Tolkien's T.C.B.S discussion

various fragments, published in History of Middle Earth, volume 10, Morgoth's Ring, showing that Tolkien never found a completely satisfactory explanation for the origins of Orcs, or of talking animals



from an undated note
“...The Elves from their earliest times invented and used a word ... orok to denote anything that caused fear and/or horror. It would originally have been applied to 'phantoms' (spirits assuming visible forms) as well as to any independently existing creatures. Its application (in all Elvish tongues) specifically to the creatures called Orks...was later.”



***


from a thinking-on-paper text, entitled “Orcs”, probably shortly after 1959
“Their nature and origin require more thought. They are not easy to work into the theory and system.


“(1) As the case of Aulë and the Dwarves shows, only Eru could make creatures with independent wills, and with reasoning powers. But Orcs seem to have both: they can try to cheat Morgoth/Sauron, rebel against him, or criticize him.


“(2) ? Therefore they must be corruptions of something pre-existing.


“(3) But Men had not yet appeared, when the Orcs already existed. Aulë constructed the Dwarves out of his memory of the Music, but Eru would not sanction the work of Melkor so as to allow the independence of Orcs. (Not unless Orcs were ultimately remediable, or could be amended and 'saved'?)


“It also seems clear (see 'Finrod and Andreth') that though Melkor could utterly corrupt and ruin individuals, it is not possible to contemplate his absolute perversion of a whole people, or group of peoples, and his making that state heritible.


“In that case Elves, as a source, are very unlikely. And are Orcs 'immortal', in the Elvish sense? Or trolls? It seems clearly implied in The Lord of the Rings that trolls existed in their own right, but were 'tinkered' with by Morgoth.


“(4) What of talking beasts and birds with reasoning and speech? These have been rather lightly adopted from less 'serious' mythologies, but play a part which cannot now be excised. ...




***


“The Wise in the Elder Days taught always that Orcs were not 'made by Melkor, and therefore were not in their origin evil. They might have been irredeemable (at least by Elves and Men), but they remained within the Law. That is, that though of necessity, being fingers of the hand of Morgoth, they must be fought with the utmost severity, they must not be dealt with on their own terms of cruelty and treachery. Captives must not be tormented, not even to discover information for the defence of the homes of Elves and Men. If any Orcs surrendered and asked for mercy, they must be granted it, even at cost. [footnote mark] This was the teaching of the Wise, though in the horror of the War it was not always heeded.


[Footnote: Few Orcs ever did so in the Elder Days, and at no time would any Orc treat with any Elf. For one thing Morgoth had achieved was to convince the Orcs beyond refutation that the Elves were crueler than themselves, taking captives only for 'amusement', or to eat them (as the Orcs would do at need).]