Line #8 Literature/Orcs


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orcs.jpg]]
2	->''"Stryke couldn't see the ground for corpses."''
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4	A series of fantasy novels by Stan Nicholls now entering its second trilogy. The first trilogy, called ''Orcs: First Blood'', consisted of ''Bodyguard of Lightning'', ''Legion of Thunder'', and ''Warriors of the Tempest''.
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6	Stryke is the Captain of the Wolverines, an orc warband that was sold into the service of Queen Jennesta, a depraved half-human half-nyadd sorceress who fights in a war between the Manis (those who follow the Manifold Path with many gods) and the Unis (those who believe in only one god) in Maras Dantia, the land whose magic is slowly being "eaten" by the humans.
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8	During one mission, where Jennesta commanded them to retrieve an AncientArtifact, the warband falls into misfortune: a group of kobolds steals the artifact. The Wolverines' search for it (and, eventually, others) becomes a bloody trip through Maras Dantia, where they encounter religious fanatics, trolls, and three very determined bounty hunters.
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10	A second trilogy, ''Orcs: Bad Blood'', is being published. The first two books, ''Weapons of Magical Destruction'' and ''Army of Shadows'', are out, with the third and final book on its way.
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12	Not to be confused [[SimilarlyNamedWorks with the 2011 film]] ''Orcs!''.
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14	----
15	!!Provides Examples Of:
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17	* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Jennesta among her own army (the orcs even start [[spoiler:deserting en masse]]).
18	* ActionGirl: Corporal Coilla. Justified in that she's, well, an orc.
19	* AgonyBeam: The Sluagh have one that attacks the brain directly, forcing targets to become subservient to their will.
20	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Subverted as ''every'' race has its villains and heroes.
21	* AutomatonHorses: Sometimes horses are killed or begin to tire, but most of the time the orcs keep their horses running for long periods without rest or food.
22	* BigBad: The EvilSorceress [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Jennesta]] is the ruler of the polytheistic Manifold Path religion and leads their war against the monotheistic Unis. She forces the orc heroes, her slaves, to recover [[AncientArtifact ancient artifacts]] created by her father Seraphim, then turns on them when she mistakenly believes they betrayed her, forcing them to fight off her army.
23	* BigBadWannabe: Kimball Hobrow could be a contender for main villain status, but his plans are built more on zealotry rather than competence and are quite easily undone. [[spoiler: He himself dies unceremoniously before the end of book three, knifed in the gut by Jennesta's orcs while pathetically pleading for mercy.]]
24	* BigGood: [[spoiler: Sephraim, Jennesta's father and the creator of the Instrumentalities.]]
25	* TheBigGuy: Haskeer. Out of the three bounty hunters, Blaan is physically the strongest.
26	* TheChosenOne: There are hints that Stryke is chosen to lead the orcs in rebellion against Jennesta, but he refuses to be a leader of anything other than his warband.
27	* CombatTentacles: Some of the Sluagh have them.
28	* CoolOldGuy: Alfray is the oldest orc in the Wolverines (though he hates being reminded of his age), and is no less skilled a fighter than the others. He's also the warband's medic, helping to get many injured orcs back on their feet throughout the journey.
29	* CreepyChild: Mercy Hobrow, Kimball Hobrow's daughter, who likes to watch sinners beaten.
30	* CrystalDragonJesus: More like, ''Actual'' Jesus, as the Unis are almost indistinguishable from [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy Medieval European]] religious fanatics. In fact, they even reference ''Satan'' at one point. The Unis also seem to portray modern right-wing evangelicals (unadorned churches, married clergy etc.).
31	* DarkIsNotEvil: A must when ''orcs'' are your protagonists. The main orcs are brutal in battle, but they only fight when the need arises and otherwise would rather keep to themselves.
32	* DepravedBisexual: Jennesta rapes and murders men and women of all races.
33	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted with Jennesta and her assorted victims.
34	* DumbMuscle: Blaan, one of the bounty hunters hired to catch the Wolverines.
35	* TheEmpire: Queen Jennesta's kingdom.
36	* EnemyCivilWar: Adpar's death causes one among the nyadds, which creates more problems for the Wolverines when they go to the nyadd realm as part of their deal with the centaurs. Fortunately, a vengeful group of merz arrive to cover the Wolverine's retreat.
37	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The infamous rape scene. [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil It shows just how sadistic and evil Jennesta is right from the get-go]].
38	* EvilMinions: The orcs under Jennesta, as well as Kimball Hobrow's followers.
39	* EvilOverlord: Jennesta, of course. Kimbal Hobrow isn't too pleasant himself.
40	* FantasticRacism: All over the place. The Unis are the most obvious, despising all other races as "subhuman", but other races can be equally prejudice against one another (dwarves, for instance, are seen as untrustworthy mercenaries, a reputation that Jup hates being saddled with.
41	%%* GeneralFailure: Jennesta.
42	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: You ''really'' don't want to be under Jennesta or Adpar's rule. The former rapes and murders her subjects on a whim and has zero tolerance for failure, while the latter likes executions to be drawn out and as painful as possible, and indulges in quite a bit of psychological torture as well.
43	* {{Golem}}: The Watchers are mechanical creatures powered by magic.
44	* HalfHumanHybrid: Jennesta and her sisters are half-human, half-nyadd. [[spoiler: This is a result of their mother's magical experience, as their father is quite human.]]
45	* HolierThanThou: Kimball Hobrow and his Uni followers.
46	* HumansAreBastards: Averted on several occasions by showing that the Orcs simply can't understand a lot of human customs and nature, just as the humans can't understand the Orcs' obsession with fighting one another. This is further enforced by the fact that while there is a [[FantasticRacism hyper-racist faction]] of humans there is also a faction who wishes to undo a lot of the damage they have done and make peace with the other species [[spoiler: and the BigGood is a human sorcerer who wanted to return all the elder races to their homelands, where they'd be happier and free from the ongoing conflicts of humans]].
47	* HumansAreUgly: Not quite name-checked, but close.
48	* TheHorde: The orcs used to belong to the "United Orc Horde" until tough times forced them to be sold into Jennesta's service.
49	* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Jup decides to stay in Maras Dantia rather than follow the Wolverines to the orc home dimension, saying that he'd be even more out of place than he already is.]]
50	* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: Coilla and Pepperdyne]] in ''Bad Blood''.
51	* {{Jerkass}}: Haskeer, although sometimes he comes across as more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
52	* McGuffin: The Instrumentalities or stars. [[spoiler: They can be used to open portals to other dimensions.]]
53	* {{Mutants}}: It turns out that [[spoiler:Stryke]] might be a "sport" or genetic throwback that can feel magic.
54	* NeckSnap: The Watchers will do this to anyone that draws a weapon on their watch.
55	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The orcs have the Sluagh, which they believe inhabit an Orc hell. [[spoiler: They're actually extradimensional beings, but still as vicious as the legends describe.]]
56	* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The only non-orc Wolverine is Jup, a dwarf. The dwarves are said to fight for anybody who pays the best, but Jup is the more honorable kind.
57	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: And how! The Nyadds are at war with the Merz, who are generally peaceable -- unless you happen to cross them.
58	* OurMonstersAreWeird: [[{{Fartillery}} Pixies]] and [[TheImp Putti]].
59	* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They combine the traditional [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien]] orcs with [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Blizzard]] orcs. [[spoiler: Those of the orc home dimension are much closer to Blizzard orcs, while Maras Dantia orcs were bred to be more subservient and brutal like Tolkien orcs.]]
60	* OutWithABang: Jennesta ''kills'' people after she rapes them (and then consumes their hearts to replenish her magic).
61	* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: All the orcs are pretty much like this, with some exceptions. Haskeer fits it like a glove though.
62	** The Centaurs as well, though not to the extent of the orcs. It allows the two races to find common ground during the orcs' quest.
63	* PsychicPowers: All of the elder races except for orcs have them to a degree. Dwarves have a talent called "farsight," although it is diminished by the dying magic.
64	* PsychoForHire: The bounty hunters.
65	* PuttingOnTheReich: Kimball Hobrow and his followers at Trinity tend to talk a lot about "racial purity" and were intent on [[spoiler:poisoning the water supply to kill off any non-human race]]. They also dress heavily in black.
66	* TheReveal: ''Several'' towards the end of the book.
67	* RightHandCat: Jennesta has a pet cat called Sapphire.
68	* ScienceFantasy: Orcs in a magical world -- [[spoiler:that is connected to an infinite multiverse via portals]].
69	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Coilla is the only female orc in the Wolverines.
70	* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler: Coilla's child with Pepperdyne]]
71	* TeleporterAccident: [[spoiler: Weaponized; Sephraim tosses Jennesta into the portal while it's still warming up, causing her to disintegrate as she's dragged through.]]
72	* TerribleTrio: The bounty hunters.
73	* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Short, shaggy, and inhabiting a place called Scratch.
74	* YouHaveFailedMe: Jennesta does this ''repeatedly''. Basically, if you fail this woman, even ''slightly'', then you're officially screwed.
75	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Jennesta among the Manis (even though she's only out for herself).
76	* VolleyingInsults: Much of Haskeer and Jup's arguments consist of this.

Context Literature / Orcs