u axed for it I hate to be that guy, but if you carry an Axe, possibly an Orc Double Axe then you get to make lots of Axe related puns. "Hold on, I just want to Axe you something" "Careful now, you might have a horrific Axe-cident" "I don't like it when people make fun of my Axe-cent" "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and axes." "AXE-CUSE ME" "I find your lack of humour un-Axe-ceptable" "I'm an Axe-perienced warrior." "I'm only going to Axe nicely once. Don't make me Axe again." "Let me Axe-amine you." "Let me Axe-plain." "Trust me, I'm Axe-ceptional, not like those H-Axe (hacks)" "My form is Axe-cellent." "Faster... Faster... we must Axe-cellerate this process."
Something that rubs me the wrong way, as an orc fan, is people who conflate gender presentation or even racial traits with sexuality and use it to undermine GBP depictions of male orcs.
I mean, for one thing, don’t be shitty about people’s sexuality headcanons in the first place. A headcanon is a headcanon, and everyone is allowed to have one. But even more importantly, don’t act like it’s impossible, unreasonable, or– God forbid– gross when someone depicts a masculine orc as liking other males.
It gets to me the most when it’s Garrosh. Perhaps because he’s my favorite character, or because I headcanon him as gay. But I can’t help but feel like people who get all “but Garrosh is a man, he’s not gay!” have firmly missed the point of his character.
Garrosh, if anything, is a critique of toxic masculinity: mocked by Jorin for showing emotion in Nagrand and then further dismissed when trying to explain this to Thrall, he takes to suppressing entirely valid feelings about his father’s legacy. As he rises to Warchief, he cultivates an image that is Masculine™ but also forced; this is best demonstrated in The Shattering when he covers himself in tattoos to prove how tough he is, not only showing his own insistence on creating an image, but also the culture feeding that wish, as the tattoo artist scoffs at him for reacting to pain (and even just sweating).
Garrosh becomes a man divided. Honest concerns and hesitations are thrown out the window to look Strong and Tough, feeding a toxic, pigheaded mindset that, in part, brings about his fall. And it is his interaction with other males that makes this discussion so interesting: his desperation for approval from male society, his almost-decade long obsession with (besting? killing? who knows?) Varian, his hatred for and then hero-worship of his father, and the way he gives into male characters like Thrall and Malkorok rather than relying on his own sense of self all become important sites for discussing the negative effects of male socialization. He looks to other male characters– as role models or as opponents– as the shapers of his identity, and, in doing so, becomes a shell of a person. He is a cautionary tale, and it scares me that the fandom seems to miss this.
So when you say “Garrosh is such a man, there’s no way he’s gay!” not only are you conflating gender and sexuality, undermining millions of men in the gay community who identity with masculine-gendered identities– bears, the leather community, or gay bodybuilding, just to name a few– but you are also missing a valuable discussion of male socialization and toxic masculinity by opting to buy into it wholesale. “Garrosh is too manly to be gay” only affirms that stamping out emotion or weakness and championing the views of other men over everyone else are entirely honest and genuine ventures.
Say “Garrosh is too concerned about what other men think to admit if he were gay/bi/pan,” sure, or “Garrosh is too disconnected from his own feelings to know what his sexuality is,” fine. Those are all valid and important discussions to have. But do not assume that a constructed gender identity amounts to an honest gender identity, or that that constructed identity mitigates the possibility of a GBP sexuality. In doing that, you are tossing out an exceedingly important discussion about gender and socialization– both in the gay community and the wider world– and I cannot stand it.
All of this is to say, I am tired of people looking at male characters with more stereotypically-feminine appearances– Anduin, Wrathion, and the blood elves being the primary examples that come to mind– and accepting GBP interpretations immediately while tossing out all of Garrosh’s complex interactions, obsession-level interactions, with males as “lol haha but he’s a manly man tho.” An acceptance of GBP men based solely on assumptions of femininity is neither fair nor correct. If you are going to claim to accept LGBT headcanons as valid, you need to accept all LGBTP headcanons as valid, not just those that fit into your preconceived notions of what an LGBTP character looks/acts like.
Big Gay Orcs is a one-page roleplaying game about finding love at the end of everything. You are a champion amongst orcs. The Warlord is dead by an assassin’s hand. You have received orders from the Great Khan: your fortress is the last defence that stands between your home city and the armies of your enemy, and you must sell your lives dearly.
This may be your last night alive. As the sun sets, you see the fires of the enemy on the horizon and think of the life you’ve spent alongside the other orcs here. Can you tell them how you really feel, here at the end of everything?
Not only does this creeper closely resemble the Monster From Behind Winky’s Diner in Mulholland Drive, AKA The Least Fuckable Thing in a Movie Ever, he’s just so clearly that gay who’s blowing up everyone’s DM’s just trying to get a little attention. Sir, you may want to “put a maggot hole in my belly,” but it’s 3 a.m.. Good night and good luck.
. . .
5. COMMANDER ORC
Image: New Line Cinema
Look, sometimes the sexiest thing in the world is security, and I don’t know about you but I just get the sense this silverfox serving Blue Steel here can PROVIDE. And it’s not like he doesn’t know how to have a good time, too. Lest we forget, his most iconic quote is “Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!” which is honestly the post-COVID dance track we’ve been looking for.
4. WARG RIDER ORC
Image: New Line Cinema
Call me crazy, but I think he’s a bit of a cutie. Aside from the gnarly scars giving a touch of experience to his lean swimmer’s build you really get the sense this guy is good at mounting a whole lot more than wargs, if ya know what I mean. Michelle Pfeiffer once spoke of a “cool rider,” a man who “if he’s cool enough, he can burn me through and through.” Not to mix metaphors, but I think this skinny legend might be “the one that I want.”
3. SHAGRAT
Image: New Line Cinema
OK, so first off (and I cannot state this strongly enough), his name is SHAGRAT. As in a RAT who SHAGS. This is very good. Add that to the fact that he literally starts a full-blown riot for possession of Frodo’s glittery silver undershirt, a move that would scream Messy Bitch Who Lives For the Drama if it wasn’t imbued with such ferocious passion. As such, his no-holds-barred cry of “Hands off my shiny shirt!” becomes an “It’s Britney, bitch”-esque mic drop for the Third Age, the brave rallying cry of a man burning down a culture of boiled leather and rusty armor and embracing the alluring glow of lamé. We have no choice but to stan a naturally gray legend who also appreciates high fashion.
2. TORCH ORC
Image: New Line Cinema
I feel like the 30 seconds this guy is onscreen is the Lord of the Rings equivalent of the Hercules Mulligan Yorktown verse in Hamiltonin that it’s arguable nothing has ever fucked harder in the history of anything. This king had one job and he did it shirtless living his best Olympic Opening Ceremonies fantasy. Next Pride Parade, I want him front and center shaking his ass to a club remix of the Chariots of Fire theme.
1. THIS FUCKING GUY
Image: New Line Cinema
The only logical choice for number one, this dom top is most famous for filling Boromir with a flurry of giant arrows, but did he have to do it while serving such intense hotty-with-a-body realness? Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Jackson shoots him like Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean in Dr. No, with a slow-motion strut that reads less as “I’m gonna go kill Sean Bean” than “Touch this. Touch all of this.”
But it’s impossible to deny his super-charged, Grindr-hookup-gone-wrong fight with Viggo, a knock-down, drag-out fight scene so unbelievably horny it makes Call Me By Your Name look like The Straight Story. Jackson stages it with sweaty grunts and thirsty stares so loaded they’d make Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett blush. There’s even an Extended Edition-exclusive moment apparently deemed too hot for theaters where this freak grabs the knife Aragorn just shoved into his leg, pulls it out, and LICKS IT LIKE A THREE-COURSE MEAL. And in case you thought he was a one-trick pony, look out! He’s vers, hunty! ‘Cause when Viggo stabs him in the stomach, he welcomes it WITH PLEASURE, using his bare fucking hands to pull himself forward for further impalement, clearly the Orc-ish gesture for “Daddy only gave her a taste, but she wanted the whole enchilada!”
Tragically, this lens-fogging display of homosexual mania is cut short when Viggo delivers the killing blow, leaving our man decapitated and us with one nagging question 20 years on, “Hey babe … how’s your head?”
The orc Gothmog (left) and Harvey Weinstein (right) Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: New Line Cinema/Alamy; Bloomberg/Getty Images
Hot Lord of the Rings goss for second breakfast: Serial rapist and disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein served as the inspiration for one of Middle-earth’s orcs — according to Frodo Baggins himself. Renowned hobbit Elijah Wood confirmed this rumor to Dax Shepard on the podcast Armchair Expert, explaining: “I think that is okay to talk about now,” Wood said. “The guy is fucking incarcerated. Fuck him.” I think it’s okay, too! Say more, Frodo.
Wood recalled an experience Sean Astin (who played Frodo’s quest husband, Samwise Gamgee) apparently had on arrival in New Zealand for filming. “He had seen these orc masks,” Wood explained. “And one of the orc masks — and I remember this vividly — was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a fuck you.” Weinstein’s habitual predation on young women in the industry was an open secret for decades, and the producer is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault (with another trial coming down the pipe). Maybe that is enough reason to make him an orc, all on its own!But also, it sounds like Weinstein clashed with Peter Jackson over his grand LOTR vision when Miramax initially green-lit the project, and maybe some of that animosity lingered.
Now, I know what you are thinking: Which orc, precious? Frodo didn’t specify, so we can only guess. And I don’t know about you, but when I look at Gothmog, lieutenant of Morgul — his wispy beige hair, his pasty complexion, his evil, gummy mouth; a shocking No. 9 on Polygon’shot-orc power ranking — I get a little shock of déjà vu, an eerie feeling of recognition, drums in the damn deep. Now it all makes sense.
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