Sauron's Great Miscalculation

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

The essay on Orcs in Morgoth's Ring does mention "trained armies" of Sauron's Orcs: "the Orcs of his own trained armies were so completely under his will that they would sacrifice themselves without hesitation at his command." He also points out that "many were by training as tough as Dwarves in enduring hardship," which is interesting. I like the idea that Dwarves are the standard for endurance, and it's noteworthy that some Orcs were trained to comparable levels.

That's a good find, but I find it interesting that we don't seem to run into such orcs much in the stories.

I've re-read the sections on the Battle of the Pelennor from The Return of the King. Humans seem to have been Saruon's most effective troops in that battle. After the arrival of Aragorn the orcs are not referenced again, but rather the Easterlings and Haradrim are stated to have stayed and fought. Even before that point the Easterlings and Haradrim are referenced as antagonists more frequently than orcs. The orcs seem to have been primarily used for manual labor in digging siege lines and manning heavy artillery.

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

Servants or no, it implies a parental relationship.

There is nothing in the books that implies anything other than an exploitative relationship.

I'm quite curious as to what instances you can cite of Morgoth's or Sauron's genuine care for the welfare of their orcs.

We don't know what secret affectations and affections Sauron had with his Orcs in hierarchies.

Perhaps not, but I would like to see any reason to think that Morgoth's or Sauron's attitudes toward the orcs were anything other than what I laid out above. And by reason I mean citations from Tolkien's writings, not speculations or personal opinions.

were volunteering themselves for a dire, labour or horrific burden, bearing the sacrifice of the Vanity of the Host, by pooling the 'bleeding' energy of Ea into a repetitive Song of Sustain.

That is an interesting theory, but the text lays out Morgoth's motives and they don't support it.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

There is nothing in the books that implies anything other than an exploitative relationship.

I think Sauron's opinion of Orcs is well stated here:

And Orcs, they were useful slaves, but he had them in plenty. If now and then Shelob caught them to stay her appetite, she was welcome: he could spare them.

TTT Shelob's Lair

I doubt Sauron (or Morgoth) had any consideration of their servants, beyond their usefulness to him. Certain minions, such as the Nazgûl or the Mouth were favored with a high status in his hierarchy and, from the view of the Orcs, were seen as privileged, but Sauron would not have hesitated to sacrifice any of them if the stakes were high enough.

[Zigûr]

Both addressing Orcs and getting back to the topic

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

That's a good find, but I find it interesting that we don't seem to run into such orcs much in the stories.

I've re-read the sections on the Battle of the Pelennor from The Return of the King. Humans seem to have been Saruon's most effective troops in that battle. After the arrival of Aragorn the orcs are not referenced again, but rather the Easterlings and Haradrim are stated to have stayed and fought. Even before that point the Easterlings and Haradrim are referenced as antagonists more frequently than orcs. The orcs seem to have been primarily used for manual labor in digging siege lines and manning heavy artillery.

That's a good point. The main instance which comes to mind of successful assaults by heavier soldier-Orcs is that recorded in Appendix A:

In the last years of Denethor I the race of uruks, black orcs of great strength, first appeared out of Mordor, and in 2475 they swept across Ithilien and took Osgiliath. Boromir son of Denethor (after whom Boromir of the Nine Walkers was later named) defeated them and regained Ithilien; but Osgiliath was finally ruined, and its great stone-bridge was broken.

The fact that they were defeated speaks against them; perhaps they were not deployed or commanded in a manner to complement their strength. Here I'm inclined again towards the concept of poor discipline and organisation. It's altogether likely, I suppose, that even Sauron's most robust soldiers were still used in simplistic wave-like attacks relying on numbers and, where possible, surprise, as 'swept across' somewhat implies.

If I might link this back to the topic, I wonder if this also implies another problem of Sauron's master-plan involving the One, as presumably with it in his possession he could have exerted his will more vigorously over his Orcs and perhaps used the strength of the special breed he had developed more effectively.