Ogre

An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, humanoid being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children.[1] 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.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 In modern fiction
* 3 Fairy tales that feature ogres
* 4 Gallery
* 4.1 In illustration
* 4.2 In sculpture
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links

## Etymology

The word ogre is of French origin, originally derived from the Etruscan god Orcus.[2][3] Its earliest attestation is in Chrétien de Troyes's late 12th-century verse romance Perceval, 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 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.

Error creating thumbnail: Puss in Boots before the ogre. One of the platters on the table serves human babies (illustrated by Gustave Doré).

The word orco 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 of Siena.[4] 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 (e.g. in "Petrosinella"). 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 English orcnēas found in Beowulf lines 112–113, which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's orc.[6]

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 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 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".[20]

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.[21] In this children's TV series, they are presented as anthropomorphized creatures, emphasized through neomedieval trappings in clothing and equipment.[22]

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

## Fairy tales that feature ogres

Hop-o'-My-Thumb steals the ogre's seven-league boots (illustrated by Gustave Doré, 1862).

* "Bearskin"
* "The Bee and the Orange Tree"
* "Corvetto"
* "The Dove"
* "The Enchanted Doe"
* "Finette Cendron" or "Cunning Cinders"
* "The Flea"
* "Garulfo"
* "Hop-o'-My-Thumb"
* "Liisa and the Prince"
* "Mr Miacca"
* "Puss in Boots"
* "The Selfish Giant"
* "Sleeping Beauty"
* "Tale of the Ogre"
* "The Three Crowns"
* "Violet"

## Gallery

### In illustration

* Puss in Boots before the ogre (illustrated by Walter Crane).

* Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Bluebeard, woodcut from an 1862 edition of Histoires ou contes du temps passé

* Gustave Doré: Illustration for Le Petit Poucet, 1862

* Gustave Doré: Illustration for Le Petit Poucet, 1862

* Alexander Zick (1845–1907): Illustration for Der kleine Däumling

* The ogre and his wife, illustration for Hop-o'-My-Thumb from a late-19th-century German fairy tale book

* An oni in pilgrim's clothing

* Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889): An oni in wandering Buddhist priest's robes, 1864

* Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849): An oni being chased away by scattered beans, detail of a print

* Political cartoon from 1900 depicting Australia as an ogre and referencing its origins as a penal colony

### In sculpture

* The ogre from Hop-o'-My-Thumb at Efteling, Netherlands

* An ogre king represented at Mandalay Hill, Myanmar

* The ogress Sanda Muhki represented at Mandalay Hill

* A Japanese oni

* An oni in Beppu, Kyushu

* Ogre Fountain (lit. "Child Eater Fountain") at Corn House Square, Bern, Switzerland

## See also

* Buggane
* Child cannibalism
* Darkspawn
* Daeva
* Giant
* Goliath
* Jinn
* Ke'let
* Mapinguari
* Oni
* Orc
* Rakshasa
* Stallo
* Troll
* Wendigo

## References

1. ↑ Warner, Marina. Why do Ogres Eat Babies?. SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-13816-6_18.
2. ↑ "Definition of 'ogre'" (in en). 14 February 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ogre.
3. ↑ "Etymology of 'ogre'" (in en). https://www.etymonline.com/word/ogre:.
4. ↑ Ruggiero, Federico (2019). "Tolomei, Iacomo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. 96. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/iacomo-tolomei_(Dizionario-Biografico)/.
5. ↑ Vocabolario Degli Accademici Della Crusca
6. ↑ "Beowulf". Humanities.mcmaster.ca. http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ammann, Keith (2019). The Monsters Know What They're Doing. Saga Press. ISBN 978-1982122669. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ax2zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8.
8. ↑ Croitoriu, Michaël (May–June 1998). "Aide Au Jouer: Talents & Pouvoirs" (in fr). Backstab 9: 54.
9. ↑ Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)
10. ↑ Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977)
11. ↑ Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by J. Eric Holmes. Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (TSR, 1977)
12. ↑ Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson [1974], edited by Frank Mentzer. Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules (TSR, 1983)
13. ↑ Witwer, Michael; Newman, Kyle; Peterson, Jonathan; Witwer, Sam; Manganiello, Joe (October 2018). Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: a visual history. Ten Speed Press. p. 236. ISBN 9780399580949. OCLC 1033548473.
14. ↑ Slavicsek, Bill. Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (TSR, 1999)
15. ↑ Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
16. ↑ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
17. ↑ Slavicsek, Bill. The Complete Book of Humanoids (TSR, 1993)
18. ↑ Croitoriu, Michaël (November 2000). "Dungeon Master's Guide" (in fr). Backstab (24): 74–75.
19. ↑ Eckelberry, David, Rich Redman, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Savage Species (Wizards of the Coast, 2003)
20. ↑ Slavicsek, Bill; Baker, Rich; Grubb, Jeff (2005). Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-7645-8459-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=xNU7E01MCEgC&dq=ogre&pg=PA356. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
21. ↑ Burak, Alexander (2011). "Some Like It Hot – Goblin-Style: 'Ozhivliazh' in Russian Film Translations". Russian Language Journal 61 (1): 5–31. doi:10.70163/0036-0252.1093. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol61/iss1/3/.
22. ↑ Mussies, Martine (2021). "'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". Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura 3 (2): 60–83. doi:10.32798/dlk.625.

## Further reading

* Briggs, Kathrine Mary. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. London: Routledge, 2002.
* "Ogre." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 15 May 2006, search.eb.com
* Rose, Carol. Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32211-4
* Shippey, Tom. The Road to Middle-earth. London: HarperCollins, 1992 (rev.). ISBN 0-261-10275-3
* South, Malcolm, ed. Mythical and Fabulous Creatures: A Source Book and Research Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987. Reprint, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1988. ISBN 0-87226-208-1

## External links

* v
* t
* e

Fantasy fiction

* History
* Literature
* Magic
* Sources

Subgenres|

* Bangsian
* Comedy
* Contemporary
* Dark
* Fictional disease outbreaks
* Grimdark
* Splatterpunk
* Dieselpunk‎
* Dying Earth
* Fairy tale parodies‎
* Fairy tales‎
* Fairytale fantasy
* Fantastique
* Fantasy of manners
* Folklore mythology (based)
* Gaslamp
* Ghost stories‎
* Gothic
* Hard
* Heroic
* High
* Historical
* Juvenile
* Lost world
* Low
* Magic realism‎
* Occult detective fiction‎
* Paranormal romance
* Kaiju‎
* Magical girl
* Mythic
* Mythopoeia‎
* Mythpunk
* Romantic
* Science fantasy‎
* Shenmo
* Steampunk‎
* Sword-and-sandal
* Sword-and-sorcery
* Tokusatsu‎
* Urban
* Weird fiction
* Weird West‎
* Wuxia‎

Media|

| Film and television|

* Anime
* Films
* Television programs

|

Literature|

* Authors
* Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
* Comics
* list
* The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
* Fantasy Masterworks
* Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* List of novels (A–H)
* (I–R)
* (S–Z)
* Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library
* Publishers

Magazines|

* Fantastic
* Locus
* The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
* Science Fantasy
* Unknown
* Weird Tales

Fandom|

* Art
* Filk music
* Harry Potter fandom
* Inklings
* Mythopoeic Society
* Religion
* Tolkien fandom
* Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien
* World Fantasy Convention

| Awards|

* Balrog
* British Fantasy
* Crawford
* Dragon
* Gandalf
* Gemmell
* Hugo
* International Fantasy
* Japan Fantasy
* Locus
* Mythopoeic
* Nebula
* Tähtifantasia
* World Fantasy

|

Tropes|

| Creatures|

* Angels
* Demons
* Dragons
* Elementals
* Familiars
* Faeries
* Jinn
* Lycanthropes
* Sirens
* Spirits
* Undead
* Unicorns
* Yōkai

|

Characters|

* Barbarian
* Caveman
* Damsel in distress
* Dragonslayer
* Dark Lord
* Heroes
* Fairy godmother
* Magicians
* Occult detective
* list
* Witches

Magic system|

* Hard and soft
* Elements
* Dark / Light
* Love
* Moon
* Magic ring
* Magical weapons
* Magic sword
* Wand

* Schools
* Animism
* Demonology
* Evocation
* Incantation
* Necromancy
* Shapeshifting
* Technomancy
* Witchcraft

Fantasy races|

* Dwarves
* Elves
* Treants
* Giants
* Gnomes
* Goblins
* Gremlins
* Halflings
* Hobgoblins
* Kobolds
* Ogres
* Oni
* Orcs
* Trolls

Places and events|

* Quests
* Worlds
* list
* Lost city
* Hollow Earth
* Astral plane
* Dreamworld
* Castle
* Enchanted forest

Related|

* Allegory
* Dungeons & Dragons
* Epic poetry
* Fable
* Fairy tale
* Fantastic
* Horror fiction
* Ghost stories
* Human–animal hybrid
* LGBT themes in speculative fiction
* Magic realism
* Mecha
* Mythology
* Mythic fiction
* Science fantasy
* Science fiction
* Superhero fiction
* Supernatural fiction

* Outline
* Category

Template:Horror fiction

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Unsolved:Ogre&oldid=4231722"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template