One of Tolkien’s letters describes orcs as“squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.”

And I was thinking about, 1.) Look at the legs on these Mongolian wrestlers all decked out for a major national wrestling festival, and also 2.) how Tolkien’s racist description wasn’t enough, and orcs have been depicted as more and more grotesque over time. Canonically orcs more or less just look like humans, but that’s not “other” enough so they keep getting turned in to more and more bizarre looking monsters.

Either way, this is what i’m thinking about when i’m laid up with the 'rona. If y’all like wrestling or buff men in tiny pants check out Mongolian wrestling. From what I understand it’s a hugely popular sport there and has been for like a thousand years.

  • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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    2 months ago

    Like, John Wayne kind of notoriously portrayed Chingis Khan in '56, which is as ridiculous as it sounds CW: John Wayne in, I don’t even know, yellow-face? The put him in makeup to play Chingis Khan and he looks ridiculous.

    Fun fact: he was dying to play that role and he really, literally died because of it, they made that movie in heavy nuclear fallout from bomb test and most of the team including Wayne died from cancer later.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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        2 months ago

        Definitely, since it was lung cancer, but the fallout probably sped things up greatly. And again, a lot of other people died too.

    • REEEEvolution
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      2 months ago

      Khans curse. Portray him badly and he will kill your from the afterlife.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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        2 months ago

        It’s actually pretty impressive he can indirectly nuke people nearly 800 years after his death. I think Warhammer 40k old lore presenting him as the first greater daemon of Khorne was on to something.