Orcs

Orcs are brutish soulless slaves that are a corrupted form of the Elves.

Characteristics
Orcs are the opposite of the Elves. Coarse featured, stunted, bow legged, strong, ferocious in battle with little fear of death, which may have been preferable to their misery.

They have no sense of beauty and they delight only in inflicting pain and watching things suffer and die and bear special malice to Elves and Dwarves. They are tough in combat. They were divided in several tribes. The Orcs of Isengard bore the White Hand, those of Mordor the Red Eye, those of Minas Morgul a White Moon like a skull. Their commanders are the Uruk-hai, and their inferior are the Snagas. Orcs often work with wargs, whom they ride like horses into battle.

They preferred the night and feared the light as it hurt their eyes. Their guttural tongue, the Black Speech, was harsh and discordant.

History
Orcs were Elves that were corrupted by Morgoth through dark sorcery back in the First Age. In the beginning of the Third Age Orcs ambushed and killed Isildur. Orcs overrun abandoned Moria and killed the dwarven king and lost the battle at Azanulbuzar. Orcs were constant enemies of Gondor and weakened its armies.