Anogre (feminine:ogress) is a legendarymonster depicted as a large, hideous,man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children.[1] Ogres frequently feature inmythology,folklore, andfiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works ofliterature, and are most often associated infairy 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 withhuman 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 inThe Pilgrim's Progress, and theJötunn ofNorse 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 fromBeauty and the Beast,Humbaba from theEpic of Gilgamesh,Grendel fromBeowulf,Polyphemus theCyclops fromHomer'sOdyssey, the man-eating giant in "Sinbad the Sailor", theoni ofJapanese folklore and theghouls ofpre-Islamic Arabian religion.
The wordogre is ofFrench origin, originally derived from theEtruscan godOrcus.[2][3] Its earliest attestation is inChrétien de Troyes' late 12th-century verse romancePerceval, li contes del graal, which contains the lines:
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 ofLogres,
which was formerly land of ogres,
and destroy them with that lance."
Theogres in this rhyme may refer to the ogres who were, in thepseudohistorical workHistory of the Kings of Britain byGeoffrey of Monmouth, the inhabitants of Britain prior to human settlement.
The wordorco was widely used in Italy at least since 13th century, as attested by Jacomo Tolomei who, in the sonnet "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 ofSiena.[4] The Italian authorGiambattista Basile (1575–1632) used the relatedNeapolitan worduerco, or in standardItalian,orco in some of his tales, and first talks of female orcs (IE inPetrosinella). This word is also documented[5] 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 Englishorcnēas found inBeowulf lines 112–113, which inspiredJ.R.R. Tolkien'sorc.[6]
The wordogre came into wider usage in the works ofCharles Perrault (1628–1703) orMarie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy (1650–1705), both of whom were French authors. The first appearance of the wordogre in Perrault's work occurred in hisHistoires ou Contes du temps Passé (1696). It later appeared in several of his other fairy tales, many of which were based on theNeapolitan tales of Basile. The first example of a female ogre being referred to as anogress is found in his version ofSleeping Beauty, where it is spelledogresse.Madame d'Aulnoy first employed the wordogre in her storyL'Orangier et l'Abeille (1698), and was the first to use the wordogree to refer to the creature's offspring.
In modern times, ogres have appeared in theDungeons & Dragons role-playing game as large, powerful humanoid creatures, with slightly below average intelligence,[7]: 249, 257 [8] throughout its editions as adversaries[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][7] but also playable characters.[17][18][19] The ogre was counted among the ten best low-level monsters by the authors ofDungeons & Dragons for Dummies. They posit that the ogre "teaches players about fighting big, powerful, stupid monsters, which is an iconic D&D experience".[20]
The green-skinned ogreShrek is a fictional character created by the American authorWilliam Steig that since 1990 has appeared ina book, several movies byDreamWorks Animation, a TV series, and a musical.
The Ogre Mulgarath is the main antagonist inThe Spiderwick Chronicles books series (also adapted into a film and a TV series).
Ogres make up the army of Duke Igthorn, antagonists inAdventures of the Gummi Bears.[21]In this children's TV series, they are presented as anthropomorphized creatures, emphasized throughneomedieval trappings in clothing and equipment.[22]
InSmurfs, ogres appear human-like but are stouter than humans.
InDisenchantment, Elfo's maternal family are ogres which makes him a hybrid between an ogre and an elf.
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