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And among them were the Orcs, who afterwards wrought ruin in Beleriand: but they were few and wary, and did but smell out the ways of the land, awaiting the return of their lord. Whence they came, or what they were, the Elves knew not then, thinking them perhaps to be Avari who had become evil and savage in the wild; in which they guessed all too near, it is said.
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So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Orome, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return...
But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of certainty. Yet this is held true of the wise of Eressea, that all those who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Illuvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainunlindale before the Beginning: so say the wise.
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Seems clear to me. (You can curse the day Mhoram made me reread the Silm.) [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
I think it also supports the idea that orcs can have a code of honor.
-Maril
[ May 18, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]