The
origin of Orcs
by
Calle Mattsson
A fundamental
concept for Tolkien was
that Evil
cannot create, only corrupt. In Letter 153 he explained that to
a first
approximation, Treebeard was wrong:
"Trolls
are only counterfeits, made by the Enemy in the
Great
Darkness, in mockery of Ents, as Orcs were of
Elves."
(The Two
Towers, p. 89)
and Frodo
was right:
"The Shadow
that bred them can only mock, it cannot
make:
not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life
to Orcs,
it only ruined them and twisted them ..."
(The Return
of the King, p. 190)
Tolkien:
"Treebeard
is a character in my story, not me; and though
he has
a great memory and some earthy wisdom, he is not
one of
the Wise, and there is quite a lot he does not know
or understand."
The Letters
of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 190;(
"Suffering
and experience (and possibly the Ring itself) gave
Frodo
more insight ..." The (Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, p.191.)
Tolkien
stated explicitly that the Orcs are indeed
"a race
of rational incarnate creatures,
though
horribly corrupted". Also that "In the legends of the Elder Days it
is suggested
that the Diabolus subjugated and corrupted some of
the earliest
Elves, before they had ever heard of the 'gods', let
alone
of God." (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 191). In fact, the
The Silmarillion
does state that Orcs were Avari (Dark Elves)
captured
by Morgoth (p. 50, 94), though strictly speaking, the
idea is
presented as the best guess of the Eldar, no more. Some
have rejected
the statements on those grounds, that the Elvish
compilers
of the The Silmarillion didn't actually know the truth but
were merely
speculating. But since Tolkien himself, speaking as
author
and sub-creator, more-or-less verified this idea, it's
probably
safe to accept it, as far as it goes.
It has
been widely noted that this conception leaves several
questions
unresolved.
Re: procreation,
the The Silmarillion says that "the Orcs had life
and multiplied
after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar" (p. 50),
but nevertheless
people continue to raise questions. For one thing,
there
was never any hint that female Orcs exist (there were two
apparent
references to Orc children, but both were from the The
Hobbit,
and therefore may be considered suspect).
There
is the question of why, if Orcs were corrupted Elves, their
offspring
would also be Orcs (rather than Elves - a somewhat
horrifying
thought). This question leads to discussions of
brainwashing,
genetics, which are not altogether appropriate to the
world
of Middle-earth.
Finally
there is the question of whether Orcs, being fundamentally
Elves,
go to the Halls of Mandos when they are slain, and
whether,
like Elves, they are reincarnated. (This last would explain
how they
managed to replenish their numbers so quickly all the
time.)
There is also some reason to think that Orcs, like Elves, are
immortal.
(Gorbag and Shagrat, during the conversation which
Sam overheard,
mention the "Great Siege", which presumably
refers
to the Last Alliance; it is possible to interpret this reference
to mean
that they were there and actually remembered it themselves.)
What
Was the Origin of Trolls?
No one
seems to know. Apparently, though, they were "made" (as
opposed
to "created" like the orcs by Melkor. Said Tolkien:
"I am
not sure about Trolls. I think they are mere
'counterfeits',
and hence... they return to mere stone images
when not
in the dark. But there are other sorts of Trolls,
beside
these rather ridiculous, if brutal, Stone-trolls, for
which
other origins are suggested."
(The Letters
of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 191)
"Counterfeits"
here means more-or-less that the Trolls have
no independent
life of their own but are puppets animated in
some way
by an external Evil Will. As for the other kind of
Troll,
the Olog-hai, no reference to their origin has been
found,
except for Appendix F:
"That
Sauron bred them none doubted, though from what
stock
was not known."
However,
they were definitely true Trolls, not large Orcs.
The Troll
adventure in the The Hobbit should probably not be
taken
too literally as a source of Troll-lore - it seems clear that it
was much
modified by the translator's desire to create familiarity.
Thus,
it seems unlikely that Trolls in Middle-earth spoke with
Cockney
accents, just as it seems unlikely that one of them would
have been
named "William".
