Ogre

**Ogres** are green skinned creatures that are usually larger than humans. They are common in Merlin's world, often working as assistants to Merlin the wizard.

## History

Ogres celebrate the anniversary of their independence on Ogre Independence Day, which is held on their homeworld, on August 24th. One of the most popular Ogre's Independence Day celebrations is held at Mt. Milai, where spectators view the multi-colored exploding rocks that shoot out of the mountain.

After their independence, ogres were able to run their own companies. One of these was run by an ogre named Raz Scoggins, who was a stereotypical brutish ogre. Those employed by him worked long hours, had harsh deadlines, and Scoggins literally chewed them out for perceived flaws in their work.

In 2012, Merlin and a scientist named Mary worked together with Mary's friend, Jenni, to stabilize a portal between Merlin's world and Jenni's world. Several ogres assisted Merlin, including a small ogre named Doug, and his mother. The portal had protections to prevent evil beings from using it. Doug was able to use it, due to the fact that he was the size of an average human, and because, according to Merlin, he was "mostly good".

Doug used the portal to travel to multiple locations. He traveled through the portal in 2012 to Jenni's world, and in 2013, he used it to attend a party at a palatial estate, hosted by Julius Caesar.

In 2014, Doug was able to go back through the portal when it was timed to teleport to his universe, so that he could see his parents again. When he asked Merlin how he was able to go through the portal without having to time it, Merlin explained that his staff allowed him to control the destination of the portal.  Merlin gave Doug a belt that could do the same. Doug used the belt to travel to Easter Island, however, he accidentally left the belt behind. Luckily, the Easter Island groundskeeper, Marvin, was able to use the belt to control the portal, and he returned it to Doug, who he mistook for an alien. Merlin warned Doug to be more careful with the belt, as it would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.

On July 4, 2015, Doug and Jenni viewed the fireworks that were set off on Jenni's world to celebrate the Independence Day of the United States. Doug stated that they reminded him of the exploding rocks at Mt. Milai. Later, on August 24, 2017, Doug brought his friends to his homeworld to view the exploding rocks in celebration of Ogre Independence Day.

## Behind the scenes

* Ogres are mythological creatures, which are typically large and brutish, and are said to eat other living creatures, including humans and other ogres. They originated in folktales, and spread in popularity through word of mouth. The first mention of ogres in print was in the French story by Chrétien de Troyes, *Perceval, the Story of the Grail,* which was written between 1135 and 1190.
* Doug is the protagonist of the *Doug the Ogre* collaborative webcomic and the adventure game based on that webcomic, *Doug's Moai Adventure*. He was first introduced in the twenty-seventh *Jenni* webcomic strip, and still appears in that comic occasionally.
* Doug, Doug's mom, Doug's dad, Raz Scoggins, and the *Doug the Ogre* webcomic are open to collaboration, as they were released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license on March 13, 2014.