The issue of
Redemption is probably the
Central Theme of
both Tolkien’s
Middle-earth,
and the Catholic Christianity that forms the underlying Foundations
for Middle-earth.
Elthil above quotes something I was going to point out, and others have mentioned Tolkien pondering upon the ultimate fate of
Orcs/
Goblins (yes,
Orcs and
Goblins are
the same things), as to whether they could be redeemed.
The crux of this matter comes down to Tolkien never having resolved:
WHAT exactly, is an “Orc?”
Because Tolkien in his many essays written for self-edification and illumination of his
Sub-Created World (BTW, people rarely go into the meaning of that term as it applies to Catholicism and Christianity as a whole. It is a deep, and strange Rabbit-hole down which to descend, leading to
places that cause one to say out-loud to themselves “
SAY WHAAAAT?!”) on the subject of “Orcs,” Tolkien proposes many different possible Origins (Genesis), or Ontologies (Existences), for Orcs:
• They might be automata, only capable of acting under the direct “Will” of
Morgoth, and possibly
Sauron. In that case, they are what we would think of as no different than a wind-up clock, or an automobile: a Complex Machine, without any “Soul” or “Identity” of their own.
• They might be intelligent beasts capable of speech, like some others we have seen in Middle-earth, from Thrushes,
Ravens,
Great Eagles, Hounds, and
Wolves. Still, in Catholic Theology, despite having some sort of “intellect” or “Capacity for Thought/Speech” even if in a very limited capacity, this does not necessarily give them a “Soul” that is necessary in Catholic/Christian Theology for a being to be “Good or
Evil.”
• They might be
Minor-Spirits, possibly even minor
Maiar, who have become corrupted and debased, as have the
Balrogs, save that their original stature and the depths of their corruption/perversion have so diminished them to being not much different from the Children-of-Ilúvatar in their size, and capacities, however corrupt and perverted they might be. In this case, the beings do have a “Soul,“ and thus
SHOULD be able to be redeemed from the Evil they have accepted/committed/become.
Here it becomes necessary to point out a differentiation between
Evil, and
evil. Tolkien was very particular about certain words that were capitalized, the most prominent being
Evil/evil, Good/good, Dark/dark, Shadow/shadow, and Light/light.. The non-capitalized versions of these things are the everyday, mundane occurrences of these things. They would be something such as lying about stealing from a cookie-jar, or picking on a younger sibling (evil – acts which by themselves are not enough to imperil the Soul of the person committing them); baking cookies, helping a neighbor to plant a garden, buying a round at the pub (good); the regular nighttime, or the darkness in a cave (dark); the shade under a parasol, or the sunlight being blocked by a wall one sits under during the heat of the day (shadow); or the illumination from a lamp or candle, or just the regular sunlight (light). These are ontologically distinct from
Evil, Good, Dark, Shadow, and/or
Light, which were things that could manifest as an
actual physical property, aside from the affects upon Physical Reality that they have.
Evil perverts and distorts the Soul, which it turn will usually distort the physical appearance of a being or ”Thing.” It will take on a palpable unpleasantness that is capable of being perceived with the physical senses: Feeling “ugly” or “unpleasant” to the touch, being physically repulsive or physically “ugly,” having a noxious smell or taste (if one is to eat/drink it (as
Merry/
Pippin did with the Liquor the Orcs forced upon them to keep them going after being captured by
Saruman’s
Uruk-Hai, or having a “sound” that is itself unwholesome.
The same is true of the other “Negative” or “Positive” aspects. “Fire” is another such quality that Tolkien will at times capitalize, such as when referring to the effect of
Gandalf upon others, being able to “kindle a Flame of Passion and Hope“ (BTW... On an aside... Gandalf was himself a “Spirit of Fire.” Had he been corrupted by Morgoth, he would likely have become a
Balrog at least the equal to Gothmog. This was a part of the confrontation with the Balrog of
Moria, where the destructive “Fire” of Hatred and Pain, would be defeated by the kindling Fire of Hope and Love).
• And lastly, Orcs/Goblins could be the corruption of
Elves and/or Humans. Tolkien was confused about this, as he, like all Catholics of his time, did not understand the role of Genetics in the existence of speciation. And as such, Tolkien balked at Morgoth being able to accomplish something so heinously evil as to corrupt/pervert Elves to the extent that the children of a pair of Orcs/Corrupted-Elves would produce another Orc/Corrupted-Elf, rather than an
Elf (Tolkien didn’t know that Genetic Manipulation would be the mechanism of that “corruption/perversion/debasement,” even if other forms of Corruption/Perversion/Debasement of the Soul/Spirit of the Elves/
Men also occurred in the process).
But in ALL of the instances where the Orcs had/have some form of a “Soul” (even if it was just a fraction of a Soul, as was the case with one possible form of “Orc”), the
possibility of Redemption Exists.
Now... Just because the “possibility exists,” does not mean that it will actually happen.
Now... It is
very likely that had Tolkien managed to resolve the Metaphysical and Theological conflicts he kept encountering in trying to create a Foundation for Middle-earth,
Arda, and Eä as a whole, he would have eventually revealed populations of Orcs who were on the path to redemption of some sort.
If you read the Secondary and Tertiary Sources surrounding Middle-earth, both by Tolkien and others, with an eye toward discovering Tolkien’s personal, moral, and ethical conflicts he had with the
Sub-Creation of Middle-earth, one of the first things that leaps-out is that Tolkien was
very disturbed by anything that required him to “Think like Morgoth“ (or, as Tolkien referred to him in his notes to himself:
Satan. Tolkien also used the terms
The Devil, and
The Diabolus, but these latter terms were usually reserved for Sauron). He became very distraught and disturbed by his own thoughts when pondering their actions, motivations, and goals. I would not be surprised if his regular confessor would have been able to reveal a
Great Deal More about Middle-earth than either JRRT, or his son, CJRT, had themselves recorded, due to Tolkien regularly destroying or “hiding” the notes/essays on these subjects that produced the most cognitive dis-ease, or else simply curtailing a branch of thought prior to its resolution due to being able to foresee that branch’s eventual destination.
And this is pretty typical with attempts to create Fictional Worlds that are based upon a particular Religious Ideology. Because pretty much 100% of the Earth’s Religious Faiths contain internal contradictions and paradoxes that are ultimately irresolvable due to the constraints of those Faiths.
This is most visible in Catholicism, as the world’s oldest Christian Theistic Faith, where we see innumerable “Heresies” that have arisen time-and-time-again with each new generation rediscovering what the Faith would call the “Sins-of-their-Fathers.”
The two “Heresy” that Tolkien collided with most often was Manicheaenism, the belief that “Good” and “Evil” are Physical, Tangible Things, and that “Evil” is
more than the absence of “Good.” But there were several other Heresies he collided with in his attempts to resolve the existence of Orcs, and Morgoth, Sauron, and other beings.
But the issue of Manicheaenism is really the
only thing that can resolve the issues in Middle-earth surrounding the existence of Evil (Called “
Theodicy” in Christian Theology: Why does Evil Exist?).
But fundamentally, on the question of:
Could there be a “Good” Goblin/Orc?
The answer is an
Emphatic “YES”, there can be a “Good” Goblin/Orc.
But the question of: “
Did any Good Goblins/Orcs Exist during the currently recorded History of Arda?”
The answer is an emphatic “
No!”
MB
