Of Eru, Orcs and Evil

[lindil]

...but denying the Fire to an entire race of creatures because he didn't think their creator's purpose was noble enough is something else

In HoME [ after the lotR was written] JRRT came to see that the majority of Orcs must be 'beasts' i.e. animals, with a limited sort of parrot like ability to speak, the twisted Elves idea had to go [ or be a very rare exception] as this would create an entire 'unsaveable' race of beings.

Please see the above linked thread for an exhaustive treatment of this complex subject if you wish to know more.

In short to re-iterate, the Orcs as twisted/corrupted Elves idea was abandoned and the references in the LotR and Hobbit [ and even Silm] that seem to support are treated as 'non-omniscient' character POV statements.

[ January 09, 2003: Message edited by: lindil ]