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Old 04-01-2006, 01:03 PM   #21
Firefoot
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 7,646
Firefoot has been trapped in the Barrow!
A couple of pieces:

Quote:
"Most of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains were scattered or destroyed in the Battle of Five Armies."
A Journey in the Dark, FotR

Obviously, they're pretty much just called Goblins in TH.

Quote:
Azog caem forth, and he was a great Orc...
Appendix A, III
Quote:
"Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."
An Unexpected Party, TH

This same guy is called both an Orc and a Goblin - and he's a big Orc, too, so I don't think you can argue Goblins are smaller.

I don't think that a strong, text-based argument can really be made for Orcs and Goblins being different.
Quote:
What was the Great Goblin that recognized Orcrist and Glamdring? Thats as about as close as I saw in his works to a Goblin (orc) king, other than Bolg who led the Goblin Army in the Battle of Five Armies, but Bolg was just the leader (or the strongest goblin), not necessarily a king. Is that right?
The Great Goblin appears to be a king, even if not in name (I don't remember if he's ever called that or not). But it seems fairly typical that where Orcs/Goblins are living on their own (i.e., not as Sauron's/Morgoth's slaves), they have some sort of leadership - The Great Goblin, Azog, Bolg - there even seems to be some kind of history behind Shagrat and Gorbag where they were some kind of leadership. And I think that Ugluk would be somewhat of a leader whether or not he was made so by Saruman.
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