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Even Tolkien was not able to satisfactorily answer fundamental questions like the origin of orcs.
by DeusExMachina 5y ago
Even Tolkien was not able to satisfactorily answer fundamental questions like the origin of orcs.
- msh 5y agoI thought that was explained in the Silmarillion
- gjsman-1000 5y agoRead the Silmarillion if you haven't. It's dense (like a history book), but explains the machinations of Morgoth and Sauron, the creation of Dwarves and Orcs, and clears many things up. The only pity is that J.R.R. Tolkien never finished it, so some things like where Hobbits came from or where the Blue Wizards went remain (mostly) unaddressed.
- BanazirGalbasi 5y agoSome of Tolkien's other writings show that he wasn't happy with the explanation that ended up in the Silmarillion. He had multiple other explanations, and none of those is fully canon either.
- jimbokun 5y agoSeems like the kind of thing that never would have been finished no matter how long he lived.
- topynate 5y agoThe Road goes ever on and on…
- inglor_cz 5y agoOne point of discontent for me: there seem to be no Orcish women mentioned ever, but Bolg is a son of Azog.
- gjsman-1000 5y agoTolkien said they actually reproduce like the animals (and men and elves) do. So there are female Orcs for sure. The extended LOTR film depiction of them being made from a mud-like mixture is nonsense.
- zajio1am 5y agoYes, but it is not that Tolkied did not think about origin of orcs, he thought about it but dit not settled on definite answer or changed its ideas during time.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bombcar 5y agoTolkien had an answer that he himself wasn’t satisfied with - because an “evil race” was fundamentally irreconcilable with his Catholic faith. He talks about it in one of his Letters - and says that’s why he ended up having to reduce the amount of “orc talk” because it was making them sympathetic and he didn’t really know how to handle it - for the story he wanted generic disposable “baddies”.
- DeusExMachina 5y agoThe idea of orcs that you find in the Silmarillion, which is that orcs are elves corrupted by Melkor, is perfectly reconcilable with Catholicism. In Christianity it's well defined what happens to any creature corrupted by evil in the final judgement. That explanation does not work in Tolkien's universe though. Can orcs be redeemed? Do they still have a soul? What happens to it when they die? Do they go to the halls of Mandos? Can they be reincarnated like elves? Tolkien was never satisfied with any explanation because he could not fit them inside his world's theology, which is inspired by Christianity but does not match it one to one.