Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26815144-20160527082930/@comment-28383306-20160528061923

Orcs were/are not inherently or irredemably evil. Tolkien, being a devout Christian, found the idea of a person being irredemable simply by birth repulsive.

In his letters and unfinished works, he goes further into the Orcs, noting that "They hated Melkor, the maker of only their misery" deep down. "We were all Orcs during the war" he says in reference to his days in World War 1, the blasted No Mans Land inspiring Mordor.

OrcHood was as much mental as physical, as much nurture as nature. He gave the Orcs personalities, albeit evil ones, and some mention is made of a moral compass. They feel leaving a comrad behind to be a "Typical Elvish trick", and chase foes for leagues if they have a captain to avenge. Although perfectly happy to eat manflesh, they view the accusation of canablism on their own kind a grave insult.

Ultimately, Orcs are in what is in essence an abuse relationship. Starved, tortured, fed lies about how elves torture them for fun, attacked on sight by every race and forced onto barren, wretched land, they live brutal, short lives. They despise the dark lords for what they are, fearing and hating them yet in awe of them; only under their direction can they prosper, and yet they are the source of their original lack of prosperity to begin with.

For all the Orcs genuinly evil deeds, the good guys aren't exactly helping to change the Orcs opinions on men. The Gondorians gave burials to the Harradim and Easternlings, but burn the Orc corpses in a pile like vermin; In short, they don't have much choice to be at war with other races, given that the kill on sight behavior is mutual.

It could be argued that they are less evil and more differently moral. Eating manflesh, evil? What other food is there?! We can't farm, little grows here, we have no livestock, and you keep attacking us, so dead bodies of our enemies is the most readily available food! To men, the group is more important, to Orcs the individual. they count survival not by the year, but by the day, the hour, the minute. They look to their own survival over that of others, becuase that is how they will survive.

In short, are Orcs evil? Mostly, yes. Are they inherently evil and unable to NOT be evil. Heck no! Are the odds of an Orc being good slin? Yes. Is there no chance at all? Nope, there is a chance. Orcs are the Dark Lord's greatest servants, and arguably his greatest victims. Hate them, perhaps, but also pity them, for few of them would choose such a state, many loathing themselves and their lord.