An Orc is a mythical creature.

In the 20th century, orcs most often refer to the creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books. Tolkien's orcs are human-shaped creatures, and servitors of evil.

The word can probably be traced to Orcus. This is a different name for Pluto or Hades. Pliny the Elder writes about orcs in his Naturalis historia. They are long-toothed sea monsters. Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)wrote an epic Orlando Furioso: There, the virgin Angelica is captured by a sea monster called orc. The hero, Rogero, is able to free her as he rode a Hippogriff. The Latin name of the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca is }likely to come from that story. There is another creature called orc in Orlando Furioso: a blind man-eating giant who abducts King Norandin of Damascus and his lover Lucina. This orc cannot be vanquished; only fooled by trickery.