Orcs and Elves (and Men and Animals)

[Zigûr]

It seems to me that as time went on he wanted the existence of Orcs to be more consistent with his own beliefs and how they were manifested in the spiritual-metaphysical systems of Arda, hence his later musing on the subject.

Yet I actually find it a little curious that he found the question difficult, because it seems to me that he saw the "Orc-level of mind and habits", or something close to it, present in modern society. I would have thought that, by his world-view, "Orcishness" was very evidently a state to which any being could be reduced, and that such a quality might well become endemic in a population under tyranny, oppression, denial of spiritual truth etc.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

I actually find it a little curious that he found the question difficult, because it seems to me that he saw the "Orc-level of mind and habits", or something close to it, present in modern society. I would have thought that, by his world-view, "Orcishness" was very evidently a state to which any being could be reduced, and that such a quality might well become endemic in a population under tyranny, oppression, denial of spiritual truth etc.

Indeed. And there is also sufficient evidence that physical changes of beings occurred, both "naturally" (as with the Petty-dwarves and Hobbits), and artificially (Gwindor's 'bent and fearful' alteration as a prisoner in Angband, and Saruman's cross-breeding of Men and Orcs).