Monday, February 18, 2008

An Orc's Thought

What do you think is going through the orcs’ minds? There side of the tale is largely dismissed. Is it possible that they are fighting for freedom? Who knows what Sauron has promised. I bet every orc has at least one family member who has died at the hands of elven arrow or human lance. Maybe they just want the opportunity to live free without fear of being hunted by day dwellers. Or they could be slaves of Sauron who have no choice but to fight. Or just maybe they are thinking about how great it would be if Tolkien didn’t write us as such one dimensional figures?

8 comments:

Josh Elmore said...

It seems to me that the Orcs may have been forced to fight. In such a way like Sauron had at one point conquered their homeland and their people were given two choices.

1)Have those who are able fight for me.

2) I pretty much annihilate everything you know or love.

Another point though is how often in literature or media of any kind do we really get the story from the "evil" point of view.

I think it is unfortunate but is something we have to live with.

efowler said...

I just feel bad for the orcs. I mean, can you imagine being a baby orc and growing up with parents like that? No wonder they are always squabbling; I'm sure their household was not very conducive for a good upbringing. And I'm pretty sure no social worker would want to venture into Mordor to visit with them.

Eileen Joy said...

I think we also have to accept the book on its own terms and realize that, for better or worse, any speculation about an Orc's inner life or childhood or hopes and anxieties is pretty much a moot point, because Tolkien does not tell their side of the story. In that sense, the Orcs are essentially one-dimensional and therefore represent either a type of evil [if you believe in such a thing] or at the very least, are in thrall to evil [i.e. Sauron, or Sauraman, etc.]. The world of Middle-Earth does not necessarily correspond to our reality, or even our history, and therefore we cannot really speak of the "realism" of the trilogy, except insofar as it possesses its own self-referential, synchronous reality. Whether or not this makes Tolkien's work bad or good art, is a whole other question.

Anonymous said...

interesting point of view...

the orc from what i have read, is driven by evil and bloodlust, for they are changed and mutated elves, also tolkien never mentioned anything about the "uprising" of some orcs or anything in the like...

This is my opinion

Megan Becker said...

If we were to relate what we talked about in class on Monday to this discussion my conclusion would be who cares about the orcs! They have no honor and are pure cowards. All you ever see them doing is running away from their pursuers rather than facing them. Also, they are so gullible! They follow whatever Saruman tells them to do (or at least some of the species of Orcs do). Their character is totally one dimensional, and that dimension is made to be sad, mishapen excuses for beings. No offense to anyone who liked the character of the orcs.

Jamie Cox said...

It does seem that Saruman provides the Orcs with some incentive. On pg. 45 of The Two Towers, Ugluk says that Saruman is "the Hand that gives us man's-flesh to eat." So, I think that an Orc's mentality is mainly focused on destroying mankind and eating them. Not a pretty picture.

Lyndsey said...

It seems to me that if the orcs were really fighting for freedom, then why would they not turn against Sauron and kill him? This would show the rest of the Middle Earth that they just want to live free and peacefully like the rest of them. I think the Orcs are just engineered to kill,that's all they know, and don't see anything wrong with it.

joe donaldson said...

There's an interesting scene in the Peter Jackson movie where Faramir comments on a fallen enemy somthing like: 'the enemy? His sense of duty was no less then yours, but you wonder what his name was- where he came from- what threats or lies drove him on this long march from home- and would he have not rather have stayed there, in peace. War will make corpses of us all.'