WooHooMan
Auror
Steerpike, those are good points and you presented them wonderfully. However, I think we're straying away from the thread topic.
Tolkien orcs were inherently "evil"/monstrous, though arguable capable of redemption apparently. Does that the fact Tolkien orcs are evil-to-a-degree mean that this is an official, indisputable part of the orc convention?
And to answer this question, we'd have to decide if Tolkien is the definitive word on orcs.
I say no. Even if he invented orcs (which I don't think he did but even if he did), the orcs have now become a part of the fantasy genre. They belong to any creator who wants to use them. The greater fantasy community have come to the agreement that orcs have colored skin (usually green), sharp teeth, a human-size-or-larger build and a war-loving attitude but the trait of "inherently evil" has been rejected too often by influential works (such as D&D) to be considered an "official" characteristic of orcs. Even Tolkien came to reject this trait. So, in the end, it doesn't matter if orcs were evil in Lord of the Rings.
In the same way that ancient cultures agreed that Dwarves were short, we've agreed that orcs don't have to be evil.
Tolkien orcs were inherently "evil"/monstrous, though arguable capable of redemption apparently. Does that the fact Tolkien orcs are evil-to-a-degree mean that this is an official, indisputable part of the orc convention?
And to answer this question, we'd have to decide if Tolkien is the definitive word on orcs.
I say no. Even if he invented orcs (which I don't think he did but even if he did), the orcs have now become a part of the fantasy genre. They belong to any creator who wants to use them. The greater fantasy community have come to the agreement that orcs have colored skin (usually green), sharp teeth, a human-size-or-larger build and a war-loving attitude but the trait of "inherently evil" has been rejected too often by influential works (such as D&D) to be considered an "official" characteristic of orcs. Even Tolkien came to reject this trait. So, in the end, it doesn't matter if orcs were evil in Lord of the Rings.
In the same way that ancient cultures agreed that Dwarves were short, we've agreed that orcs don't have to be evil.