Silmarillion, Of Aulë and Yavanna:
Quote:
Now Ilúvatar knew what was done, and in the very hour that Aulë's work was complete, and he was pleased, and began to instruct the Dwarves in the speech that he had devised for them, Ilúvatar spoke to him; and Aulë heard his voice and was silent. And the voice of Ilúvatar said to him: 'Why hast thou done this? Why dost thou attempt a thing which thou knowest is beyond thy power and thy authority? For thou hast from me as a gift thy own being only, and no more; and therefore the creatures of thy hand and mind can live only by that being, moving when thou thinkest to move them, and if thy thought be elsewhere, standing idle. Is that thy desire?'
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Then Aulë took up a great hammer to smite the Dwarves; and he wept. But Ilúvatar had compassion upon Aulë and his desire, because of his humility; and the Dwarves shrank from the hammer and wore afraid, and they bowed down their heads and begged for mercy. And the voice of Ilúvatar said to Aulë: 'Thy offer I accepted even as it was made. Dost thou not see that these things have now a life of their own, and speak with their own voices? Else they would not have flinched from thy blow, nor from any command of thy will.'
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This may seem a bit off topic, but in my opinion it sheds some light on the process of creating a creature with it's own free will. This proves that without the blessing of Eru, a created creature is nothing more than it's creator's puppet. The dwarf's had no will of their own, until Eru took pity on Aulë and the dwarfs. It wasn't until then that the dwarfes shrank away from the coming blow. What Eru gave the dwarfs was the soul, the Fea, right? And even if it's not Fea, it's obvious that the creations of anyone save Illuvatar himself are doomed to a life without their own will or thoughts.
If that's the case, how can we then say that the orcs, except those that are the first generation of twisted elves, lack Fea? The proof lies in
Hookbill's quote. If they didn't have a soul and were controlled by Sauron, then I doubt that they would be able to talk about getting away from him! Besides, after Sauron is defeated, there still existed living, moving and thinking orcs. If they indeed lived without Fea, they would stand dumbstruck as soon as Sauron was destroyed. Or when he lost his power and wondered around as a shadow for that matter.
This raises new questions. Why would Eru give these wretched creatures, the mockery of his own children, the benefit of a soul? And the question that is important for this thread: why would Eru grant such a gift to something destinied for evil deeds without a possibility to redeem themselves? That doesn't make sense. Therefor I still think that Orcs could become more or less "good", with the right upbringing and in the right environment.