Ogre#In modern fiction

File:Le Chat face à l'ogre.jpg before the ogre (illustrated by Walter Crane).]]

An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children.{{cite book|title=Why do Ogres Eat Babies?|first=Marina|last=Warner|publisher=SpringerLink|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-13816-6_18}} Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of literature, and are most often associated in fairy tales and legend.

In mythology, ogres are often depicted as inhumanly large, tall, and having a disproportionately large head, abundant hair, unusually colored skin, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Ogres are closely linked with giants and with human cannibals in mythology. In both folklore and fiction, giants are often given ogrish traits (such as the giants in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Killer", the Giant Despair in The Pilgrim's Progress, and the Jötunn of Norse mythology); while ogres may be given giant-like traits.

Famous examples of ogres in folklore include the ogre in "Puss in Boots" and the ogre in "Hop-o'-My-Thumb". Other characters sometimes described as ogres include the title character from "Bluebeard", the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Humbaba from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Grendel from Beowulf, Polyphemus the Cyclops from Homer's Odyssey, the man-eating giant in "Sinbad the Sailor" and the oni of Japanese folklore.

Etymology

File:Lechatbotte4.jpg before the ogre. One of the platters on the table serves human babies (illustrated by Gustave Doré).]]

The word ogre is of French origin, originally derived from the Etruscan god Orcus.{{cite web |title=Definition of 'ogre' |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ogre |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=19 February 2025 |language=en |date=14 February 2025}}{{cite web |title=Etymology of 'ogre' |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/ogre: |website=Etymonline.com |access-date=19 February 2025 |language=en}} Its earliest attestation is in Chrétien de Troyes' late 12th-century verse romance Perceval, li contes del graal, which contains the lines:

{{blockquote|

Et s'est escrit que il ert ancore

que toz li reaumes de Logres,

qui jadis fu la terre as ogres,

ert destruite par cele lance.

"And it is written that he will come again,

to all the realms of Logres,

which was formerly land of ogres,

and destroy them with that lance."

}}

The ogres in this rhyme may refer to the ogres who were, in the pseudohistorical work History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the inhabitants of Britain prior to human settlement.

The word orco was widely used in Italy at least since 13th century, as attested by Jacomo Tolomei who, in the sonnet "{{lang|it|Le favole, compar, ch'om dice tante}}" ("The many fables, my friend, people tell" – before 1290), compares popular characters of fairy tales, like ogres (whose specific characteristic was to eat people), giants, witches and talking animals, to real people he could see in his city of Siena.{{cite book |last1=Ruggiero |first1=Federico |title=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |date=2019 |chapter-url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/iacomo-tolomei_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |chapter=Tolomei, Iacomo |volume=96}} The Italian author Giambattista Basile (1575–1632) used the related Neapolitan word uerco, or in standard Italian, orco in some of his tales, and first talks of female orcs (IE in Petrosinella). This word is also documented[http://vocabolario.biblio.cribecu.sns.it/cgi-bin/Vocabolario/search_context?rimando=1&pattern=ORCO.&tag_n=ENTRY&attr_n=ID&attr_v=W288 Vocabolario Degli Accademici Della Crusca] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013191225/http://vocabolario.biblio.cribecu.sns.it/cgi-bin/Vocabolario/search_context?rimando=1&pattern=ORCO.&tag_n=ENTRY&attr_n=ID&attr_v=W288 |date=2007-10-13 }} in earlier Italian works (Fazio degli Uberti, 14th century; Luigi Pulci, 15th century; Ludovico Ariosto, 15th–16th centuries). An even older related word is Old English orcnēas found in Beowulf lines 112–113, which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's orc.{{cite web|url=http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html |title=Beowulf |publisher=Humanities.mcmaster.ca |access-date=2012-03-28}}

The word ogre came into wider usage in the works of Charles Perrault (1628–1703) or Marie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy (1650–1705), both of whom were French authors. The first appearance of the word ogre in Perrault's work occurred in his Histoires ou Contes du temps Passé (1696). It later appeared in several of his other fairy tales, many of which were based on the Neapolitan tales of Basile. The first example of a female ogre being referred to as an ogress is found in his version of Sleeping Beauty, where it is spelled ogresse. Madame d'Aulnoy first employed the word ogre in her story L'Orangier et l'Abeille (1698), and was the first to use the word ogree to refer to the creature's offspring.

In modern fiction

In modern times, ogres have appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game as large, powerful humanoid creatures, with slightly below average intelligence,{{cite book|first=Keith|last=Ammann|date=2019|title=The Monsters Know What They're Doing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ax2zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|publisher=Saga Press|isbn=978-1982122669}}{{rp|249, 257}}{{cite magazine|last=Croitoriu|first=Michaël|date=May–June 1998|title=Aide Au Jouer: Talents & Pouvoirs|language=fr|magazine=Backstab|volume=9|page=54}} throughout its editions as adversariesGygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977)Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by J. Eric Holmes. Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (TSR, 1977)Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by Frank Mentzer. Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules (TSR, 1983){{cite book |title=Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: a visual history |last1=Witwer |first1=Michael |last2=Newman |first2=Kyle |last3=Peterson |first3=Jonathan |last4=Witwer |first4=Sam |last5=Manganiello |first5=Joe |date=October 2018 |isbn=9780399580949 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |oclc=1033548473 |page=236}}Slavicsek, Bill. Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (TSR, 1999)Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008) but also playable characters.Slavicsek, Bill. The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR, 1993){{cite magazine|last=Croitoriu|first=Michaël|date=November 2000|title=Dungeon Master's Guide|language=fr|magazine=Backstab|number=24|pages=74–75}}Eckelberry, David, Rich Redman, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Savage Species (Wizards of the Coast, 2003) The ogre was counted among the ten best low-level monsters by the authors of Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies. They posit that the ogre "teaches players about fighting big, powerful, stupid monsters, which is an iconic D&D experience".{{cite book |last1=Slavicsek |first1=Bill |authorlink=Bill Slavicsek |last2=Baker |first2=Rich |authorlink2=Rich Baker (game designer) |last3=Grubb |first3=Jeff |authorlink3=Jeff Grubb |title=Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies |publisher=Wiley Publishing |location=Indianapolis, IN |year=2005 |page=356 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNU7E01MCEgC&dq=ogre&pg=PA356 |accessdate=27 March 2012 | isbn=978-0-7645-8459-6}}

The green-skinned ogre Shrek is a fictional character created by the American author William Steig that since 1990 has appeared in a book, several movies by DreamWorks Animation, a TV series, and a musical.

The Ogre Mulgarath is the main antagonist in The Spiderwick Chronicles books series (also adapted into a film and a TV series).

Ogres make up the army of Duke Igthorn, antagonists in Adventures of the Gummi Bears.{{cite journal |last=Burak |first=Alexander |date=2011 |title=Some Like It Hot – Goblin-Style: 'Ozhivliazh' in Russian Film Translations |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol61/iss1/3/ |journal=Russian Language Journal |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=5–31}}

In this children's TV series, they are presented as anthropomorphized creatures, emphasized through neomedieval trappings in clothing and equipment.{{cite journal |last=Mussies |first=Martine |date=2021 |title='Dashing and daring, courageous and caring': Neomedievalism as a Marker of Anthropomorphism in the Parent Fan Fiction Inspired by Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears |journal=Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=60–83}}

In Smurfs, ogres appear human-like but are stouter than humans.

In Disenchantment, Elfo's maternal family are ogres which makes him a hybrid between an ogre and an elf.

Fairy tales that feature ogres

File:Poucet11.jpg steals the ogre's seven-league boots (illustrated by Gustave Doré, 1862).]]

Gallery

= In illustration =

File:Giovanni Lanfranco - Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre - WGA12455.jpg|Giovanni Lanfranco: Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre, oil on canvas, c. 1624

File:Barbebleue.jpg|Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Bluebeard, woodcut from an 1862 edition of Histoires ou contes du temps passé

File:Poucet10.jpg|Gustave Doré: Illustration for Le Petit Poucet, 1862

File:Poucet8.JPG|Gustave Doré: Illustration for Le Petit Poucet, 1862

File:Däumling.jpg|Alexander Zick (1845–1907): Illustration for Der kleine Däumling

File:Der kleine Daumling (2).jpg|The ogre and his wife, illustration for Hop-o'-My-Thumb from a late-19th-century German fairy tale book

File:Oni in pilgrim's clothing.jpg|An oni in pilgrim's clothing

File:Kyosai Oni in priest's robes.jpg|Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889): An oni in wandering Buddhist priest's robes, 1864

File:Oni pelted by beans.jpg|Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849): An oni being chased away by scattered beans, detail of a print

File:Australian ogre 1900.jpg|Political cartoon from 1900 depicting Australia as an ogre and referencing its origins as a penal colony

= In sculpture =

File:Kleinduimpje Efteling.jpg|The ogre from Hop-o'-My-Thumb at Efteling, Netherlands

File:Ogre king at Mandalay Hill.jpg|An ogre king represented at Mandalay Hill, Myanmar

File:Sanda Muhki, Mandalay Hill, Myanmar.jpg|The ogress Sanda Muhki represented at Mandalay Hill

File:Oni.jpg|A Japanese oni

File:鬼山地獄PB060318.jpg|An oni in Beppu, Kyushu

File:4377 - Bern - Kindlifresserbrunnen am Kornhausplatz.JPG|Ogre Fountain (lit. "Child Eater Fountain") at Corn House Square, Bern, Switzerland .

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline|Ogre}}

Category:Monsters

Category:Mythological creatures

Category:Supernatural legends

Category:English legendary creatures

Category:German legendary creatures

Category:Medieval European legendary creatures

Category:Mythic humanoids

Category:French legendary creatures

Category:Italian legendary creatures