Are orcs actually evil?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I think I would certainly put Morgoth in the "black" category. He had so much knowledge of Ilúvatar's plans and deliberately set out to thwart them.
I would also put Gandalf in the "white" category, and probably Aragorn and Faramir also. All three are given clear choices to embrace evil, and choose good instead.

They all come close, but I can't say that they are pure black/white, even if they come very close. I don't want to go deeply into this, because this could turn into a separate discussion, but all the "white" characters had some flaw, as puny as it can be, that makes them very-very-very-very light grey. As for Morgoth, he wasn't evil originally. Before he "became evil", he sang in the Ainulindale in harmony with the others.

But, he comes so close to "black" that it's really undistinguishable. I'd like to say that his evil deeds turned to good in the end, but, as Mandos notes...

Originally Posted by The Sil, Of the Sun and Moon

[Manwe said:] "Thus even as Eru spoke to us shall beauty not before concieved be brought into Ea, and evil yet be good to have been." But Mandos said, "And yet remain evil."

Even Eru cannot be said to be truly white - just look at the number of times this topic has been debated lately in various threads!

However, this is a side discussion, and I will refrain from debating this further.