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Originally Posted by Laurinquë
I never really considered the Orcs to be intrinsically evil creatures, nothing is 100% evil like you said Lalwendë. They can't really help themselves, they were made to be evil and raised to be evil, they aren't really and truly evil if they don't understand that what they do is considered wrong.
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There's another thing to consider...can they actually
be evil if they have no choice in the matter? I think Tolkien considered this himself which is why he said they would be capable of redemption. However, that then also makes them less frightening...and pushes the matter of dealing with Orcs into questions of morality.
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Originally Posted by Morthoron
Now, what is particularly troubling is that they hadn't advanced so far as of yet. I do believe Tolkien is intimating that Orcs (or at least Orkishness) will continue to proliferate long after the time period of the tale (and, although it had not yet been written, far further than the events of the Lord of the Rings, which occurred a few score years after The Hobbit).
I had always wondered, given that Tolkien later gave up on the idea that Orcs originally came from elvish stock, and rather arose from mortal men, that Orcs eventually blended into the human race. I know we discussed this somewhere before, but I still find the concept fascinating (and this is especially true when some people look downright Orkish, particularly when vehemently angry -- the distortions of the faces of folk in a frenzied mob look subhuman).
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Do you think this was Tolkien allowing too much of his own feelings about the real world to creep into his creation? I do. It's all very well setting it up that the worst traits of human (mis)behaviour stem from Orcish blood (and quite intriguing), however he neatly skips the fact that in his tales a lot of Elves, Men and Dwarves without a single drop of Orcish blood did plenty of bad things too. It lacks coherence.
I personally think that had he allowed Morgoth to create the Orcs himself, Tolkien would have been free from ethical and moral concerns in creating the race. He could have made them mad, bad and dangerous to know, a relentless, ruthless and 'other' enemy that had to be dealt with. Of course, this would alter his ideas about sub-creation but then I think the Orc Problem kind of spoils that concept in any case.