Orcs, will, rings

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Tinman

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?.

In Saruman's case the loyalty of his Orcs may have been at least partly bought. He certainly didn't have the "fear factor" of Melkor, or even Sauron. Wasn't it Uglúk who made the comment about the White Hand giving them "man's flesh" to eat? Good thing Gandalf escaped, eh?

The Moria Orcs were far enough away that they didn't have direct supervision from Sauron, but still they served his purposes in keeping Moria (and the mountain-crossing there) secure from his enemies. I daresay they would have answered a direct summons from him.

Originally Posted by Tinman

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?

I think Saruman believed in telling the Orcs just enough to get the job done, as a matter of practice. That's probably a good idea no matter what their task was. Just having them capture Hobbits and not search them thoroughly was sufficient, as evidenced by Uglúk seeing that the orders were indeed kept.

Anyone with a will of their own could claim the Ring (and sooner or later, would), but using it was a different matter. Unless the claimant was strong enough to keep it from Sauron in a one-on-one contest, claiming it would have merely tipped off Sauron as to exactly where it was. I don't think Sauron had too much fear that one of his servants might take it.

Originally Posted by Tinman

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

I think that's pretty unlikely. The Maia that served Melkor did so in more powerful forms, like Balrogs.