Are Orcs That Bad?

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Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I personally think that had he allowed Morgoth to create the Orcs himself, Tolkien would have been free from ethical and moral concerns in creating the race. He could have made them mad, bad and dangerous to know, a relentless, ruthless and 'other' enemy that had to be dealt with. Of course, this would alter his ideas about sub-creation but then I think the Orc Problem kind of spoils that concept in any case.

But had he done so the Orcs wouldn't have been nearly as convincing as they are now. As you already suggested, to be Evil one must clearly recognize Good and reject it. A creature born Evil without a chance of redemtion can't reject Good because it knows of no such thing and thus can't in fact be Evil either as it only is what it is and has no choice in the matter. Obviously Tolkien understood this clearly.

The other option to remove the moral concern regarding the slaughter of Orcs is viewing them as beasts. But that wouldn't be convincing either and this Tolkien also understood clearly. The quoted dialogue between Shagrat and Gorbag among many other examples show that Orcs in no way were beasts but rational and intelligent creatures just like other speaking folk.

So, although Tolkien seemed to have developed a distaste for the Elvish/Human orgins of Orcs, he was stuck with it as it was the only alternative that really made sense and was coherent with his creation.