Quote:
Originally Posted by Xerxys
^^ Goblins ... GOBLINS!!
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In the
Silmarillion and in "Unfinished Tales," as well as elsewhere in his notes and manuscripts, Tolkien describes the origins of the Orcs (who are referred to as "goblins" almost exclusively in
The Hobbit) as being at the hands of Morgoth (the byname for Melkor, the Vala of Hate and Terror).
In the first days of the existence of the Elves (the first Elves were said to have "awakened" under starlight-- i.e., before the time of the sun and moon, during the epoch of the Two Trees of Valinor-- at a place in Middle-Earth called Cuivienen, or "Water of Awakening"), before they had encountered the Valar, even before the Elven clans split to form the different Elven peoples, Morgoth sent forth from his fortress of Utumno in the far North, hunters and spies, who captured Elves and brought them back to Morgoth's pits. There, using the corruptions of slow torture, cruelty, and black magic, Morgoth broke them, debased them, and from them bred the race of Orcs, in mockery of the Children of Iluvatar. It is implied that in later times, Sauron, and perhaps Saruman also, continued this controlled breeding program, introducing broken and debased Men into the Orc blood-pool.
But Tolkien is quite clear that this breeding of Orcs from a base of broken Elves and Men is the only way that Orcs could have initially come about, because he says that Orcs mate and multiply independently and of their own accord, after the same general fashion as do Elves and Men, and thus it is clear that they have life of their own, they are "true" living creatures, not merely homunculi that move when their master thinks to move them. And since only Eru Iluvatar is capable creating "true," independently living creatures-- no Vala, no matter how powerful, could do so-- the origin of the Orcs must lie among Elves and Men.
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@OP: Probably gonna have to go with Phoenix, although I could undersnd disqualifying her as a demigod....