The Meaning of Pity and Mercy...what is the RIGHT thing to do?

[Bêthberry]

Hail and well met, Jessica Jade,

I am thinking back more to your original question than to some of the very interesting later posts.

Traditionally, in ethics, a distinction has been drawn between the right to defend one's self against attack--to stop the attack--and the error of wishing to destroy or kill those who attack. I think this distinction gives form and shape to both Gandalf's and Frodo's actions. One has the right to repel attack, but not to kill out of vengeance.

And, if we look at Tolkien's concept of sub-creation, we see a sense that there in sub-creation a clarity can exist which, if we grasp it, we can take back to the muddied realm of primary existence in order to see it more clearly.

Have orcs been given this choice? Is the correct response to them dependent on the possibility that they might come one day to understand moral behaviour?

Bethberry