Are Orcs That Bad?

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Originally Posted by Lalwendë

If it is by nature evil then it can be like that.

No, it can't, and I guess it's here our views differ. You seem to want Tolkien to show beyond a doubt that Orcs are bad to the bone and deserve to be put to the sword? As I don't believe a creature like this can exist I would find such a fantastical creation dull and not very scary (again, I'm not familiar with Daleks or Cybermen and might change my mind if I were).

Personally I don't think there's such a thing as Evil or Good in any absolute sense; these concepts are defined by a certain society in a certain time, place and context and are ever changing. Tolkien appeared to have belived in these absloute values however but he also understood that in order to be Evil, or do what is Evil rather, you would need to have a choice, there would need to be a fall. If you are born irredeemably Evil you have no choice in the matter and are not in fact Evil either. In Tolkien's world Eru, who is Good, created the world, and not even Melkor (or Nerwen) was evil in the beginning.

I can buy that Dragons, Balrogs and such are completely malicious, but even they are ancient spirits who once in the depths of time "fell" under the influence of Melkor.

The real enemy in Tolkien's world are by the way not the Orcs but Evil itself, personified by Melkor or Sauron and his Ring.