A roadmap to lands real and fictional.
Another premium blog is up for your personal at kofi and pateron! This is another text discussing one of my long time obsessions, Fallen London. This topic of this post is once again chosen by one of my Twitch viewers.
https://ko-fi.com/post/Queering-Fallen-London-S6S2GNOIB
In other news, I recently started a new library job, though it will not take off fully until next spring, so hopefully I will be able to get a nice backlog ready until then!
This is a series of small mood pieces I have been working on, all with the central theme of healthcare and healing. All of them have their own mini narrative and follow its own protagonist. If you enjoy this format, let me know and I might create more in the future.
I have been hard at work on finding library work this week, but I have still been able to get some writing done. My latest premium blog is live on both Kofi, found here https://ko-fi.com/samrandom
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I am currently diving into Victorian spiritualism, and outlining some more chapters of my series on media literacy. Look forward to an interesting blog post this coming sunday!
This chapter will discuss how the Orks points of view turns atrocities and horrific events into darkly comedic situations using context and dramatic irony. The primary role of the Orks, besides their use as a constant antagonist to the major point of view factions humanity, do they also serve as a form of comic relief. The Orks are often featured in comedic cartoons and comics, and the narrative that follows them as the major point of vire characters are always centered around comedy and more often than not, slapstick.
I discussed in earlier chapters that the Orks are not affected by warfare and strife like any of the other races are. To them mortality is not something to consider or worry about, and war is nothing but a fun and exhilarating adventure. This mentality allows the reader to temporarily join the Orks in this mentality via suspension of disbelief. Note that this narrative form seems to mainly be used against other Orks, where both sides of the conflict are equally as unfaced by injury, trauma or death.
The Orks are furthermore described as having little to no empathy for the suffering of others, and when they do show concern for another, or even save another of their kin, it is always a close friend, and the interaction is soon forgotten. Lastly, are the Orks shown to be irredeemably violent, destructive and by most definitions evil. This description makes it easier for the reader to laugh at the struggles that the Orks suffer and are subjected to. Games Workshop primarily uses the Orks as a comedic foil in this manner when they are facing other military forces, or other foes that are capable of fighting back in one way or another. An Ork act of genocide of civilians or any similair atrocities are mostly described as the tragedy it is, and the image of the comedic relief is instead replaced with that of a faceless, remorseless murderer.
For an Ork, there is little to no difference between besieging a planet, and fixing the rear axle of a truck, both are equally pedestrian in the lives of the Orks. This, if anything, shows the mundanity that warfare takes up in the lives of the Orks.
The Orks are given an eternal can-do attitude, and endless energy. They are not describe as being dumb, just short sighted and overly eager. The first solution is always the best, and that solution is often poorly thought out, dangerous and most importantly, funny. It is easy to draw parallels between the Orks shortsighted plans of, for example ramming a rocket in to the side of a wall before firing it “to make sure it hits”, and the convoluted antics of Tom from Tom and Jerry, or the Calories from Loony Toons. The audience’s knowledge of the inevitable failure, contrasted by the character’s ignorance is where a lot of the comedy comes from in this form of comedy, and the buildup is just as important, if even more so then the finale.
One example of such logic comes from the Ork campaign in the game Dawn of War 3, where the Orks after building an enormous gun, realized they had no way to bring it back. After realizing that the gun was not properly secured and would violently jump every time it was fired, the logical solution was to simply shoot it all the way back to the base!
This kind of mentality and the situations they create is at the base of much of the comedic relief that the Orks bring to the setting. By approaching each task, regardless of how bloody, painful and pointless with a sense of pure enthusiasm, do the Ork work as a great contrast to the otherwise bleak, hopeless and dread filled setting of Warhammer 40k.
The concept of dramatic irony pertains to the idea that the reader understands things that the characters in the narrative do not, or have information they are not allowed to have. This allows the reader to make connections that the characters in the text are robbed from making. This narrative device is often used to underscore tragedy or tension.
Much of the comedy, as well as the drama relating to the Orks lies in the fact that the Orks can never truly understand the pain and suffering they are bringing on to the rest of the universe. Likewise are the rest of the races in the franchise unable to grasp the logic and emotions behind the Orks’ seeming acts of random and unprovoked violence. This tension between viewpoints, and the lack of information that each faction has about their opponents is what drives most of the drama of the setting, and as I have shown with the Orks, also the comedy.
By presenting the Orks in the way that Games Workshop does, can they inject an element of comedy, if not a decisively dark one, without sacrificing the grim and depressing tone that permeates most of the franchise as a whole. It can be argued though that the series of Warhammer 40k has gotten less deliberately comedic and more serious in tone as the franchise has gone on.
The flexibility of the Ork depictions allows them to be used as both a comedic foil, and as a horrifying threat as the narrative needs it. I am aware that the Orks are far from the first, or the only way that slapstick and dark humor has been used this way. The Orcs in the Peter Jackson films for example both play the role of primary antagonists, and foils much of the movie’s comedy. While many of Warhammer 40,000’s characters and themes can become comedic by the nature of their grandness and extremeness, I would argue that the Orks is the only place where this is done fully intentionally.
Next chapter will conclude this part of the series, as I will combine all the parts of the Orks as a narrative device and set of characters, and combine them into a unified whole.
My first premium blog post in what seems like ages is now available on my kofi for those that want to support me, and get a bit more of my writing in return!
As a monthly donor you get access to all new posts, as well as my backlog. On my kofi I tend to post things that do not fit the main theme of this blog, but I still want to discuss. Please consider heading over there if you like my work!.
In other news, I am working on a small anthology of short stories relating to medicine and healing, as well as studying Chinese alchemy! Look forward to more content real soon!
The latest chapter of the Ork discussion series will take a bit longer than planned, so instead of leaving you with nothing for this sunday, I decided to write up a little update on what I have been working on the last two weeks. I have several projects in the works, and several of them are nearing the halfway mark of being finished.
I started a series of Vampire the Masquerade fanfiction, mostly as a writing exercise. It is nice to work on something that already has an established setting. The series follows a number of Malkavian vampires, and gives me an excuse to get experimental with narrative points of view and continuity. The series has two chapters so far and can be found here:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/3185973
I have for several years worked on a homebrew dungeons and dragons setting known as Landhurst. This is a Victorian inspired setting, set in the beginning of a magical nation’s industrial revolution. I have recently started to edit the largest adventure I have ever written for the setting, and I hope to be able to start publishing it in chapters next spring. You can find my other Landhurst works here:
Because I am completely incapable of working on only two projects at once, I have also started a module set in the Vampire the Masquerade setting. This adventure is set in 1980s Detroit, as a group of Nesferatu tries to set up a new server hub to harness the power of humanity’s latest information invention, the Internet!
I am finishing the latest chapter in my discussion of real life iconography and concepts in Warhammer 40k and it should be done in time for the next blog update. I am also working on a small anthology series of three shorter stories tied together by a single topic.
Lastly I want to try and get back to writing premium updates for my Kofi blog, there are already quite a few updates there already, so if you like what I write, and don’t mind sending me some money, you can find all of them here:
I am currently reading up on mycology and the power of language in many religious traditions, it is to early to say if this will lead anywhere, but I will keep you all updated, and if you want more updates, follow my twitter here:
https://twitter.com/SamRandom3
Let me know if this was interesting, and if you do I might turn these update posts in to a regular thing! Love to hear from you, regards
Sam
Modern facism is intrinsically linked with futurism in their love for violence and glorification of warfare. Power and the subjugation of the week are also concepts that both movements share. These are ideals that can be found amongst the Orks.
I will not dive too deeply into either of these movements in this chapter, and I will mainly show enough evidence to present certain similarities between the Orks in Warhammer 40k and the aforementioned movements.
I want to start with specifying that my arguments here are somewhat of a simplification of the movements and their motivations. There is for example, an anxiety over economic and cultural values being diluted that exists within facism that have little or no direct links to the Orks. Futurists, and fascists alike like to point towards a corruption in the current system and a need for change that is not present in the Orks, as the Ork society itself is already in constant flux and change.
Depictions of Orks tend to reflect some elements of Italian futurism. Italian futurism was founded and spearheaded at the beginning of the 1900s by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and some like minded artists in order to escape the decadence and corruption they saw in their society. They believed that the past had forever entrapped their nation in a state of stagnation and decay. They saw ruins of ages past, and museums dedicated to old masters and they despaired. The Orks do not make history, and have no interest in preserving their own or others. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972)
The futurists, as their title entails, praised the future and a forward motion, and despised the past and traditions. A purist futurist would burn all the world’s museums and exhibits, and would expect their followers to do the same. The new world was one of automation, speed and war, of thrills, fast cars and big guns. The future was for the bold, strong and young. The Orks are likewise obsessed with guns, fast machines and loud sounds. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972).
The speed and novelty of the car and motorbike is something that tends to appear in Futurist art. Futurist art tends to display the glorification of these machines, and most specifically for the speed it provides. One needs only to look at the Futurist manifesto to find several examples of the joy of speed and the allure of industry. The power that comes from driving a large, fast or powerful machine, or from the heavy industry that takes part in its manufacture, the Orks are likewise obsessed with speed and machinery. (Rye. 19722)
The thrill of speed and loud engines is something that fascinates the adrenaline hungry Ork. The Speed freaks are the most prevalent example of the Orkish need for speed and the allure of the reave of engines and the smell of gasoline. Like many other of the Ork, and Futurist obsessions does the love of machines steam from the sensation of adrenaline, danger and power that they exude. This is particularly true for large, fast or otherwise dangerous machines. (Games Workshop. 2014)
The Futurists despised pacifism, moralism and what they weakness in any form. Many times this was professed through their love of weaponry and war. It was only through the conquest and killing of the weak that the strong may rule. But more importantly, the act of wanton destruction and violence was in and of itself, an expression of art and freedom. (Rye. 19722)
The links to the war hungry and weapons obsessed orks is not a difficult one to make. Just like the futurists, the Orks also seek war for its own sake, and destruction for the joy of it. The act of shooting a gun, or burning down a building is very much seen as expressions in and of themselves, and acts that are enjoyed not for the outcomes they bring, but rather for the joys of performing them. (Games Workshop. 2014)
A grand statement of the Futurists was their object hatred of the past. To burn down the libraries and museums of the past, to let the foundations of the old cities were seen as ultimate expressions of freedom, and a way to lead humanity into the future. The Futurists lived for the future, yes, but more importantly they lived in the present, and they embraced the fact that one day they too would be discarded for the future generations. (Rye. 19722)
While the Orks do not have an outspoken hatred for the past, they do not spend much time or energy in preserving it. Besides some storis and legends carried by the Runtherders, an Ork profession dedicated to slavery, are they not described as creating any lasting monuments, cities or works of art. An average Ork is described as being a creature of the present, rarely having a plan further than to his next meal. They live purely for the moment, and for the violent and turbulent experiences of the present. (Games Workshop. 2014)
Orks often end up destroying and burning the past of other races in their conquests, many of who have their own relationship to their past. The Eldar as described earlier are representations of a bygone age, of the glory of the past, a trope depicted by the Elves first in Tolkien’s works, and then in later fantasy novels that followed in his wake. Humanity is depicted as being in fear and reverence of their past in equal measures, and the Necrons are creatures of the past brought into the present. In other words, does the Orks not necessarily follow the Futurists hatred for the past, or their wish for its destruction, but their actions non the less leads to these goals. They are an expression of Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)
It is impossible to speak of the Futurists without mentioning gender. As the astute reader have already noticed does the interests of the Futurists, and the Orks fall within activities that would in the 1910s, as well as today, fit into a stereotype masculne stereotype. The love of war and guns, the need for speed and industry are all traits that are labeled as masculine. The hatred of the femenine and as a result, the queer is something you once again only need to look at the Futurist manifesto to find. To detest women and feminism is clearly and overtly stated as one of the primarily goals of the Futurists. Womanhood and femininity is seen as weak, nurturing and pathetic. One of the Futurists dreams were to device a way for many to be able to reproduce asexually, without the need of women. Creating an unbroken line of voulent, adrenaline hungry men. (Rye. 19722)
While the Orks are not openly antagonistic towards women, they are described as despising many of the traits stereotypically related to women. Empathy, emotions and softness are traits that are often given to the Orks enemies, by the Orks. More importantly are the Orks all depicted as masculine, being referred to, and referring to themselves as He. The Orks also reproduce Asexually, once agian expressiong Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)
Many of the same questions and goals that drove early Italian Futurism also came to drive both German and Italian facism during world war 2, and beyond. The ideas of facism has been discussed in the Imperium of man segment at large, but I will go over some of the points again here, as I relate them to the Orks.
One of the founding tenets of facism in its many forms has always been, the fact that might, gives the right to rule. While this might be physical in the case of the Orks, this is not always the case. This might come from perceived breeding, intelligence or ideology. The important part is that a group uses a perceived superiority to control another, and that it is the fate of said group to be ruled by their supposed supperiors. (Nathan Crick. 2022)
The Orks, as I have shown, is a highly hierarchical society that uses violence and intimidation to keep those under them in line. It is quite literally the rule of the strong. Orks do not care for intelligence, carisma or vision in their leaders, only strength, brutality and fearlessness. The Orks are described as being instinctively receptive to follow the biggest, meanest and strongest of their kind. (Games Workshop. 2014)
In order to have a society of might, you must have clear definitions of a we, and a them. In order to have a superior class of rulers, there must always be an inferior one to be ruled. This distinction is the basis of many alt right movements, the Italian fascists included. In order for the ideology of facism to truly work, there must be an eternal enemy, an eternal theme that We can show superiority ovcr. For a facist narrative to work, they must first present an in group of the We. Most often is this we took the shape of a nation state or a specific political organization (Nathan Crick. 2022).
Facism often grows in the wake of discontent and worries. The facist arguments works by taking these negative emotions, and forcing them on a real or projected other. Immigrants, national or religious minorities, social and medical others are all common targets for this other (Nathan Crick. 2022).
When it comes to the orks is this distinction is twofold. Firstly there is the distinction of the Orks and the rest of the universe, then there is the distinction between the Orks of different clans, and even Orks within the same clan. Though not ideologically driven most of the time, the Orks seem to primarily use this us and them mentality as a justification to start fights with everyone around them. (Games Workshop. 2014)
As mentioned before, does facism in its many forms need an enemy to show its superiority over. This always necessitates an eternal war or struggle against this other. In order to unite the we, there must, scoring to facist rhetoric, be a they to unite against. To be superior, there must be an Other than can be inferior. Facism can not last without an enemy to fight. There can, in other worlds never be a peace, as peace would imply that there is no longer an Other to use to put the self in relationship to. If an external enemy can not be found, I would argue that an internal one needs to be created, something that we have examples off in Nazi Germany, but also Stalinist Russia.
The Orks are quite literal in this sense, as they can not thrive, quite literally, without being at war. The concept of peace is not only undesirable, but utterly outside of the Orks world of understanding. Life is strife and war, and fighting, there exists no peace, only periods where there is currently no fighting happening. (Games Workshop. 2014)
When the Orks can not find an external enemy to fight, they are more than happy to fall upon each other in civil wars, vendettas and enslavements and destruction. Due to the ways that the Orks are described to work, does this lead to a net positive for the Ork society as a whole. The Orks are in other words proof that, at least for them, the Facist doctrine does work, war and strife, where the strong survive, is truly the only way towards success as a civilisation.
A grant part of the facsit mythos is the idea of a divine, or preordained destiny, of the We. A destiny to rule all others. For example did the nazi ideology in based on the concept that the Germans were the rightful inheretor of the Arian race, and are destined to rule al of the Euriasuan continent. Divine destiny is something we have discussed before, and I indeed dedicated an entire chapter to the concept when discussing the Imperium of man. Many movements, be they religious, like the Crusades, or secular like the European colonial projects, have used the justification of a divine or otherwise preordained plan to justify their atrocities. (Nathan Crick. 2022)
The Ork version of this is known as Ragnarork, the myth that one day we’ll all of the galaxy be covered in war and strife, and on this day the Ork gods will materialize into the moral realm and lead their children to ultimate victory. The Orks, as most of the other factions in the franchise, see themselves as the galaxy’s true and justified ruler. (Games Workshop. 2014)
As I have attempted to show in this chapter, do the Orks follow or live up to many of the Facist and Futurist aspirations, while not always having the same motivations. The Orks live the life of a warrior and destroyer, while existing within a deeply structured and hierarchical society. Many core concepts liek asexuality and eternal conflic ois something that is fully, and intricate built in to the Ork society, and the Ork as an individual.
My second goal with this chapter was to introduce the reader to a deeper understanding of both Facism and Futurism, as well as to point to how these two movements are linked with each other. As facism, and its justification is a big part of the Warhammer 40k setting, especially when it comes to the Orks and to the Imperium of man, is it vital to have at least a surface level understanding of these concepts.
Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition
Nathan Crick (2022). The Rhetoric of Fascism [Elektronisk resurs]. University of Alabama Press.
Rye, J. (1972). Futurism. London: Studio Vista.
This chapter is meant to be an introduction to those of my readers new to the franchise. This series will focus on the seventh edition Orks, to keep with the rest of the series continuite. These Orks do look a bit different from their modern counterparts. This notroduction will be crucial to understand the rest of my arguments in this series. I will make plentiful references back to this chapter throughout this mini series, so feel free to return back here whenever you need it.
The Orks are some of the primary antagonists of the Warhammer 40k setting, an ever present evil that forever threatens the other races with their warfare and raiding. Described to be one of the oldest races of the galaxy, the Orks were with the Necrons and the Eldar at the beginning of the beginning of the history of the Warhammer universe. The Orks are described as being genetically engineered by the Old Once, woh created the Orks toghter with the Eldar to fight the tyrannical Necrons. The Old Once play the role of the predecessor trope, common to many sci-fi settings, as well as conspiracy theories. Notable examples are the Alien series by Ridley Scott, and the Old once in HP Lovecrofts series, a source of inspiration I have mentioned earlier in this series.
The Orks are described as being musculair built with very little body fat, no hair, and with a height that would outstrip a human if they “would just stand up straight”. They have small red eyes, almost non existent noses and the huge sharp teeth of a predator. Everything in the descriptions of the Orks physical appearance aims to convey the sensation of a creature breed to kill. The are for all intent and purpose, purebred killing machines. The Orks are secribed as reproducing asexually, and reproduce by relesing spores in to their environment throughout their lifetime.
Furthermore the Orks are depicted to get stronger from the strife and pain they endure. More specifically, Orks grow stronger, bigger and tougher from the act of violence, be it a bar room fight with another Ork or a prolonged firefight with an alien army. All these sensations of violence are described to be highly beneficial to the Ork in question. Even the act of preparing for a violent act, such as making weapons or preparing once armor is described as beneficial to the Ork. The fact that the Ork, unlike most of the galaxy, requires this form of activity to remain strong and healthy, is the basis for much of the setting’s conflict, as Orks has no real choice then to seek out conflict wherever they can.
As mentioned above, are Orks dependent on a steady diet of foolhardy violence much in the same way as a human is in need of food and sleep, and will go to great lengths to acquire this stimuli, including taking any opportunity to start a brawl with a fellow Ork. These acts of random bloodshed would make the Ork society highly self destructive if it were not for their toughness and positive reactions to violence, as well as their instinctive desire to follow those bigger and stronger than themselves.
The Ork society is deeply rooted in the notion that might makes right, and it only seen as natural that the bigger has the right to boss over the smaller. In the hierarchy of the Orks, there is almost always someone smaller than you to bully. For each large Ork there is a smaller Ork, and for each smaller Ork, there is a Gretchin etc etc.
Much of what an Ork knows, and believes, he gets directly from his DNA. An Ork is predisposed to have certain traits, such as a need to go fast, or have an unquenchable thirst for looting, depending on what faction that each individual Orks grew from. Ork experts, such as engineers and medics are also born with a rudimentary knowledge of their craft, that they can later improve by experimentation. While the Orks have specialists, the most prominent fields being engineering, and medical care, much of their advances in technology and science are described to be due to their ability to will a certain reality into existence.
I have discussed in earlier chapters the concept of the Warp, and the psychic energies that flow from there. While humans and Eldar are able to directly affect and direct these energies, are the Orks not as much in control of psychic energies, as they exude them. The Orks are described as creating a sphere of energy around themselves that subtly changes reality to what the Ork in question believes it to be. For example, does many Ork guns work, partly because the Ork wielding it believes it to work.
The Orks are in other words projecting their own reality onto the “objective” reality around them. The extent of this ability varies from edition to edition, and writer to writer. In some cases is this psychic power able to make any form of machinery work as long as they roughly look the right shape. In other cases does this ability simply provide the last push needed to get a barely functioning device or weapon to work.
A large quantity of Orks has the ability to draw others to its kind, if they happen to be part of a particularly intense battle, or if a particularly powerful leader is preparing an invasion. This combined invasion, colonization effort and sacred war is what’s known in universe as a Waaagh!. Many narratives are started, or fully driven by the arrival of a Waaagh! on a planet, or in a star system.
Lastly, I will spend a little time discussing another point that makes the Orks such an interesting antagonist and driving force of the Warhammer 40k franchise. I mentioned before that the Orks reproduce by leaving spores to create new Orks, but this process creates far more than just Orks.
At first this process will only create more mushrooms, large fields of them in caves and other shaded areas. These mushrooms will form the basis for the Ork diet, as well as provide everything from fuel to medicine to alcohol. Next comes the Snotlings, weak miniature Orks whose only purpose is to tend to the mushroom fields and the squigs that form alongside them. Squigs are aggressive reptilian creatures that form all manner of functions in the wider Ork society, from food to tools, these creatures make the backbone of the Ork ecosystem.
Following the Snotlings and Squigs are the Gretchin, larger creatures that share many of the tropes of a fantasy goblin (source), in that they are malicious, greedy and not very smart. The Gretchin function as the slave class, making everything from builiding shelters and carrying supplies to making breakfast and shining boots.
Lastly does the Orks emerge, taking the longest to form. When they do emerge, they do so to an environment custom tailored to their comfort and approval, with food, medicine and servants enough to focus all their time and energy on waging war on anyone in their reach. The Orks are in other words, not only designed perfectly to fight, but their entire society grows organically to make sure they can spend all their time doing so.
The information in this chapter will form the basis of my analysis into the world of the Orks in Warhammer 40k. This chapter is not meant to be exhaustive by any means, and as usual if you wish to get the full experience I suggest you go and read the source for yourself. This rundown is simply meant to give enough background that a reader with no prior knowledge of the setting will be able to follow along with my reasoning and discussion.
Next chapter will focus on the ties between Facism and Futurism, and how both cultural movements can be seen within the depiction of the Orks in Warhammer 40k.
Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition
This chapter will serve as an introductory chapter to the Orks as well as to the concepts I will discuss in this part of the series. Because the Orks are the ever present antagonist of the franchise, as well as somewhat of a comic relief, I have decided they are worthy of their own series altogether. Each of the topics presented in this chapter, will have their own fully fleshed out chapter later. The reader is free to jump to whatever chapter they find the most intesteresting, but they are written to be read in order.
In this second chapter I will outline everything needed to be able to follow along with the rest of the augmentations I will make in this series. If you are already familiar with the setting of Warhammer 40,000 you may want to skip this chapter, as I will be retreading a lot of familiar ground.
This second chapter will focus on the in universe description of the Orks physiology, history, society and quirks. Their faith and strange abilities to seemingly warp reality will all be covered here. The Orks are described as power hungty, murderous monsters who lives only to kill, burn and destroy in the other factions narratives. In their own narratives they are described as being driven by pure need for adrenaline and action, for fast cars, guns and violence, something that I will show ties them closely to futurism.
The Orks furthermore are driven by absolute certainty in their own greatness and invulnerability. Each individual Ork is fueled by an absolute sense of self, and the deep rooted belief that he alone is the greatest, not only amongst his kin, but amongst every species in the galaxy. The Ork race as a whole see themselsves as the true masters of tue universe, and this belif justifies them subjecting and murdering as they see fit, a traits they share with the Imperium of man, even tough their flavour of facism is somewhat different.
Facism is a common theme within the Warhammer franchise as a whole, as seen in my series on the Imperium of Man, a militaristic empire run on cruelty and xenophobia. Facism, being the ideology that the mighty and the strong have intrinsic rights to rule over the weak, for if the weak were strong enough to rule themselves, they would not have been subjected. The ideology of might making right is something that is deeply tied to the Ork narrative of Warhammer 40k.
One of the defining features of facism, and similar movements, is the need for an Other. The concept of the Other is one I have discussed several times before on this website. In short teams, the other here is defined as something or someone that exists outside the self, and can as a result be used to define what self is not. If the othter for example is weak, the self is strong, if the other is dumb, the self is wise.
The artistic tradition of futurism is one that fascists of Europe lashed on to, arguably at least at the beginning of the 1930s, before they became too rebellious for the status quo of the ruling parties. For, as I will discuss later in its dedicated chapter, is futurism, at its heart, an ideology of change. Formed out of the frustrations of stagnation and cultural and political corruption in 1920s Italy, Futurism aimed to throw off the old, scorch the land, and build the new on the burning ashes, only to have their predecessors repeat the cycle.
As mentioned before, does the Orks often serve as dark comic relief to the rest of the otherwise melancholic setting. The Orks provide a dark variety of slapstick and brutal comedy, often in the form of dramatic irony. As I have hinted before is the Ork presented in their own texts, rather different then the one presented in the other races narratives.
This is predominantly down to dramatic irony, a narrative device where the reader of a text knows more than the characters in said text. In this case, the irony comes from the fact that the reader knows that the Orks, and the rest of the characters see the universe radically differently. The Orks have no concept of mortality and death, they feel very little pain, and grow stronger, smarter and overall healthier by fighting, much in comparison to any other species, who rarely comes away from a prolonged fight without losing something.
In the last chapter before the conclusion I will shortly discuss the idea of an eternally irredeemable foe in fiction. Be it the droids in Star Wars or the zombies in Night of the living dead movies, are vital for the genre of action to function. The audience needs an unambiguously evil force that the protagonist can dispatch with impunity. Tolkien mentioned in his letters that he struggled with his rendition of the Orcs, wanting to give them humaninsing traits, but yet seeing the need for a foe that the heroes could strike down in vast numbers, without becoming villains themselves (Tally, 2010).
The Orks with their monstrous physique, absolute lack of empathy and morals, as well as their obsession with violence and guns makes them a perfect foil. The fact that the Orks themselves do not suffer in any real way from being hurt, or even killed, furthers their role as a perfect fodder for the protagonists of the franchise as a whole.
The next chapter will give the reader an in-depth presentation of the narrative threads and important characteristics of the Orks within the wider franchise. This will allow me to present more deep and nuanced topics, without needing to pause to explain context.
Tally, Jr., Robert T. (2010) Let Us Now Praise Famous Orcs: Simple Humanity in Tolkien’s Inhuman Creatures, Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 29 : No. 1 , Article 3.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol29/iss1/3
I have thought about why the sensation of reading things on Archive.org or in games like Skyrim had a much more satisfying feeling than reading something on a pdf. The reason is the tactile feeling these texts have. In this text I will explore the sensations of tactility, and their effects on the sensation of, and appreciation of reading.
Tactility is something that has often been touted to describe the superiority of physical books over digital ones, and I have to agree with them. There is a completely different feeling to reading a physical book, flipping the pages, and holding the book, than scrolling through pages on a phone or PC. The feeling of flipping a page, of pulling your finger through the page. The ability to earmark a page or put in a bookmark. There are of course other senses that also play in on to this, smell sight and sound are some of these senses that can not fully be integrated into a reading on a digital book. This text will focus almost primarily on the sensations on touch, and how they relate to the feeling of experiencing a book. I personally find that I can draw a much closer connection to a book if I am able to touch it, flip through its pages, and run my hand along its spine. Just the sensation of flipping a page is enough to highlight the importance of touch when it comes to reading a book.
By tactility, I will in this text relate to the sensation of physical touch or feel, or as you will read, the digital approximation of this sensation. I aim to show that tactility is not limited to the sense of physical touch, but also the digital recreation of it. Heat, pressure and texture are all important parts of the sensation of touch, and tactality as a result. The sensation of a book can be as varied as the books themselves. From the brittle pages of an old tomb, to the rough pages of a cheap paperback novel. Many of these sensations, such as heat, can currently not be transferred to a digital medium, but I will argue in this text, that some approximations of other tactile sensations can still be found.
The first type of text I will discuss is the one that most people are familiar with, and that most of my viewers have used in their daily lives, the humble PDF document. This document type is designed to be read only and is not written over, making it difficult to be modified (though exceptions do exist). A PDF document by default is meant to look like a physical piece of paper, with the text represented on it as if it was printed. The text itself is presented in the centre of the program, and may take on a number of forms. Different colors on the background paper, and the typeface may have been used, as well as different fonts, just as with any physical book. The program itself is made out of the previously mentioned central reading area, as well as a black and white border, where several options of reading can be found.
The PDF reader has a few options on how you may read your file, size, amount of pages on the screen at once etc but the base is still going to be of a number of pages on a blank background for you to scroll through. I bring up the PDF primarily to have something to compare the later texts with. While I do find reading a PDF document slightly less tiring than say a word document, it is still not what I would call an enjoyable experience. Why I find PDF files less tiring, I could not say for sure.
A slight step above the humble PDF document is Adobe’s own digital book reader. Note that the same problems and advantages can be found with things like kindle readers and the like, but I use Adobe digital editions simply because it is the one I am personally the most familiar with, which is why I have chosen to use it as my example.
These platforms will present the text in a slightly more book emulated fashion, but still not very close to the actual feeling of holding a book. You are still reading text documents much in the same way as you would in a PDF document, though with a few more bells and whistles a more customizable outline of the book’s pages. Note that the books often retain some of the page layouts and typefaces of the physical books they are based on, which do lend a bit more of a tactile feeling to the experience, though this can equally be done with a PDF document.
First and foremost, must I say that Project Guthenburg is an amazing initiative and that has done wonders for the academic world. It is an amazing project to digitize and make available enormous amounts of materials from the public domain. Most, if not all of these can be downloaded and read in formats such as Epub and kindle, which makes these texts very easy to work with. Their dedication to continuing to make available otherwise difficult to reach texts is truly the be commended.
With that said, their reader on the website is atrocious to say the least, large blocks of text with huge margins on each side makes the writing stretched out in a strange column, and the empty spaces makes it hard to focus on any area in particular. Not to mention that the font choices were not chosen to primarily be read on a screen. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful collection of texts should be limited in its use by a less than user-friendly interface and reading experience. This is a good example of the importance of tactility, even in digital reading materials.
The project of archive.org is similar to that of Project Gutenburg, though larger in scope, as their efforts stretch way beyond books and other printed materials. But for this text I will simply focus on the texts, and at that the more professionally scanned and presented texts that can be found within the website’s archives.
These books have not only been masterfully digitized using state of the art techniques, they have also been recreated and presented in such a way to have the books be readable, as physical books.
With this I mean that every single book to Archive.org in this way has pages that can be flipped through as if it was a physical book. Each page can be flipped back and forth, and the process of doing so is fully animated. This seemingly simple addition gives a dimension to the reading that is not present in any of the other digital alternatives I have mentioned so far.
The fact that the book itself is scanned and not just the text, means that the color and texture of the page itself is also preserved, for better or worse. Due to the books being recreated from photographs, also means that any notes, scribbles or stains are kept from the original. These slight imperfections further create the illusion of dealing with a physical book rather than a digital recreation. The addition of front and back covers, that can be flipped open and closed, also adds to the experience of reading through a physical book.
The Elder Scrolls series are far from the only game series that has readable books, and not the only one that presents them in such an interactive way. I choose this series for a number of reasons, first of all is it a series that many of my readers are familiar with, it is also one that I have a lot of personal experience with personally.
I furthermore think that the Elder Scrolls does an exceptional job at presenting its texts in an immersive and enjoyable way. The books are written in a distinct handwritten style, the paper of the books in Skyrim and onwards are unevenly cut, making the illusion of thickness to the book even more apparent. The books also have clear animations for each page being flipped, accompanied by a satisfying page turning sound.
Many other games have presented their written in universe materials in similar ways, and one can argue that there are examples of it being done better, but the Elder Scrolls is non the less a good example of what I aim to show with tactality. Their plentiful books and journals are easy to find in all the later iterations of the games, and can in some cases be rather integral to solving certain puzzles and quests in the games.
I wished to show in this text, that the tactile feel of reading a book, or for that matter carrying out most tasks, is not necessarily limited to the physical touch of that item. Digital recreations of certain items can come close to, even if not fully replacing the tactile notion of the real thing.
This same feeling of tactality can be found in certain puzzle games, or simulator games, such as the The Room series of games. Virtual reality technology like the Oculus rift will most likely take this tactile experience even further, but for this text I have chosen to solely focus on the recreation of flipping a page.
I furthermore wish to show the importance of these tactile elements being taken into account when designing a digital reading experience. By giving the reader a more, sensuary complete experience can they come closer to the text, and hopefully get less fatigued from the reading experience. At least, both of these outcomes have been true for my own experience, but further research is needed to say anything definitive on the subject.
An Unused Frequency 