Why Do Orcs Look Like Pigs? But Only Sometimes?

This is a story about hulking beast-men who lurk in the woods, waiting in the shadows to ravage men who stray from the path. But despite that description, this will not be erotic fiction. No, it’s about orcs and the game of cultural telephone that has resulted in divergent evolution within Japan and outside it. Depending on who’s telling the story, sometimes these monsters have a distinctly porcine appearance. Sometimes they don’t. Yes, it’s a matter of orc and pork — but again, despite how that might sound, this text was not written with the intention of being erotic.(Your mileage may vary, of course.)Between the second and third Legend of Zelda games, an iconic enemy underwent a change that you maybe didn’t notice. The first two games pitted Link against the Moblin, a bulldog-faced biped that attacked with spears. But when it returned for the third game, A Link to the Past, its jowls were replaced with a blunt snout. What was once a dog was now a pig. Left: Illustration of a…