Orcs of the former USSR

It is difficult to remember where this comparison came from. Many, and even Google, believe that it all started in February 2022. But it is not so. The roots of this comparison go back to the USSR. I never found the sources of a direct comparison, but I found an indirect mention in a quote from Tolkien himself, so, in 1957 he wrote:

“My story does not include “symbolism” or conscious allegory. Allegories like “five magicians = five senses” are completely alien to my way of thinking. There were five magicians, and this is simply a specific component of the story. Asking if it’s true that orcs are “really” communists is no more reasonable to me than asking if communists are orcs."

From this quote, one can understand that the comparison with the USSR was quite popular even at the time when his books were just published. Moreover, in 1961, Tolkien even had to, in an interview with a Swedish newspaper, emphasize that Sauron was not an allusion to Stalin.

As the years passed, the comparison was still remembered in people’s minds. And it would seem that Mordor fell, the USSR collapsed ... but now history again buried itself in this comparison. Moreover, Putin’s propaganda has long begun to exaggerate this image in its work. For example, several large propaganda channels have the name “voice of Mordor” and “The horde”.

Why a horde and where does the orcs? And more on that later.

What are orcs?

Since the advent of The Lord of the Rings, and its extraordinary popularity, orcs have entered deeply into many different fantasy works. From dungeons and dragons to warhammer 40,000, from ancient scrolls to allods online. Everywhere orcs were described in different ways, acquiring different features... and that’s why, as a fantasy lover, it became interesting for me to draw parallels between different orcs from different worlds and our reality. So let’s get started:

• Orcs of Middle-earth. - According to Tolkien himself, the orcs are a race bred by Morgoth for his evil deeds. Morgoth took the elves as a basis, and with the help of black magic distorted their appearance and their psychology.

As a result of his experiments, he received obedient creatures, with twisted thinking, but who, deep down, hated their master.

Tolkien’s quote comes to mind here: “Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what was invented or made by the forces of good.” This embodies the essence of Tolkien’s orcs - evil beings, but evil not of their own free will, but because of the evil that changed and impregnated them. As a result, their lot was only imitation and copying. That is why the people of that time so willingly came up with the comparison of the orcs with the communists.

• Orcs from warhammer 40,000. Perhaps one of the strangest types of orcs invented by writers. Originally invented by the race of the ancients, as a reasonable weapon. Mushrooms naturally reproduce by spores. At the level of genes, able to create primitive technologies and thirsty for war.

This type of orc is usually remembered purely in a humorous way. Since a feature of these orcs is the above-mentioned ability to design all sorts of primitive prodigies. And the orcs’ belief that a red-painted car should go faster... really makes a red car go faster. Since orc technology works, it’s partly because of their holy belief that it works. Therefore, comparison with these orcs becomes an excellent reason to joke.

• Orcs from Allods. It is also an extremely bright appearance of this race, although little known. In the world of allods, orcs, as in many other universes, are a race based on the cult of power, and structurally divided into clans. Despite the anarchism of the orcs, they are actively used by the Khadagan Empire, which included them in its composition.

Yes, the Khadagan Empire, modeled after the USSR and styled after it, uses orcs as the backbone of its army. Such is the self-irony from domestic authors. There is nothing more to add here.

• Orcs from Warcraft. - And here are the very orcs, from which the name Horde came. The horde is essentially a state founded by orcs, and even though it includes other races, it originally came from a combination of clans that united and went to conquer. And here is the cunning of the Kremlin propagandists, who chose these very orcs for the hypertrophied popularity of themselves as “orcs”. Orcs in the world of military craft are creatures that put honor at the forefront. And although the military honor of the orcs is strangely perceived by some other peoples of Azeroth (the world where the plot of the military craft develops), the orcs there are a noble people who follow their ideals.

And I would like to tell you more about one of the segments of their history.

History of Varok Saurfang

The story I want to tell you is the story of the fourth war for Azeroth. The world of Azeroth consists of two opposing factions - an alliance and a horde, each of which consists of a coalition of peoples, has its own capital and exists in certain territories. It all started with the fact that in the course of previous events, the previous leader of the horde, the troll Vol’jin, died. Before his death, he handed over leadership of the horde to the undead Sylvanas Windrunner.

And then, according to the plot of the game, events began, from which parallels with Russia literally went in my head. Having come to power, Sylvanas strengthened the vertical of power, and after that she began to engage in frank geopolitics. Moreover, it is in the form in which we are used to hearing from television screens. Using as an argument the need to drive the enemy from the main continent on which the horde lives, Sylvanas attacked the night elves, completely burning their capital and forcing them to flee to another continent.

It was an outright war crime with all its trappings. And then Varok Saurfang appears on the scene. Supreme commander of the horde. Looking at the burning capital, he expresses to Sylvanas that her actions are wrong. Realizing what the actions of the new leader of the horde will lead to, he tells her - “It’s dishonorable! Now they will come to take revenge! Everyone will come!” (and this moment repeatedly popped up in my head after the events of February. I think you understand why).

Varok was an old war that had gone through the blood of three wars. He knew the price of war, and he knew the price of peace. He understood what abyss his people were being dragged into by the leader, who was beginning to slowly become an autocrat.

As a result, Sylvanas has repeatedly demonstrated herself as a lover of Machiavellianism, who does not consider lives or morals in order to achieve goals. As a result, Saurfang realized that the horde needed a change... the horde needed a change of power, before this power destroyed everything that the inhabitants of the horde had achieved over the past years. Needless to say, in the meantime, Sylvanas actively unleashed a war with the opposition, because the idea began to reach many that the leader was not acting in the interests of the horde, but in his incomprehensible personal.

This story ends at the gates of the Horde’s capital, Orgrimmar. Members of the horde loyal to Saurfang and the former leader of the horde, Thrall, have teamed up with representatives of the alliance. Yes, the patriots who followed Sylvanas screamed betrayal. But it was a dichotomy already familiar to us: loyalty to one’s people, or loyalty to the leader. Saurfang chose the people. And standing at the walls of Orgrimmar, they made a decision that saved the lives of soldiers on both sides of the battle. He took advantage of an ancient tradition, and challenged Sylvanas to a duel of honor - Mac’gora, deciding for himself that his one life would be enough so that the rest would not suffer. During the duel, he dies, killed by a charge of magic, which, according to the rules of Mac’gora, cannot be used. And realizing that she has already made a mistake that costs her the reputation of a leader, Sylvanas loses her temper and bursts into an angry speech that all the Horde are “nothing! you are all nothing!”, finally destroying his reputation, and then escaping.

So one life sacrificed by Saurfang, who to the end believed and appreciated the people of the horde, helped to throw off the caustic veil of totalitarianism that soaked his people.

And the hordes after that drew conclusions. Realizing that the role of the great leader consistently corrupts even the best, the horde abolished this post, moving in fact to the state of ... a republic, with a representative democracy from each people of the horde.

Such is the story that is memorable for the nerdy heart, clearly echoing our realities. And let the propagandists deliberately try to present us with a positive image of the orc... by doing so, they involuntarily give us a new example in the current situation.

And I don’t know what to write anymore. Just a post inspired by this story. And remember, “you can’t kill hope!”.

finally, a beautiful music track on the theme

nidheg