Tolkien's "black-and-white" worlds ...or...?

[Eledhwen]

Without going in to speculation too far, I thought Tolkien designed the Orcs in such a way as to avoid such issues, or at least make them of limited relevance within his mythology.

Yes. As Tolkien took such pains to remove all traces of religion from The Lord of the Rings, it seems almost rude to attempt to cram it back in again, and some.

There is an essay in HoME10 (Morgoth's Ring), that deals with the origins of orcs. The wonderfully individual portrayals in PJ's films seem to have been close to the mark, as the orcs were bred from whatever (or whoever) was available to the incumbent Dark Lord. Add to that the interbreeding of the various types of orc, and it soon becomes obvious that you'll get into a right quagmire sorting out whether they go to Mandos or not.

 

[Arthur_Vandelay]

The Germans have an interesting word: schadenfruede, taking pleasure in cruelty.

I thought the word Schadenfruede meant "taking pleasure in the misfortune of others," which is slightly different. But I'm not a Germanophone, and am willing to stand corrected.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

I thought the word Schadenfruede meant "taking pleasure in the misfortune of others," which is slightly different. But I'm not a Germanophone, and am willing to stand corrected.

Is this not cruel? Your definition is probably the more literally accurate dictionarywise, but mine is, unfortunately, the more accurate as a description of historic behavior. There is not that great a distinction between taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, and causing misfortune in order to take pleasure in it.

Barley