Are orcs actually evil?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

But, he comes so close to "black" that it's really undistinguishable.

Actually, having looked through Letters, it looks to me as if Morgoth was not thought by Tolkien to be completely evil.

In my story I do not deal in absolute evil. I do not think there is such a thing, since that is Zero. I do not think that at any rate any 'rational being' is wholly evil.

Letter #183

And regarding the Orcs, he says:

....the Orcs-- who are fundamentally a race of 'rational incarnate' creatures, though horribly corrupted, if no more so than many Men to be met today.

Letter #153

If the Orcs are 'rational' creatures, it follows they must be capable of free will. And if Morgoth himself was not totally evil, the Orcs as a race could not be so either.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Even Eru cannot be said to be truly white - just look at the number of times this topic has been debated lately in various threads!

Ah, but it's Ilúvatar's world, isn't it? He made it. Good and evil are his to define.