On Orcs and Ogres

More Middle-Earth Musings Inspired by my Lord of the Rings ACKS Campaign

Oct 27, 2022

“Orcs. Their nature and origin require more thought. They are not easy to work into the theory and system.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, “Orcs,” History of Middle Earth Volume X: Morgoth’s Ring

If you’ve read my prior articles, On Wargs and Wolves and On Wights and Wraiths, you know I recently ran a campaign set in Middle Earth using the Heroic Fantasy Handbook for Adventurer Conqueror King System. I called the campaign LOTR-ACKS and shared some of my campaign progress on the Autarch Patreon. In the process of this campaign, I reached a number of interesting conclusions about the creatures of Middle Earth. This article series has been a summary of those conclusions, each article presenting my conclusions in general and then a specific implementation of them for ACKS.

Today we’re going to discuss the origin of the orcs. Most fans of Tolkien tend to assume that the orcs were bred by Morgoth from corrupted and ruined elves, because that is the explanation proffered in the Silmarillion. But it’s a bit more complex than that! Silmarillion was a work compiled by Tolkien’s son, Christopher, who skillfully picked a selection of his father’s writings to make up the book. I personally consider Silmarillion my favorite of the published fiction of Tolkien. That said, Christopher later published much of Tolkien’s other writing, ranging from his earliest scribbles in the 1920s to his mature sentiments in the 1950s.

And what that writing reveals is clear: Over the years in which he developed Middle Earth, Tolkien changed his mind about the nature of orcs many times; at the time of his death, the matter was still unresolved in his mind. In fact, over the course of his various writings, Tolkien gave eight different answers to the origin of orcs:

Orcs were bred from subterranean heat and slime.
Orcs were made of stone.
Orcs were children of the earth corrupted by Morgoth and bred in envy and mockery of the Eldar.
Orcs were bred from corrupted elves.
Orcs were talking beasts.
Orcs were fallen Maiar.
Orcs were bred from corrupted men.
Orcs were made by Melkor by dispersing his power.

1. Orcs were bred from subterranean heat and slime.

Tolkien’s earliest writing about orcs was in “The Fall of Gondolin,” a short story eventually published in History of Middle Earth Volume II. There, he wrote:

How it came ever that among Men the Noldoli have been confused with the Orcs who are Melko's goblins, I know not, unless it be that certain of the Noldoli were twisted to the evil of Melko and mingled among these Orcs, for all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime. Their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko.

The problem with this answer is that it doesn’t mesh well with Tolkien’s view on creation and corruption. In a later essay on the orcs (discussed below), Tolkien was clear on this:

Aulë constructed the Dwarves out of his memory of the Music; but Eru would not sanction the work of Melkor so as to allow the independence of the Orcs.
As the case of Aule and the Dwarves shows, only Eru could make creatures with independent wills, and with reasoning powers. But Orcs seem to have both: they can try to cheat Morgoth / Sauron, rebel against him, or criticize him.

As we shall see below, Tolkien eventually resolved this dilemma, but did not survive to implement his solution.

2. Orcs were made of stone.

A few years later after penning “The Fall of Gondolin,” Tolkien wrote “The Quenta,” an essay now available in History of Middle Earth Volume IV. In that essay, he said:

The hordes of the Orcs he made of stone, but their hearts of hatred. Glamhoth, people of hate, the Gnomes have called them. Goblins may they be called, but in ancient days they were strong and cruel and fell.

Seven years later, in the “Quenta Silmarillion,” Tolkien still held that the orcs were made of stone but now he had decided that they were made in mockery of the elves:

But in that time Morgoth made many monsters of divers kinds and shapes that long troubled the world; yet the Orcs were not made until he had looked upon the Elves, and he made them in mockery of the Children of Ilúvatar.
There countless became the hosts of his beasts and demons; and he brought into being the race of the Orcs, and they grew and multiplied in the bowels of the earth. These Orcs Morgoth made in envy and mockery of the Elves, and they were made of stone, but their hearts of hatred.

The problem with this origin is identical to the above.

3. Orcs were children of earth corrupted by Morgoth and bred in envy and mockery of the Eldar.

In “The Annals of Aman,” published in History of Middle Earth Volume X, Tolkien wrote:

…[t]hence there now came forth in hosts beyond count the fell race of the Orkor, that had grown and multiplied in the bowels of the earth like a plague. These creatures Morgoth bred in envy and mockery of the Eldar. In form they were like unto the Children of Ilúvatar, yet foul to look upon; for they were bred in hatred, and with hatred they were filled; and he loathed the things that he had wrought, and with loathing they served him… Orcs we may name them; for in days of old they were strong and fell as demons. Yet they were not of demon kind, but children of earth corrupted by Morgoth, and they could be slain or destroyed by the valiant with weapons of war.

We are not given any indication what “children of the earth” are; it could be a poetic way to describe creatures made of stone, or it could mean mortals. This possibility is thus the least helpful for our purposed.

4. Orcs were bred from corrupted elves.

However, “The Annals of Aman” also gives us an alternative origin for the orcs, describing it as a “dark tale” that “some yet tell”:

But indeed a darker tale some yet tell in Eressëa, saying that the Orcs were verily in their beginning of the Quendi themselves, a kindred of the Avari unhappy whom Morgoth cozened, and then made captive, and so enslaved them, and so brought them utterly to ruin. For, saith Pengolod, Melkor could never since the Ainulindalë' make of his own aught that had life or the semblance of life, and still less might he do so after his treachery in Valinor and the fullness of his own corruption.

And, of course, Christopher Tolkien chose this explanation for the published Silmarillion:

Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes.

With two sources stating that orcs are corrupted elves, one of them published as fiction in the world, it would seem like we have our answer! Unfortunately, sometime after completing the “Annals of Aman,” Tolkien went back and scribbled a note to himself:

'Alter this. Orcs are not Elvish'

And two decades later, in the essay “Orcs,” published in Volume X of History of Middle Earth, he wrote:

It also seems clear (see 'Finrod and Andreth') that though Melkor could utterly corrupt and ruin individuals, it is not possible to contemplate his absolute perversion of a whole people, or group of peoples, and his making that state heritable. [Added later: This latter must (if a fact) be an act of Eru.]
In that case Elves, as a source, are very unlikely. And are Orcs 'immortal', in the Elvish sense? Or trolls? It seems clearly implied in The Lord of the Rings that trolls existed in their own right, but were 'tinkered' with by Melkor.

So now we have two notes that Tolkien wrote to himself stating that the orcs were not corrupted elves. That seems pretty definitive. The Silmarillion is wrong!

Well, unfortunately, Tolkien also said, in the same essay, that:

Finrod probably went too far in his assertion that Melkor could not wholly corrupt any work of Eru, or that Eru would (necessarily) interfere to abrogate the corruption, or to end the being of His own creatures because they had been corrupted and fallen into evil.
It remains therefore terribly possible there was an Elvish strain in the Orcs. These may then even have been mated with beasts (sterile!) - and later Men. Their life-span would be diminished. And dying they would go to Mandos and be held in prison till the End.

So Tolkien seems to have decided that while orcs were not just corrupted elves, some orcs might have partly bred with some Elvish strains.

5. Orcs were talking beasts.

In the same essay (“Orcs” in H.O.M.E. Vol X), Tolkien explored the idea that orcs might be be talking beasts, without souls:

What of talking beasts and birds with reasoning and speech? These have been rather lightly adopted from less 'serious' mythologies, but play a part which cannot now be excised. They are certainly 'exceptions' and not much used, but sufficiently to show they are a recognized feature of the world. All other creatures accept them as natural if not common.
But true 'rational' creatures, 'speaking peoples', are all of human / 'humanoid' form. Only the Valar and Maiar are intelligences that can assume forms of Arda at will. Huan and Sorontar could be Maiar - emissaries of Manwë. But unfortunately in The Lord of the Rings Gwaehir and Landroval are said to be descendants of Sorontar.
But again - would Eru provide fëar for such creatures? For the Eagles etc. perhaps. But not for Orcs… I think it must be assumed that 'talking' is not necessarily the sign of the possession of a 'rational soul' or fëa. The Orcs were beasts of humanized shape (to mock Men and Elves) deliberately perverted into a more close resemblance to Men. Their 'talking' was really reeling off 'records' set in them by Melkor. Even their rebellious critical words - he knew about them. Melkor taught them speech and as they bred they inherited this; and they had just as much independence as have, say, dogs or horses of their human masters. This talking was largely echoic (cf. parrots).

Tolkien seems not altogether happy with this line of thought — his statement that talking animals “cannot now be excised” from Middle Earth has the whiff of resignation and despair, not of earnest endorsement.

6. Orcs were fallen Maiar.

In “Orcs,” Tolkien also explored the idea that orcs might be fallen Maiar:

[I]s it likely or possible that even the least of the Maiar would become Orcs? Yes: both outside Arda and in it, before the fall of Utumno. Melkor had corrupted many spirits - some great, as Sauron, or less so, as Balrogs. The least could have been primitive (and much more powerful and perilous) Orcs; but by practising when embodied procreation they would (cf. Melian) [become] more and more earthbound, unable to return to spirit-state (even demon-form), until released by death (killing), and they would dwindle in force. When released they would, of course, like Sauron, be 'damned': i.e. reduced to impotence, infinitely recessive: still hating but unable more and more to make it effective physically (or would not a very dwindled dead Orc-state be a poltergeist?).

7. Orcs were bred from corrupted men.

Tolkien initially dismissed the idea that orcs could have been bred from corrupted men. In the essay “Orcs” (circa 1950), he dismissed the idea:

But Men had not yet appeared, when the Orcs already existed.

Then he changed his mind. In the essay, “Quendi and Eldar,” written in 1959 and published History of Middle Earth XI, Tolkien wrote:

Those who believe that the Orcs were bred from some kind of Men, captured and perverted by Melkor, assert that it was impossible for the Quendi to have known of Orcs before the Separation and the departure of the Eldar. For though the time of the awakening of Men is not known, even the calculations of the loremasters that place it earliest do not assign it a date long before the Great March began, certainly not long enough before it to allow for the corruption of Men into Orcs. On the other hand, it is plain that soon after his return Morgoth had at his command a great number of these creatures, with whom he ere long began to attack the Elves. There was still less time between his return and these first assaults for the breeding of Orcs and for the transfer of their hosts westward. This view of the origin of the Orcs thus meets with difficulties of chronology. But though Men may take comfort in this, the theory remains nonetheless the most probable. It accords with all that is known of Melkor, and of the nature and behaviour of Orcs - and of Men. Melkor was impotent to produce any living thing, but skilled in the corruption of things that did not proceed from himself, if he could dominate them.

Tolkien seems to have decided here that it would be more appropriate that the orcs be drawn from the easily-corrupted race of men, but he encountered a difficulty in his chronology, one that he had not resolved at the time of his death.

8. Orcs were made by Melkor by Dispersing his Power.

Volume X of the History of Middle Earth is entitled Morgoth’s Ring, and it includes an extensive series of essays explaining how Melkor, initially the greatest of the Valar, reduced himself to Morgoth, by dispersing his power into the land and peoples of Middle Earth. Indeed, the title of the volume comes from a famous paragraph in which Tolkien writes:

Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus 'the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring'.

Why is this relevant? Because, some time after writing his essay “Orcs,” Tolkien returned to that essay, and appended the following final paragraph:

It will there be seen that the wills of Orcs and Balrogs etc. are part of Melkor's power 'dispersed'. Their spirit is one of hate. But hate is non-cooperative (except under direct fear). Hence the rebellions, mutinies, etc. when Morgoth seems far off. Orcs are beasts and Balrogs corrupted Maiar. Also (n.b.) Morgoth not Sauron is the source of Orc-wills. Sauron is just another (if greater) agent. Orcs can rebel against him without losing their own irremediable allegiance to evil (Morgoth). Aulë wanted love. But of course had no thought of dispersing his power. Only Eru can give love and independence. If a finite sub-creator tries to do this he really wants absolute loving obedience, but it turns into robotic servitude and becomes evil.

And this, I believe, yields up the true origin of the Orcs.

The True Origin of the Orcs

In Silmarillion and other writings, Tolkien is explicit that Eru could create the Valar, Elves, and Men without diminishment because He and He alone possessed the Secret Fire, the Flame Imperishable.

Aule could create the form of the Dwarves but they had life only while he was directly willing it to them. To have given them permanent life would have required Aule to disperse his power into them permanently. But, as Tolkien writes, "This, Aule was unwilling to do." And the reason he was unwilling to do it was that, since Aule did not have the Secret Fire, doing so would have diminished him. As a result, it took an act of Eru to give the Dwarves life.

Like Aule, Morgoth also sought to create his own life, and like Aule he did not have the Secret Fire with which to do so. But unlike Aule, who waited for Eru to breathe life into them, Morgoth was filled with a desire to create to his own will, rather than sub-create under Eru's vision.

Thus, rather than seek Eru’s blessing, he instead sought the Secret Fire himself: "He sought in vain for the Secret Fire, but it resided in Eru". When this failed, Morgoth dissipated his own power to give life to his creations. Thus, even as he became a physical tyrant with vast armies at his command, he was spiritually lessened.

An orc, then, is only a living and sapient creature because it carries a shard of Morgoth's own power inside itself. An orc is filled with hate and malice because Morgoth was filled with hate and malice. An orc is rebellious unless kept down by fear because Morgoth was rebellious unless kept down by fear. An orc can no more be redeemed than Morgoth can be redeemed.

Had Tolkien lived, I believe he might have written something like the following:

Aulë constructed the Dwarves out of his memory of the Music; and Eru blessed the Dwarves and gave them life. In doing so, Eru was not diminished, for the Secret Fire cannot be extinguished.
Melkor, too, constructed the Orcs out of his memory of the Music. They were as ugly and brutish as Melkor’s Music had been discordant and cacophonous. But Melkor would not ask Eru for - nor would Eru have given - sanction to Melkor’s work so as to allow the independence of the Orcs. Filled with a desire to create to his own will, Melkor dispersed his own power to animate the Orcs.
But as the case of Aule and the Dwarves shows, only Eru could make creatures with independent wills and with reasoning powers without being diminished. And so as the host of the Orcs grew, so did Melkor, diminish in what was left of his own spirit.

Making it Work in ACKS

The interpretation above is my own, and is not necessarily accepted by Tolkien scholars. Those scholars have had an opportunity to read unpublished material, and might have reached different conclusions. But I believe the theory I have developed aligns with Tolkien’s evolving views, as recorded in History of Middle Earth, and meshes well with his cosmological and metaphysical commitments.

As such, it’s the interpretation I adopted for my LOTR-ACKS work. For LOTR-ACKS I also worked out the genealogies and characteristics of the different types of orcs over the ages, defined their tribal characteristics and troop types, and wrote entries for other creatures alluded to in the various books, including giants, ogres, and trolls.

Click here to download an 8,600-word PDF with ACKS characteristics for giants, ogres, orcs, and trolls inspired by Middle Earth’s Legendarium.

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