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Old 07-15-2002, 12:05 PM   #21
Fingolfin of the Noldor
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: NH
Posts: 63
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Sting

Inregard to the origins of Orcs Tolkien eventually, it seems, rejected the idea of elves in favor of men as can be seen manifest in his last essay on the matter:

Quote:
The origin of Orcs is a matter of debate...
Those who believe that the Orcs were bred from some kind of Men, captured and perverted by Melkor, assert that it was impossible for the Quendi to have known of Orcs before the Separation and the departure of the Eldar. For though the time of the awakening of Men is not known, even the calculations of the loremasters that place it earliest do not assign it a date long before the Great March began, certainly not long enough before it to allow for the corruption of Men into Orcs. On the other hand, it is plain that soon after his return Morgoth has at his command a great number of these creatures, with whom he ere long began to attack the Elves. There was still less time between his return and these first assalts for the breeding of Orcs and for the transfir of their host westward.
This view of the origin of orcs thus meets with difficulties of chronology. But though Men may take comfort in this the theory remains nonetheless the most probable. It accords with all that is known of Melkor, and of the nature and behavior of Orcs and Men... 'Orcs' pg 416-17
Given this I don't think we can assume that all orcs were corrupted elves especially given the fact that what is stated in the silmarillion is simply a hypothesis of the Noldor of Eressea:

Quote:
But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressea, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison... "Of the Coming of the Elves" The Silmarillion
I think rather it would be the best course to assume that orcs were in the beginning elves and later men(to put it simply but more rather a combination of the two theorys to accomidate the problem of chronology while at the same time respecting Tolkien's final thoughts as well as those elements which demand reconciliation).
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