Tolkien Gateway

Goblins

From Tolkien Gateway

For the main article on this subject, see Orcs.

Goblins is another name for Orcs[1][2]. It is English (see below) as opposed to Old English, the language that Tolkien used to represent Rohirric[3]. The two are used synonymously in The Lord of the Rings.[4]

[edit] Etymology

Goblin is a folk word, which according to "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English," is probably derived from the Anglo-French gobelin a diminutive of Gobel (cf. Kobold) and therefore is Romance-derived unlike other words preferable by Tolkien[5]

The term was used primarily in The Hobbit but also in The Lord of the Rings.

[edit] Portrayal in Adaptations

For the strategy games The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II goblins have been made clearly distinct from Orcs.

References

  1. Letter 131
  2. Letter 144
  3. The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F
  4. The Two Towers, "The Departure of Boromir"
  5. http://tolkien.slimy.com/tfaq/EnemyMisc.html#Orcs