Well I know what they look like, I was just wondering if the difference between them was that goblins = mountain dwellers, orc = Sauron's slaves, or if they were different... breeds? races? species? Not sure what word I'm looking for there.
I haven't thought about this in a long time so I may be wrong but I think they're definitely meant to be related, but not EXACTLY the same? Like I think goblins are basically smaller orcs that live in the mountains so they're smaller but I'd probably check the wikis just to be sure. It seems, from what I gathered, that it's like domestic dogs - same species, different breed?
I think they're the same race/species, but different breeds? If that makes sense? Apparently "goblin" was the term Tolkien used in The Hobbit (which was before he wrote The Lord of the Rings), but he switched to "Orc" for LOTR and only the Hobbit characters tend to refer to them as "goblins."
Well I originally thought that he referred to them as goblins and then switched to Orcs after he took the time to really flesh out his ideas later on with regards to their creation and their history. idk it's really not that important but I was just hoping to clarify.
What anolinde said, basically. I just conducted an extensive and highly scientific literary survey which consisted of me Ctrl + F my way through The Hobbit and LotR and I don't think there's really a difference. In LotR the word 'goblin' appears something like 13 times (but it refers to both Orcs from Moria and Uruk-Hai) but the word 'Orc' is used in the vast majority of cases. Meanwhile in The Hobbit the word 'goblin' is always used. No 'goblins' in the Silmarillion.
But just don't call goblins gnomes, and vice versa. They wouldn't like it.
Edited at 2012-12-08 12:07 am (UTC)
I got all this from the Orc Wikipedia page, btw.
But just don't call goblins gnomes, and vice versa. They wouldn't like it.
Edited at 2012-12-08 12:18 am (UTC)