair of orcs of Moria: Azog and Bolg...Azog being the killer of Thorin oakenshield's grandpa Thror, Bolg being of the orcs who chased the travelers east out of the Misty Mountains in The Hobbit. So, there must be female orcs! Perhaps they just have enough sense to stay out of all the hewn of necks, etc, much like the females of the fairer races (excepting Eowen, of course)...
ReplyDeleteI'm currently looking for an essay on orc-reproduction that was written by a friend here in Wellington. I'll drop a line when I have found it again.
ReplyDelete- Jack