Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Lord Of The Rings. One-Vo.ume Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. Print.
This long story tells of a band of comrades, and by extension, several races, who are fighting the classic evil that wishes extermination for all that lives free. The ultimate climax to this battle is the destruction of a powerful magic ring, sought after by the evil one. The orcs are a race of monsters who serve this evil power; the faceless swarm that hedges up the way for the protagonists at every turn. This will be the main source for my topic, and probably the most well known. In it, though not a major player, Orcs do play a substantial role and their image is created. It will be useful and even essential in my paper as this will provide the majority of my arguments, as well as be a solid connection with the audience. Most of the audience knows at least the storyline and plot, and so will know at least what I am talking about most of the time.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Dir. Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, 2002. Videocassette.
The film of the book, though not entirely true to the novel, does give the audience a much easier access to cited entries. The visual aspect as well, though much lacking in a book, is the greatest strength of films. It will add a bit, not in quotes per se, but the comparisons will still be there, in the great medium of film.
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Silmarillion. 2nd Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Print.
This text deals with much of the backbround setting for The Lord of the Rings. Here is given the account of the creation of Middle Earth and all of the races including the Orcs. This volume sheds more light on who these monsters are and allows a detailing of characters barely discussed in any depth in the main text. I plan to use this for a more in depth character study and to tie harder connections to my thesis.
