Orcus, Prince of Undeath | D&D Lore

[@MrRhexx]

NOOO you beat me to the Orcus video. Curse you Jorphdan!

[@DustinWillis18]

Welp, now you can't post it :P

[@Jorphdan]

haha! I'm sure your fans will love a more in-depth 20+ minute MrRhexx video :D

[@coolio3267]

Orcus video?, YES!

[@ryderma1]

First a Rex vid on Lolth and now Jorpdans Orcus vid.....Its a Good day 😁

[@cbowser91]

You’re both awesome and I appreciate both of your channels. Keep up the great work!!!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Word fact: Tolkien took/coined the word “orc” from Beowulf which uses orcneas to mean something like hell/death creatures

[@Joshuazx]

Orcas are named afters Orcus.

[@KitKatWiffleBallBat]

Orcus has priorities. Gotta respect that. OH...and ambition. Let's not forget that.

[@pitchforksdragon1252]

Style too

[@theGhoulman]

You literally sound like Donnie Trump. lol

[@pitchforksdragon1252]

@@theGhoulman OMG 😲 it does. 😳

[@KitKatWiffleBallBat]

@@pitchforksdragon1252 I don't think Trump cares if things live or die. For him it's all about, "How can I get more idiots to listen to me?" He's a sad old dude who wanted more power, but flew too close to the sun and now he's f@cked. Rightly so! I hate that loser.

[@pitchforksdragon1252]

@@KitKatWiffleBallBat same. But his similarities to Orcus its mind blowing. Where is the demogorgon when you need him? Them? Him? 🤦 It?

[@michaelbeal1400]

Sir..... city of the spider queen,, the great modron march and dead gods modules give the story of orcus' death and resurrection.... its quality stuff..... I ran it all as a planescape campaign a very long time ago. .....I'm so old.

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

Orcus is so cool. Coming to the Abyss and being the lowest of the low but working his way up to becoming a Demon Prince is incredible backstory.

[@scepta101]

Orcus is far and away my favorite demon lord. His design is amazing, he has great lore, and the wand is a neat bonus that other demon lords don’t really have. Also, the whole undeath aspect adds a unique element to him compared to other demon lords, making it so that you can branch out and use a wide array of enemies and still associate them with Orcus, as any undead or demon works.

[@joshsykes3670]

Fun Fact: Orcus's divinity, the Vestige of Tenebrous, is locked in the Amber Temple in Barovia, in the Demiplane of Dread

[@charlottekatakurisama7330]

@@joshsykes3670 really!!? I m gonna dm curse of strahd soon and after that i ll try to dm a homebrew campaign with orcus, it Can be a great way to introduce him before the end of the campaign

[@IndoorAdventures]

Don't tell my players, but I just got QUITE a bit of knowledge for some devious end-game shenanigans :)

[@tomkerruish2982]

Fun fact: there's a minor planet (well, technically a plutino, but possibly a minor planet) named Orcus, which (kinda sorta) orbits opposite Pluto. (It's farthest from the Sun about when Pluto is nearest and vice versa, although they aren't precisely on opposite sides.)

[@chucklebean]

Orcus is the best Demon Prince. He's got the coolest domain, he's got his fingers in many different evil pies (like Vecna, according to the 5th edition retcon), and his Wand has been the centerpiece for 2 different games I've played (1 one-shot and 1 full campaign). Can't get enough of this guy

[@charlottekatakurisama7330]

Yo, i want to play a campaign with orcus for my player when they finish curse of strahd, the campaign IS official or it is a homebrew campaign

[@PolyhedralParadice]

I love Orcus and the wand. I have used them as a plot device in many canpagins. In fact it's still lingering out there in the background. An unfinished canpagin had Orcus bound and removed from the Blood War and his wand transported to another reality to keep it out of play. The group, lead by a young necromancer with dilutions of grandeur and visions or releasing Orcus, was on their way to try and retrieve it when it was stricken down by the most dreaded of enemies. Scheduling conflicts. The new campaign I'm running has that as a sub plot buried in the background. We shall see if it ever comes to light

[@thecollegeoflore-podcast7126]

Pretty impactful that the Raven Queen and Vecna would ally against Orcus as they're basically (im)mortal enemies.

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

Orcus' plans would spell doom for both. The enemy of my enemy and all that.

[@2g33ksgamingttv3]

​@@thetrustysidekick3013 both want to be gods which requires worshippers, while orcus just wants all living things to die which would lead to extinction for all the gods. Survival is a powerful lubricant to make ancient enemies get tf over it 😂

[@alexanderchippel]

"I will be the only thing left alive." -thing that isn't even technically alive.

[@Jorphdan]

ha!

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

@@Jorphdan Yeah... some mental gymnastics are gonna be required to make Orcus actually make any sense beyond "goofy cartoon villain". I mean, even the silly "demon hierarchy" is pretty nonsense lore-wise. Why would the abyss, which has near-infinite demon variety, have demon form ranks you transform into just like devils do? Regimented forms for hierarchy makes sense for devils, but not demons. Not your fault, just Forgotten Realms lore being kind of dumb sometimes.

[@tomkerruish2982]

@@monsieurdorgat6864 The demon forms predate Forgotten Realms. They were in the 1e MM (and likely earlier), where they were just designated as Type I (Vrock) through Type VI (Balor). Getting even nitpickier, Types IV through VI had individual names and "Balor" was simply the name of one of them. (Others were in the index of the 1e MMII and perhaps elsewhere.) As far as why there are recognizable classes of demons, I know of no in-game justification.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

@@tomkerruish2982 I get the history, and have no problem with their inclusion - it's just the copy/pasted promotion scheme that devils have that makes no sense. It'd make a lot more sense if those legacy categories were more like attempts conjurers made at classifying common demon body types in well-known layers - but the lore aught to be that there's an infinite variety of demons, none of which are identical.

[@tomkerruish2982]

@@monsieurdorgat6864 Yes, it'd make a lot more sense if hordlings were chaotic evil rather than neutral evil. (Does quick search.) Oh, apparently they are now. Well, that's a good start; just need more tables so they can be of differing challenge ratings.

[@clarkside4493]

I've always wanted to run through that 4e adventure path that ends with an Orcus fight. So much so, I'm working on updating all those adventures to 5e, starting with Keep on the Shadowfell. Wish I had time to test it, though. Maybe some day, I or someone else will.

[@O4C209]

So, Orcus is a real pull yourself up by your bootstraps success story.

[@rickycushing1]

Been waiting for the Orcus deep dive! I use Orcus regularly for demon cults. Thank you!

[@TheLSpike]

THANK YOU! I've been waiting on this video of you for a while!

[@kilroy987]

1:19 That's the coolest art for Orcus I've seen.

[@XX-sp3tt]

"What's the Shadow Fell?" "A tulpa location forced upon the world by the insane wizards of the coast and implanted in everyone's minds making them think it is real."

[@joshuahanenburg1580]

No mention of the Thrones of Bloodstone? The ultimate 1st edition adventure featuring Orcus.

[@Jorphdan]

Spoke about that in another video, linked in the description!

[@viktord2025]

Meanwhile Mystara's Orcus is just some random dude that became an Immortal, saw Orcus in the Abyss, thought to himself "This is my personality" and later became known as the Goat.

[@Fox0030]

I'm pleasantly surprised that at 00:32 you used the orc of "Bomarzo wood" here in Italy 😁 it's absolutely appropriate and fitting! a warm greeting from your fan and supporter from Rome 👍🏻

[@Jorphdan]

😁

[@chrisgarret3285]

I just discovered this channel and another, both are great to listen to. I played D&D years ago and loved it. This brings back memories, might have to get back into it.

[@Jorphdan]

Welcome!

[@carloss3499]

I have a theory that orcus was a necromancer that was the only one to actually harness the power of the negative energy plenergy plane, but over time it has tainted and fused with his soul. So when his soul was sent to the abyss that part of him stayed because all undead hate the living.

[@artiepavlov6593]

Porcus was also briefly summoned to the Prime Material in NWN: Tyrants of the Moonsea where he attacked Zhentil Keep along with his lieutenants but was banished by the Hero of Daggerford. He did take the guy who summoned him along to torture for eternity.

[@DarkAutumnScribe]

Orcus!!! Thrilled! Love this!!!

[@billberndtson]

Great video as always, J :)

[@Jorphdan]

Thanks again!

[@billberndtson]

@@Jorphdan You're very welcome :)

[@Nazinsky]

Kiaransalee is my favourite Goddess! I'm glad to hear about her in here. Wish there was more information about how she defeated him originally.

[@seangreen6456]

Shared this with my DM.

[@Spartacus547]

Been trying to make a deck around him but his card in Forgotten Realms for Magic the Gathering is pretty hard to use

[@benthomason3307]

"Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are alive." -Orcus

[@Cringeinator_YT]

7:17 this information baffles me, Vecna sided with the Raven Queen, against the demon that made him a lich

[@fourhorseman7081]

Played the campaign where Orcus "let" his wand out to create havoc on the PM plane. Luckily amongst our six characters I got it and survived a savings throw vs death. Instantly from arch mage to demi god. Was asked by Bahumet to destroy the wand, I gated our party away. What followed in the few years after was a lot of being the toughest group of adventurers who would run for I lives in most campaigns.

[@irishbatman2917]

Back in my 3rd edition days I ran my players through "City Of The Spider Queen" and I had a whole thing with them bringing Orcus back because of their actions.

[@Izzystrickery29]

Favorite D&D demon monster, and one of my favorite abyss lords.

[@rudilator2178]

A good video but you don't ask the question "How?" Orcus got in D&D D&D. A brief mention of Appendix N and Gygax' love of Fred Saberhagen's fiction would be that missing link. Credit where credit's due.

[@delta1138e]

Thank you, I now know who my party will be facing for an end game boss.

[@terra451]

That James Wood cameo LOL

[@JanusHoW]

Orcus also had a peripheral role in the 3e adventure "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits", where the PCs can serve as his "ambassadors" to a meeting of demon lord aspects, masterminded by Graz'zt, that could potentially compel the demon lords to actually cooperate in a war against the Upper Planes. Of course, Orcus wants to have the PCs sabotage the meeting because cooperating with others is not how he rolls...and if I'm not mistaken, one of the exits will lead to his realm of Thanatos. I imagine the PCs being coaxed into an audience with him where he, in an unbelievably rare display of gratitude, offers them some gifts, probably opportunities to, say, become liches or death knights. Barring that, he would simply say that when the time comes for his ultimate plan to kill everything comes to fruition, he would give them swift and painless deaths...

[@quincybriley4113]

Dead Gods was a blast

[@jabronijones90]

idk if its my own headphones or Jorphdan's mic, but there's an ever so slight eco in the backround when he speaks. But i kinda like it for this video since its kinda spooky, like *another* entity is speaking through him! O.o

[@xaviermantha63]

Tanks for the video. PS: Or maybe you could just throw the wand in the fire (or positive energy) plane ? That should at least do something right ?

[@tomkerruish2982]

Up to the DM, of course. Perhaps it would result in a lot of Positive Energy natives being really, really upset about you polluting their home!

[@spym4330]

My little addition of knowledge as a random greek guy.Thanatos (the name of his layer)(Θάνατος) was a far sibling of pluto responsible for harvesting souls (grim reaper shit) and literally means death. P.S. if you are a Wikipedia guy have a look at Horkos(Ορκος)

[@XX-sp3tt]

2:25 Guess he wasn't popular enough to retcon as a primordial.

[@1GonzalezAR1]

I Love the spoiler music. Great video

[@Jorphdan]

Thanks 👍

[@joshuarogue9345]

WOOOT new video. needed my fix lol.

[@VengefulJarl]

I might be wrong but i want to say the beginning of dead gods says that orcus was killed by the drow goddess using the last word herself on orcus.

[@VengefulJarl]

My bad it doesn't explain how, just says through treachery and surprise.

[@voryndagothDL]

Loving that MTG artwork

[@Uknownuser1234-qvc]

nanananannananananana Bat WINGS!!!

[@xytek]

Orcus i my Favorite Demon Lord. Thanks for covering him!

[@ryanrizzo4869]

Yo, that music at the intro was creepy. O.O

[@Gravehaven007]

Love it!

[@Codeman1930]

Commenting for algorithmic support.

[@madocmayhem]

Awesome video thank you xD

[@rumorcontrol7873]

there really needs to be a lot more epic level dnd campaigns published

[@tombirmingham7033]

I ran that adventure, the resurection of Orcus. My players consisted of a lvl 7 halfling paladin on a giant owl and a Fighter/thief/wizard Half-elf. the players could have bypassed the entire trek from orcus's big toe to his head and gotten to the lvl 5 ogre priest of orcus and stopped the ceremony. That is if they understood the physics of the astral plane. instead, like idiots they tried to fight their way trhough all the undead to stop the ceremony. Fun module.

[@tombirmingham7033]

also, Ocrus was one of the original demond lords that fought the things that made the demons. I don't know if he was formed from larva or always there though.

[@Progen77]

Wasn't he a sidekick on He-man back in the day?

[@cameronmcewen9666]

You’re thinking of Orko.

[@danielzarkos]

Hey Jorphdan excellent videos as always! Is there a chance you'd do a video on Vaasa or Damara? I feel like they have a somewhat russian vibe. Am I right?

[@epiccthulu]

There is a novel. Its part of the Lady Penitent trilogy, which follows the war of the spider queen trilogy. The drow lich goddess wiped the memory of Orcus and his name from the Forgotten Realms, specifically, and usurped his place.

[@LordMortanius]

Kiaransalee did that prior to Dead Gods, and Orcus's name was wiped from the multiverse, not just the Realms.

[@epiccthulu]

@@LordMortanius I know she did it before the events of the book, I didn’t mean to imply she did it during

[@jdquimpo]

TENEBROUS IN 5E HYPOTHESIS [Curse of Strahd spoilers]: There exists a vestige in the Amber Temple of Barovia. The vestige's name is Tenebrous and he grants individuals who make pacts with him the secrets to lichdom. Like the other vestiges in the temple, Tenebrous is what remains of a long-dead deity trapped in a prison of amber. Perhaps this is where Orcus's divine aspect went.

[@ozwizardof5235]

Drow demi goddess was given key to kill Orcus from Asmodus using Martinet , his speaker I think .

[@gustaafargoan]

Shout out to Jorfdon.

[@km1dash6]

Sometimes I feel like everything cool happened in the past with the Forgotten Realms, but in the current forgotten realms time of around mid 1490s there's a cult in the Bloodstone lands (Damara and Vaasa) that worships Orcus. They're still active, with a half orc as its "leader." So there is a lot of potential for shit to go down.

[@ascapedgoat8462]

Love me some good undead stuff

[@mango78910]

Cant wait for the zuggotmoy video shes my fav!

[@Opie_Dokie]

Question: You noted that even Vecna sided with the Raven Queen against Orcus. What is the source of this point? I'm interested because I know that Vecna and the Raven Queen have butted heads, too.

[@peculiarcomics2255]

I think your videos would sound nice with some music in the background

[@Jorphdan]

I'll have to experiment!

[@Saberdeath-cs4mu]

Is it in part of ORCUS’s is lore that he doesn’t remember if he was a humanoid or a beast?

[@Jorphdan]

I believe that is Baphomet.

[@Saberdeath-cs4mu]

@@Jorphdan ah okay guess I mixed them up

[@coolio3267]

ORCUS!!!!!

[@jonathancampbell5231]

I think of Orcus as still technically a Balor, just so very powerful that he ranks as a Demon Lord. There doesn't seem to be much physical difference.

[@robblumenberg5965]

ORCUS created the orc and ogres in roman mythology!

[@joluoto]

More like names of evil creatures were derived from the name Orcus or Orcneas (I think this was the Old English word Tolkien derived the word Orc from). Words like Orco (Italian ) and Ogre (has French origin) are derived from the Latin word Orcus, and they both describe evil man eating giants.

[@Ericlee-ne7du]

If he punishes evil doers, does that mean he's good? Why would he want to punish beings that have done evil things unless he disagrees with their actions? If he's evil I would think he would be more inclined to REWARD evil beings.

[@Jorphdan]

That's mythology he punishes evil doers, ancient people fear the thing that can hurt them and make it evil. So despite Underworld Orcus only punishing evil doers he was an evil being because of the punishments he gave out. D&D Orcus does not dish out punishments, he just encourages evil but really has only self interest.

[@mrl9418]

Wait, à propos destroying thw wand, shouldn't you travel to pandemonium to steal the wand of orcus?

[@N-cromancer]

whos is the skull on Orcus's wand tho? or is "an enemy" all we know? surely not ANY skull can be that powerful

[@chinglee]

In a party of lvl9 players in Out of Abyss. We just met Orcus, and, needless to say, we are getting our a$$es royally kicked.

[@Piqipeg]

It's interesting that we associate punishing evildoers in hell as being evil...🤔

[@youtubestudiosucks978]

To defeat a monster, you gotta use a bigger monster

[@ozwizardof5235]

Didnt Vecna acquire knowledge of lichdom from Orcus?

[@deathfury4039]

I thought Orcus was a primordial before a demon?

[@mikegould6590]

So, Orcus is basically Thanos...

[@MrDragan19]

A spoiler warning for out of the abyss would have been nice, some people are still playing it.

[@IndorilNerevar-MoonandStar]

Orcus > Demogorgon

[@Dwarfurious]

Can't you just feed the wand to a Tarrasque?

[@Jorphdan]

i.imgur.com/YAGpXPd.png

[@Grinnar]

Orcus is a weird character. Thanks for covering him.

[@flygonkick93]

Im literally working on a campaign where the party has to go through different kingdoms taking out diff demigods that were given power from orcus (vampires, necromancers, liches etc) with each demigods death weakening orcus for the final fight and every player death along the way strengthening him in the final fight via some part of the players kit being added to his. Hoping its as cool as i think it will be

[@TheMagicienWorld]

Why the weird echo 😭 That was such an entertaining video but such a pain to listen to

[@davidbennion5871]

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