Ogre
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- This article is about the mythical creature. For alternative meanings, see Ogre (disambiguation).
According to the folklore and mythology of the peoples of Northern Europe, the ogres (related to the Latin Orcus, though it purportedly comes from "Hungar" or "Uigur", meaning "Hungarian" or perhaps "Hun") are a race of humanoid beings, fierce and cruel monsters, that eat human flesh; they are also shy and cowardly, and have little or no intelligence and cleverness, which makes it easy for men to defeat them. A female of this race is called an ogress. Ogres are said to be able to change their shape at will into animals or objects, and they often dwell in marvelous palaces or castles, sometimes underground. In art, ogres are often depicted with a big head, abundant and hirsute hair and beard, a huge belly, and a strong body.
In Scandinavian countries, there is no concept for "ogre"; they are translated as trolls. They are trolls that are considered to be masters of castles built in the mountains, keeping fabulous treasures (compare with the Irish leprechaun); this creature is considered to be either a giant (most commonly) or a dwarf.
Literature for children has plenty of tales mentioning ogres and kidnapped princesses who were rescued by valiant knights and, sometimes, peasants. Ogres are also popular in fantasy games. In recent times the most famous ogre is the CG character Shrek who breaks several of the stereotypes.
By extension, the term ogre applies to disgusting persons with a violent temper. This is undoubtedlty the basis for the coarse fraternity brother, Ogre, who was played by Don Gibb in the Revenge of the Nerds movies.
Blue, red, and black ogres with horns and iron clubs appear in Momotaro ("Peach Boy"), a Japanese fairy tale, as well as in several other works inspired in the local mythology and religion. For more information, see oni.
Other fairy tales with ogres in them: Motiratika, Tritill Litill And The Birds, and Don Firriulieddu. In the tale Puss in Boots, a cat outwits a shape-changing ogre. Negoogunogumbar is an ogre of Pygmy myth who devours children.
Ogres in modern games
In the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, ogres are a lesser race of giants with no particular magic abilities, rather being simply large brutes with clubs. An aquatic subrace of ogres is known as "Merrow". D&D ogres are also closely related to the race of ogre mages (or ogre magi), a race with blue skin and great magical abilities. It is unclear if ogres and ogre mages are actually the same race, or if ogre mages simply find lesser ogres easy to boss around.
In the Warcraft universe, Ogres are a savage race from Draenor. They followed the orcs through the Dark Portal into the world of Azeroth. During the First War, they were little more than destructive brutes, hazards to both sides, but between the first and second war, the Ogres were recruited into the Orcish Horde by the Warlock Gul'dan to replace the now-disbanded Wolf-riders as heavy cavalry. This is the point at which the two-headed variety of ogre appeared, due to Gul'dan's experiments that utimately created the Ogre-Magi - the powerful body of an ogre with the mind of a slain warlock implanted in one or both heads.