Of course Orcs had independent thought. They were rather stupid, to be sure, and acted in many ways like ants, they still had independent minds. In fact it's a bit sad really... how would you like to be an orc? Disgusting, completely evil, and perpetually unclean... when an orc was killed, it was regarded as justifiable homicide under any circumstance. But Orcs probably don't feel that way. Maybe they thought of the 'good' races the same way as we think of them.
I've always wondered what kind of fea orcs were inhabited by. It seems very cruel to think that orcs are elves or men who have been bent by Morgoth. To suggest that they are Maia doesn’t quite seem right either, and Houseless Elves would certainly not behave in the manner that orcs do.
Perhaps Morgoth created the Orcs in the same way that Aule created dwarves? Except, because Morgoth was not permitted to create, only to copy, he had to model them directly from the Children of Illuvitar. So he captured some of the first Elves, bent and broke them, probably killed them, and then on that bent and broken model he built his first orc prototypes.
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