Orcs: End of third age and beyond

Tinman · 05-19-2009, 03:09 PM

So i have seen a few sources that state that orcs had no independent will. They were, in fact, inherently evil. Some people don't like the idea of any species that has no will but an evil one, but the fact that after sauron was finally destroyed at the end of the third age, the orcs all went insane, is an indication that he orcs had only one will, Saurons. When he was gone, they went insane, like a bee hive that has lost its queen.

However, i have seen many references stating that the 4th age was not without hardship. That many places had to be "reclaimed"... moria for example. Reclaimed from what? Are we to assume that not all orcs lost their minds and died? Maybe they just had a temporary horror of having no will of their own and eventually regained composure? Many references in many of tolkiens works seem to indicate that the world has many evils, and not all of them are in league with sauron. If not orcs, perhaps some of these unallied evils were still major threats... but what would these evils be? Certainly not orcs, uruks, or trolls, since they all seemed to function on the same rules...

Any one have any idea's or theories? How about direct tolkien quotes that clear this up?

05-19-2009, 03:09 PM	#1
Tinman Enting Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 68	Orcs: End of third age and beyond So i have seen a few sources that state that orcs had no independent will. They were, in fact, inherently evil. Some people don't like the idea of any species that has no will but an evil one, but the fact that after sauron was finally destroyed at the end of the third age, the orcs all went insane, is an indication that he orcs had only one will, Saurons. When he was gone, they went insane, like a bee hive that has lost its queen. However, i have seen many references stating that the 4th age was not without hardship. That many places had to be "reclaimed"... moria for example. Reclaimed from what? Are we to assume that not all orcs lost their minds and died? Maybe they just had a temporary horror of having no will of their own and eventually regained composure? Many references in many of tolkiens works seem to indicate that the world has many evils, and not all of them are in league with sauron. If not orcs, perhaps some of these unallied evils were still major threats... but what would these evils be? Certainly not orcs, uruks, or trolls, since they all seemed to function on the same rules... Any one have any idea's or theories? How about direct tolkien quotes that clear this up?