#36. Xull

Lore

The Iron Commander

"Orcs can live up to three hundred years. Due to lifestyle choices, few survive past about eight."

– Ogedai the Chronicler


"Lift cannons! Charge!"

– Xull to the Iron Legion’s Artillery Corp, Battle of Orc Pass

As the story goes...

Xull seized command of the Iron Legion from the Troll Titan with a brutal down stroke. His first order was to create a cannon brigade. His second order was that cowardly long-range combat would not be tolerated.

As a warlord of the mercenary army, he was savage, vengeful, and extremely effective. In battle, he rode a t-rex and swung a deadly steel trap made from his predecessor. His innovative use of the tactic “minotaur release” is still studied today.

Under Xull the Iron Legion grew rich and powerful. Recruiting was simple – he placed a generous bounty on his own head. Anyone fearless enough to attempt to claim it, and tough enough to survive the resulting beatdown, would be offered their own lives as the Legion’s signing bonus.

His physical strength was legendary, and he would fight any challenger for any stakes. He only ever lost once, and he honored that wager, switching sides in the Undead Wars, despite being certain she must have somehow cheated.

In Valhalla, Xull knows he should always lead. He challenged Kor for leadership of the Golem Underground. He challenged Thor for leadership for Thursday. He challenged Scarlet for leadership of the Valhallan Ladies Book Club. At Ragnarok, he will lead a great army, and it makes little difference to him what side that army is on.

Connections

• Jhala bested the Orc Warlord (Xull) in single combat, earning the (purely honorary) title "Friend"

Context

One of Jhala's concept art pieces showed her as an orc (resulting in the design of one of her skins). But, officially, Xull is the resident orc in Brawlhalla.

The general concept of orcs finds its origins in a variety of long-existing mythologies, but orcs as we know them truly began with the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien (esp. the Lord of the Rings books) in the 1950s. Since then, orcs have been brought into many fantasy settings and works of fiction, including Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, to name just a few. It was also Tolkien who coined the term "orc," basing it off of (like everything else about Middle Earth) Old English and Old Norse words. In his world, "orc" and "goblin" are generally interchangeable. His earliest Elvish dictionaries include Ork (prefix orq-), defined as "monster," "ogre," or "demon," with the plural form being orqui. Later in life, Tolkein did express interest in changing the spelling of orc to ork, but the first spelling is still the most common.

Orcs can have a variety of appearances, depending on the setting, but they usually don't stray too far away from Tolkien's orcs: ugly, muscular humanoids with prominent fangs, grotesque facial features (usually similar to apes or pigs), with skin a shade of green or brown or some neutral color, aggressive carnivores, usually not that clever, but possessing tremendous brute strength. Our buddy Xull falls right into line with the typical fantasy orc.

Any orc weapons tend to compliment their intimidating strength, and cannon and axe are both great strength weapons. Some of his sigs also feature that "deadly steel trap" mentioned in his lore. I think it's hilarious that Xull's first two orders as the commander of the Iron Legion basically forced his cannon brigade to use their cannons in melee combat. BMG is very good at making the lore of their legends simultaneously impressive and quite humorous.