In reading this thread one post caught my eye.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lalwendė
Orcs had to be portrayed as 'evil' - Tolkien's stories at heart are struggles of good versus evil, and this also includes a lot of slaughter. From our modern perspectives, where we examine all acts of battle through the microscope to ascertain if they are 'war crimes' or not, the idea of slaughtering many peoples of one race would seem abhorent, yet it is necessary to stories such as those written by Tolkien.
|
Interesting. It is a very reasonable explanation, I had thought something like that myself (if not as clearly, but anyway). It was necessary for Tolkien to keep the heroes such as Aragorn pure and good, which they wouldn't have been had they killed numerous men. I might want to criticise him in this a little (or is it forbidden here?
) . I would have found LotR much more fascinating if orcs, too, had been portrayed as more than the silly baddies you can kill without bad conscience.
What comes to an orc orphaned with men or elves, I don't know. If orcs are indeed the brutal, all-evil, almost-thoughtless killing machines Tolkien shows them like, I very much doubt they could be made less orkish by mere upbringing. As for the idea of a some kind of 'Morgoth's will' controlling them, I find it quite horrible. It would make the orcs little more than robots.
And the soul-Fea-business discussed earlier I don't get at all.