Orcs... were elves?

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Since so many Men were already under Morgoth's sway, why bother making them into Orcs?

I would say, at least in part, for the same reason some Maiar took 'orkish' shapes, to mock the Children of God. The question of orc-origins was still open to Tolkien because all he had actually published was that Orcs were made in mockery of Elves -- but not (necessarily) made from Elves.

Although perhaps more importantly, Treebeard had implied an actual timeline as well, and although Tolkien could get away with saying Treebeard has a great memory even if he couldn't necessarily know the actual origin of orcs (as a character in the story) -- his great memory yet implies that Tolkien 'should' take Treebeard's guidelines, as vague as they might be, into consideration.


Alatar, I realize you weren't saying anything about Men... which was rather my point actually.