Are Orcs That Bad?

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Originally Posted by Morthoron

Now, what is particularly troubling is that they hadn't advanced so far as of yet. I do believe Tolkien is intimating that Orcs (or at least Orkishness) will continue to proliferate long after the time period of the tale (and, although it had not yet been written, far further than the events of the Lord of the Rings, which occurred a few score years after The Hobbit).

I had always wondered, given that Tolkien later gave up on the idea that Orcs originally came from elvish stock, and rather arose from mortal men, that Orcs eventually blended into the human race. I know we discussed this somewhere before, but I still find the concept fascinating (and this is especially true when some people look downright Orkish, particularly when vehemently angry -- the distortions of the faces of folk in a frenzied mob look subhuman).

I agree with what your saying. As I've stated elsewhere, I think it's a mistake to see Orcs as a distinct species from Men and/or Elves. Orcs are rather a representation of the dark side of humanity and they do nothing that Men haven't done a million times thoughout history, which is why they in my opinion are very convincing as the bad guys - much more so then if they were mindless killing machines.

The fact that there are Half-Orcs, Orc-Men and other mixed races that can blend into human societies unnoticed also suggest that Men and Orcs aren't different species like Men and Dwarves are, but rather different "races" that can be distinguished from each other only in the same way as can say caucasians, mongolians or blacks. The RPGs and movies have us seing Orcs as humaniod monsters with greenish skin, fangs, claws and cat-eyes. Tolkien, as far as I'm aware, described them as "degraded" forms of human beings. The difference between Orcs and Men is cultural more than biological and I certainly believe that an Orcling brought up into a nice fosterfamily in Lindon probably would grow up to be a fairly decent individual if is wasn't for that nasty Elvish habit of making fun of anyone who's different.

Now as for the orgins of Orcs this is a can of worms, as Tolkien also discovered. However, if we keep it simple Elves and Men share the same kind of physical body and can have children together so Orcs might have their orgins in both peoples.
It's when we start taking about the soul or fea we run into problems.