I’m not even sure he’s read the Silmarillion (which is required reading for any discussion of Tolkien)
To be fair, if we’re talking about what liberties we are allowed to take with LOTR, it’s important to remember that the Silmarillion was never a finished work, at least not by J.R.R. On some topics that are important to this discussion—the origin and nature of Orcs, for instance—Tolkien revised himself repeatedly. “The question of Orc origin may have been one of the problems Tolkien tried to solve by completely changing the cosmology and prehistory of Arda....Tolkien died before he could complete this upheaval of the cosmology, however, so the Elf origin was adopted in the published version of The Silmarillion.”
The text of LOTR suggests that every individual Orc was irredeemably evil. At least, there are no counterexamples, and there’s no suggestion that the good guys ever took any Orcish prisoners. This view doesn’t really fit with the general idea, expressed in Tolkien, that all creatures are originally good, and that evil can create nothing of itself.
Interesting point (and important if we consider the author as a Tolkein critic). But I’m not sure if evil Orcs is totally inconsistent with Tolkein. If they’re Elves who have been perverted mentally and physically, then they could end up effectively evil. It’s also worth noting that they still have some deep senses in which they are good-oriented in the Catholic sense that Tolkein works with. I think there’s a line about them essentially needing proper food, and also something about how they hate their leaders and creators. There’s a sense in which they know they’re WRONG.
To be fair, if we’re talking about what liberties we are allowed to take with LOTR, it’s important to remember that the Silmarillion was never a finished work, at least not by J.R.R. On some topics that are important to this discussion—the origin and nature of Orcs, for instance—Tolkien revised himself repeatedly. “The question of Orc origin may have been one of the problems Tolkien tried to solve by completely changing the cosmology and prehistory of Arda....Tolkien died before he could complete this upheaval of the cosmology, however, so the Elf origin was adopted in the published version of The Silmarillion.”
The text of LOTR suggests that every individual Orc was irredeemably evil. At least, there are no counterexamples, and there’s no suggestion that the good guys ever took any Orcish prisoners. This view doesn’t really fit with the general idea, expressed in Tolkien, that all creatures are originally good, and that evil can create nothing of itself.
Interesting point (and important if we consider the author as a Tolkein critic). But I’m not sure if evil Orcs is totally inconsistent with Tolkein. If they’re Elves who have been perverted mentally and physically, then they could end up effectively evil. It’s also worth noting that they still have some deep senses in which they are good-oriented in the Catholic sense that Tolkein works with. I think there’s a line about them essentially needing proper food, and also something about how they hate their leaders and creators. There’s a sense in which they know they’re WRONG.