Poll: Orcs, Elves or Dwarfs?

[Rolling Thunder]

Lizardmen.

 

[SextusMaximus]

If you were going for prevalent middle-earth races, why not go Elves Men Dwarves Hobbits Orcs? Well anyways, from the list given, I pick elves. Sure they think they are better than everyone else, but its because they are.

Men - I thought were a little bit of a boring choice. Also, as warfare goes, the Hobbits don't really have much of an army, so I thought I'd leave them out. Sorry!

 

[Ruagh]

Dwarves, because they usually have such epic beards.

 

[Trivun]

Elves, purely because of the long life, good looks, and archery skills . I love archery...

 

[USSR]

Elves.

I always wanted a pony

 

[Jark212]

Elves, for there women..

 

[Blue Musician]

Isn't this a versus thread?

Anyway I would vote for the URUKHAI!!! They are a mix between elves and orcs, that's why.

But apart from that I would say orcs.

 

[Serenegoose]

Okay, this is the funniest post I've replied to in a while... To be honest, I don't really care. I was going with the Tolkien - middle earth feel that shows Orcs as being evil. I'm not a racist, I just didn't think it mattered too much with fictional creatures... But cheers for the post though!

It doesn't -matter- from an OMG racism viewpoint, it matters from a literary standpoint. My personal tastes are that I prefer it when races are secondary to characters, and it feels a bit lazy when people just roll classic 'orcs are evil, dwarves are drunk, elves are perfect' because it's silly to think that there aren't individuals within the race. I mean, what are 'humans'? In fantasy, the answer is always 'versatile' which is a disguised way of saying 'actually individual, as opposed to printing-press duplicates'. That's what I feel matters, not whether I'm hurting a fictional races feelings

 

[F-I-D-O]

"All fall before the might of the dwarfs!"
That kinda sums it up

''and once they fall, they'll be at eye height''

YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT! BARUK KHAZAD! KHAZAD MINANUT! (dear god I hoped I spelled that right). Free invisible cookie if you get the reference.
Now that your legs are gone, I can chop off your wee little elven head easier.

I believe you were going for "baruk khazad! khazad ai menu!"

Well, i got the first part right at least. My measly speakers can warp what the characters are saying, and I was quoting from fiction I haven't recently experienced.
Oh, and since I assume you know where it came from take your pick...
invisible cookie:
visible cookie:

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Orcs. Who doesn't like evil and chaos?

Dwarves are a close second though. Elves are just really up themselves...

 

[SaunaKalja]

Dwarves of course. Play Dwarf Fortress and you'll know why.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Big axe-yes
Lots of alcohol-yes
Slightly unhinged- yes

Dwarfs it is

 

[Mr Companion]

I would be an ork, I have become used to being a disgusting horrid mockery of form and biology which shambles through life in a violently unpleasant blur of torment and anger. So I would do just fine.

 

[fnartilter]

I votez fur da orks! WAAAAAGH!

Seconded! Nothing beats a good meal of the Other White Meat. For the Horde!

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Dwarf, as long as their strength is as equally great as the elves dexterity(I want to bench press tons damn you)

 

[GrinningManiac]

I subscribe to the Terry Pratchett school of thought that questions why entire races are evil. Surely it's individual personalities? Isn't labelling an entire race as "Evil" a bit...racist?

It's always irked me that fantasy = mass uniformity

ALL ORCS = EVIL and suchlike. But also how in the FAR, DISTANT FUTURE!! whole planets seem to adopt a single evironment. You have city-planets with nothing but cities, farm planets with nothing but farms and rolling hills etc.

Earth has a lot more diversity than this (both eviornments and the moral compasses within species) so why don't fantasies?

Meh

Dwarves are cool, though

You have no idea how much I agree with every single word in this post. To me, it's something that happens due to the scale of it. We can't conceive of sci-fi planets as being -planets-, because they're huge! So they end up being regions, small states pretending to be planets. Ditto races. Can you imagine how many million orcs there are? And every one of them is an individual? That's crazy! But make them all crazy warriors, and it's manageable. It's also easy - the interesting characters break the mold, and so when there's a compassionate orc or a stoic dwarf or an elf that's less than perfect, that garners interest. But if elves run the full gamut of personality, how do you make a 'unique' one? It requires a lot more effort and you risk alienating the fanbase that -likes- the cliches.

Okay, this is the funniest post I've replied to in a while... To be honest, I don't really care. I was going with the Tolkien - middle earth feel that shows Orcs as being evil. I'm not a racist, I just didn't think it mattered too much with fictional creatures... But cheers for the post though!

Don't worry, we're not calling you or Tolkein (Tolkien?) racist. We're just saying how in real life, if you said "All Irish are Thieves and Drunkards" you'd be called racist, but in fantasy it's perfectly acceptable to say "All Orcs are Murderers" and "All Elves are elitist". Of course, you may counter this with "But THEY ARE all _____ ", to which I would say that this whole "Every Individual In A Fantasy Race Is The Same" concept is pretty 'meh' in my opinion, and is pretty stupid on face value

It doesn't -matter- from an OMG racism viewpoint, it matters from a literary standpoint. My personal tastes are that I prefer it when races are secondary to characters, and it feels a bit lazy when people just roll classic 'orcs are evil, dwarves are drunk, elves are perfect' because it's silly to think that there aren't individuals within the race. I mean, what are 'humans'? In fantasy, the answer is always 'versatile' which is a disguised way of saying 'actually individual, as opposed to printing-press duplicates'. That's what I feel matters, not whether I'm hurting a fictional races feelings

This, basically. I've left out fantasy Humans in my examples thus far because they are actuall individuals! But why can't we transpose this individuality into other races? Why MUST all orcs be evil? Remember how intersting Fawkes in Fallout 3 was? He was a GOOD Super Mutant! A novel, intersting and heartwarming concept!

Also, Serenegoose, do you read the Discworld novels? If not, I whole heartedly recommend them. Not only are they the funniest books out there, they are very insightful, very clever and turn all the tropes and clichés of fantasy on their heads and make them REALLY really cool. The explanation of the quirks of different races are wonderful. The first few books are a bit "meh" in comparison to the later ones, but you don't really need to read them in any particular order, as the characters drop in and out of the overarching narrative and each novel contains its own story.

 

[Serenegoose]

Also, Serenegoose, do you read the Discworld novels? If not, I whole heartedly recommend them. Not only are they the funniest books out there, they are very insightful, very clever and turn all the tropes and clichés of fantasy on their heads and make them REALLY really cool. The explanation of the quirks of different races are wonderful. The first few books are a bit "meh" in comparison to the later ones, but you don't really need to read them in any particular order, as the characters drop in and out of the overarching narrative and each novel contains its own story.

I loves me some discworld. Give me some of that Sam Vimes or Rincewind goodness.

 

[fenrizz]

I have always preferred the Dwarfs.
I hold Elves as a second choice.

 

[Mechsoap]

if its warhammer or wow orcs are clearly the best in warhammer, specially for theyr shout ''WAAAAAAGH!''
and firstly your a ladys mans if your an elve (ITS SCIENCE) and if your a dwarf you may expect difficulties, like gameing with thumbs like bricks

 

[Yokai]

I just watched a dwarf punch a goblin so hard his head exploded. Then he went back into the fortress and drank several gallons of beer. So, dwarves for sure. Thank you, Tarn Adams.

EDIT: Although, to be fair, it changes per universe. In Warhammer, the elves win by a long shot. They just look so awesome. And in Warcraft, I'd definitely go for the orcs. They're pretty badass.