[Thingol]

All of this discussion assumes that most orcs have independent thought. Tolkien went through many different, and contradictory concepts on the nature of orcish autonomy. Orcs as a whole do not seem to have any independence, they are like ants, without a guiding will they are completely impotent. However, whenever an individual orc is described it is always as willful and independent. Tolkien conceived of orcs as corrupted elves, perverted men, and even twisted apes. The name Boldog is given to several of the powerful orc leaders, who were supposedly inhabited by Maia during the First Age. Personally, I believe that there were many types of orcs, ranging from the weakest twisted animals, totally dependent on their masters, to completely independent orcs inhabited by Maia. Saruman was into the whole crossbreeding scene, and it just makes things so much more interesting if there were several types of orcs to work with. Tolkien hints that there were a lot of lost elven spirits floating around in Middle Earth that Sauron was particularly good at capturing. If my theory is correct these orcs, inhabited by enslaved elven spirits, would probably be the most willing to go to great ends to avenge a fallen Boldog captain, whereas I doubt that one of the twisted animals would even be capable of acting on their own. I think it all depends on the orc.

[ May 16, 2002: Message edited by: Thingol ]