Within the deepest pits of Utumno, in the First Age of Stars, it is said Melkor committed his greatest blasphemy. For the Elves captured during the wars of that time were hideously mutated into an abhorrent race called Orcs. Their posture was bent, bow-legged, and squat with long arms that were as strong as the apes of the south. Their skin was black like that of charred wood. Their broad, flat faces featured yellow, jagged fangs in wide mouths, with crimson gashes for eyes that burned like hot coals.

They were, however, fierce warriors, for they feared their master more than any enemy. Often in battle, they would readily slay their own as well as those they were pitted against in a frenzied blood fest. And they were cannibals, delighting in the bitter flesh and black blood of their kin.

Being nocturnal, Orcs shunned daylight, and they dwelt in foul pits and caverns where they spawned more quickly than any other beings. Most were destroyed by the Valar with the chaining of Melkor, in the War of the Powers, at the end of the First Age of the Stars.

Orcs did not appear openly until the Fourth Age of Stars. Out of Angband they poured in great numbers, clad in steel-plate and donning beaked helmets of iron. The weapon of choice was the scimitar, yet some carried poison daggers, arrows, and broadswords. Along with Wolves and Werewolves, they invaded the realm of Beleriand where the kingdom of Thingol and Melian stood. As the Elves did not have weapons of steel at this time, they bartered with the Dwarves for weapons of tempered steel, after which, they slaughtered the Orcs.

Yet, when Melkor returned out of the pits of Angband, the Orcs massed in open war. They were met by Thingol's Grey Elves and Denethor's Green Elves in the valley of the River Gelion. In this First Battle, the Orcs were decimated. A second army of Orcs arose and overran the Western lands of Beleriand and beseiged the Falas, but the cities of the Falathrim did not fall. So the second army of Orcs joined the third army and marched north to Mithrim, to slay the Noldorin Elves. But the Noldor proved to be too much for the Orcs. And though king Fëanor was slain, the second and third armies of Melkor were utterly destroyed.

In the First Age of the Sun, a vast army of Orcs was defeated yet again in the Glorious Battle. Yet Melkor's might grew, for he came forth with a mighty host of Orcs, Dragons, Trolls, Balrogs, and Werewolves in the Battle of Sudden Flame, and the Elven-lords were defeated. Tol Sirion fell, as did the kingdoms of Hithlum, MithrimDor-Lómin, and Dorthonion. In the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, the Elves and Edain were routed. Finally, Gondolin, the Hidden Kingdom was overran and Melkor's victory was complete.

Melkor's reign of terror eventually came to an end when the Valar, the Maiar, the Vanyar, and the Noldor of Tirion all came forth from the Undying Lands and joined in the Great Battle. Angband was destroyed and all Beleriand fell into the boiling sea. Melkor was cast into the Void and never again did he precipitate evil in the world.

The surviving Orcs eventually came to Melkor's general, Sauron. With the War of the Last Alliance, Mordor fell, heralding the end of the Second Age. Without a master, the few surviving Orcs raided and ambushed for many centuries, until as a evil lidless eye, Sauron re-emerged.

They grew in numbers in Mirkwood, then the Misty Mountains. In 1300, the Nazgûl re-appeared in Mordor and the realm of Angmar in northern Eriador, and the Orcs flocked to them. Angmar was toppled after six centuries of terror, but the evil fortress-tower of Minas Morgul arose in Gondor. Sauron bred a new breed of Orcs in that time that did not fear sunlight. These were the Uruk-hai, as tall as Men with straight powerful limbs. Out of Mordor they came and sacked Osgiliath, the greatest city of Gondor.

In the year 1980, Moria was taken by a mighty Balrog demon and a host of Orcs from the Misty Mountains. The enraged Dwarves would wage an all out war of revenge on the Orcs to reclaim their prized kingdom. So it was that from 2793 to 2799, the War of the Dwarves and Orcs raged. Though most of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains were exterminated, the Dwarf casualties were heavy. At the East Gate of Moria, the Dwarves defeated the Orcs in the bloody Battle of Azanulbizar, and the head of the Orc general, Azog, was impaled on a stake.

Bolg, son of Azog, sought revenge on the Dwarves in the Battle of Five Armies, that was sparked by the death of the Dragon Smaug in the year 2941. He was slain along with the rest of his warriors.

The last great conflict of the Third Age of the Sun was the War of the Ring. In a final showdown, All the forces of Mordor were met at the Black Gate by the army of the Captains of the West. At that very moment, the One Ring was destroyed and Sauron's hold on all his dark legions was broken. The Orcs perished like straw before flame and though some survived, they never again rose in great numbers, but dwindled to a minor Goblin folk, a shadow of their ancient evil power.

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