Tolkien and the Monsters

[The Saucepan Man]

Its also what justifies our easiness with their slaughter. We don't feel sorry for the orcs because we know they are heartless, cruel & beyond 'salvation'. Our 'heroes' remain heroes in our minds no matter how many orcs they slaughter, because we know that 'the only good orc is a dead orc'. Ths can only be if we feel they are evil incarnate.

That is a very good point. And it differentiates the Orcs from the Men amongst the "forces of evil". The Haradrim made a choice to join forces with Suaron's army (although some were no doubt deceived into to doing so, while yet others were "only following orders"). Yet we can see from Sam's reflections on the dead Haradrim soldier that perhaps not all of them made that choice. Further, we receive the impression that they are capable of repentance (and thus redeemable), just as the Dunlendings repent and are redeemed following the Battle of the Hornburg. No such suggestion is ever made with regard to Orcs. Even such "compassion" as they show (such as Shagrat providing Merry with Orc Draught) is simply directed towards furthering their ends (in Shagrat's case, bringing the captive Hobbits alive to Isengard). And, although Shagrat and Gorbag express a desire to be away from the War, the alternative lifestyle that they see for themselves is no less morally reprehensible than that which they are bound (by duty and fear) to pursue.

I suppose that the only way to resolve the issue satisfactorily would be to have the Orcish commanders as fallen Maia or corrupted Men and/or Elves who originally had a choice and have long since chosen evil and brutality, while the vast bulk of Orc-kind are simple "robotic beats" with no fea of their own. Yet the quasi-independent Orcish communities of the Misty Mountains, including those led by Bolg, Azog and the Great Goblin, would still perhaps stand out as anomalies. These communities seem to have some kind of culture (shown, for example, in their capacity to create songs) which would suggest that they are more than mere automatons. Although that, I suppose, could be explained as an instinctive, or "pre-programmed" aspect of their robotic nature.