[Galadriel55]

Welcome aboard, Tinman!

Originally Posted by Tinman

1. It seems like all orcs were in some way dominated by melkor, if not sauron too. What then is the explanation for Sauruman's orcs, who appear to be bound to his will, or the orcs of Kazadum, who seem to be independent of both Sauruman and Sauron? How is it that these masters dominate the orcs they command? Is it sheer will power? Like mind control? It sounds like all orcs are bound to melkor, not sauron, but clearly sauron and sauruman had some control over their orcs. Was it in no way supernatural? No different than say Aragorn's control over his armies?.

I suppose that the method of "control" - or lack of such - is debatable, and different in every case. Saruman, Sauron and Melkor influenced the orcs and commanded absolute loyalty and obedience. The orcs were bound by two fears: of their masters, and of their enemies. I suppose of each other as well, seeing how they love each other.

Sauron (and I can guess Morgoth and Saruman too) supported and "pushed forward" their armies with willpower, as these passages suggest:

From all his [Sauron's] policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, waivered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain.

~ROTK, Mount Doom

...And even at that moment all the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts, their laughter failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed. The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them...

~ROTK, The Field of Cormallen

It's not impossible that this is a mirror image of how Aragorn kept up the Grey Company through the Paths of the Dead. I interpret the "Power" to be a well-trained will, but it's open to other interpretations as well.

2. Could an orc have claimed the ring? I know a wraith could not, because it was completely bound to sauron's will... but orcs seem to have some form of free will of their own. Is this why sauruman did not tell the orcs what he was looking for, just that he wanted the hobbit? Because he feared they would keep it for themselves? Was this a fear of Sauron's too?

An orc could have, but looking at how friendly and organised they were it wasn't a threat for Sauron or Saruman. On the contrary - he would find the exact location of the Ring and send a Nazgul there to take it.

I don't have FOTR to quote from right now, but I'm certain Gandalf says something in The Shadow of the Past about Bilbo finding the Ring that suggests that an orc could have easily found it too.

3. Is it generally canonical that some orcs had miar spirits in them? Or is this fan speculation?

Tolkien changed his mind on this a lot. Orcs are either twisted Elves, Men, Maiar, or beasts. Or all of the above.