What did they think?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Väinämöinen

I have always wondered more about Sauron and the orcs. After all, Morgoth created the orcs as a race, and Sauron was of a different temperament. Does anyone know of any specific passages from the Lord of the Rings or Unfinished Tales that mentions Sauron's view of the matter?

First, let me echo the others in welcoming you to the Downs!

Sauron apparently looked on the Orcs as nothing more than a tool. There is a passage from The Two Towers that seems to reflect his view of them.
Though he knew Shelob took them for food, he wasn't concerned.

And Orcs, they were useful slaves, but he had them in plenty. If now and again Shelob caught them to stay her appetite, she was welcome: he could spare them.

Shelob's Lair

Looks as though Sauron didn't care about Orcs at all, beyond their service to him.

Originally Posted by Väinämöinen

It's just that the creation of the orcs seems to me such a great cruelty and perversion that it could only have originated with Morgoth. Sauron no doubt found them useful, but the question is if he would have gone out of his way to invent them in the first place, but who can say.

As for the "maker" of Orcs, The Silmarillion seems to make it clear that they were the design of Morgoth.

....thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves...

Of the Coming of the Elves