I never made it through Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien, but it may have the answer. We know there were good men and bad men in Middle-earth and there were good Wizards and bad Wizards there too...
Did Tolkien ever provide a example of a good Orc in any of his writings?
No, there aren't. Orcs are universally despised by the "good" races of Middle-earth, as seen by the reactions of Treebeard and most Elves who talk about them.
There is some evidence Orcs are a race twisted by Morgoth, possibly made out of tortured Elves (but this is never confirmed). One common theme in Tolkien's work is that Evil cannot create, only mock and twist. Orcs are therefore a mockery of the "good" races.
From The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Elves":
But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes.
(Note Tolkien himself is stating this isn't known with certainty!)
That said, at least some Orcs in LOTR show some mildly positive traits. Ugluk, the leader of the Uruk-hai carrying Merry and Pippin to Isengard, displays leadership (though admittedly pretty ruthlessly), and is not a coward like most other Orcs. When push comes to shove he tries to stand his ground against the Rohirrim, finally getting slain in single combat with Eomer. Gotta respect the ugly guy!
I agree that orcs can have good qualities, for example loyalty:
Orcs will often pursue foes for many leagues into the plain, if they have a fallen captain to avenge (FotR 351).
What would be other reason than (twisted) sense of honour, it's like this "they killed ours so we want revenge". Uruk-hai are even more "nationalistic", proud of what they are:
We are the fighting Uruk-hai! We slew the Great Warrior. We took the prisoners. We are the servants of Saruman the Wise:The hand that gives us man's flesh to eat. We came out of Isengard, and led you here, and we shall lead you back by the way we choose.
They have sort of tribal bond, of course they won't hesitate to kill other orcs if they are from different tribe. Among themselves they can be colleagues, like Shagrat and Gorbag talking about ,,good old days", and that they would take some ,,trusty lads" to plunder:
'No, I don't know,' said Gorbag's voice. 'The messages go through quicker than anything could fly, as a rule. But I don't enquire how it's done. Safest not to. Grr! Those Nazgûl give me the creeps. And they skin the body off you as soon as look at you, and leave you all cold in the dark on the other side. But He likes 'em; they're His favourites nowadays, so it's no use grumbling. I tell you, it's no game serving down in the city.'
'You should try being up here with Shelob for company,' said Shagrat.
'I'd like to try somewhere where there's none of 'em. But the war's on now, and when that's over things may be easier.'
'It's going well, they say.'
'They would.' grunted Gorbag. 'We'll see. But anyway, if it does go well, there should be a lot more room. What d'you say? - if we get a chance, you and me'll slip off and set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads, somewhere where there's good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses.'
'Ah!' said Shagrat. 'Like old times.'
It seems also that orcs are brainwashed to think that elves and men are more cruel and treacherous than they:
'It's my guess you won't find much in that little fellow,' said Gorbag. 'He may have had nothing to do with the real mischief. The big fellow with the sharp sword doesn't seem to have thought him worth much anyhow - just left him lying: regular elvish trick.'
Of course they didn't rescue from similar situation their fellow Ufthak, just because they feared Shelob.
It's like a stereotypes that were put to their heads to hate every other beings, besides they're evil because they never had opportunity to be anything else. They were always influenced by greater powers, first by Morgoth (who probably presented himself to them as god) and later Sauron (influence was partially magical, the same way as Saruman did with his mind-controlling voice).
I meant nationalistic in positive sense, as a sign of community spirit which in itself is good. Also there is a personal view of author. Tolkien wrote:
"They would be Morgoth’s greatest Sins, abuses of his highest privilege, and would be creatures begotten of Sin, and naturally bad (I nearly wrote ’irredeemably bad’; but that would be going too far. Because by accepting or tolerating their making - necessary to their actual existence - even Orcs would become part of the World, which is God’s and ultimately good.)~Letter #153
"Naturally bad" signifies their natural tendency towards evil, even greater than it is for Men, which is further influenced by the thralldom of higher dark powers and their own culture devoted to destruction, hate and essentialy doing evil deeds for pleasure.
"It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits;"
It is also known that orcs secretly hate their masters and miserable life they were forced upon. But ultimately Tolkien foreseen for them a more merciful fate. By becoming the part of the world they had chance of redemption. So while we don't have examples of strictly good orc in any stories, we can't forget about the potential of change.
As an individual who admires energy, tenacity, courage and faithfulness, I believe Ugluk of Isengard (introduced in The Two Towers) has more than "mildly positive traits." A captain of the fighting Uruk-hai, he commands a troop of orcs that capture the hobbits Merry and Pippin, bringing them partway to Isengard before he is killed by horsemen from Rohan. Ugluk fiercely demonstrates and promotes a clear set of values that include bravery, determination and loyalty, all of which are VERY positive traits.
On courage:
"I don't trust you little swine. You've no guts outside your own sties."
Yet he does seem to trust—and gladly reward—those he identifies as sharing his warrior spirit:
"We are the fighters. We'll feast on horseflesh yet, or something better."
In fact, Ugluk's group loyalty is so strong, he introduces his troops as being "servants of Saruman the Wise, the White Hand" before he introduces himself by name. Even under duress, it remains steadfast. When "the [enemy] horsemen had encircled" his group and are about to go in for the kill, Ugluk keeps his mission in the forefront of his mind, at great danger to himself:
"Put those Halflings down...as long as I'm alive, I want 'em. But they're not to cry out, and they're not to be rescued."
At the very end of his life, he is apparently in the "one band, holding together in a black wedge, [that] drove forward resolutely" rather than abandoning his comrades.
Ugluk also compares favorably to the "good" characters, particularly Hobbits, in his willingness to place personal accomplishment ahead of physical comfort. While he does show consideration that his "lads are tired of lugging you [Hobbits] about," he will readily "march day and night" through dangerous territory and "leg it double quick" when being chased by riders. Even with the fate of the world at stake, none of the "good" characters show this sense of urgency. Describing Ugluk's journey, the wizard Gandalf admits:
"So between them our enemies have contrived...to bring Merry and Pippin with marvellous speed...to Fangorn, where otherwise they would never have come at all!" (emphasis mine)
Ugluk would probably have no way to know the exact purpose of his mission, although he is aware the hobbits have "something that's wanted for the War." Given that he was presumably raised in Isengard with scant information about Middle-earth's geopolitics available, his ignorance that Saruman was an "evil" faction would be quite reasonable. Thus, his capacity for "good" in the canonical sense is somewhat untested. However, Ugluk is able to respect skilled fighters beyond his own race and even beyond the dark factions. He describes Boromir as a "great warrior."
Furthermore, his discipline in keeping the Hobbits "alive and as captured" throughout his march suggests that under a different training regimen, he might even be capable of observing and fiercely enforcing the 7 principles of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics, which protect ferocious predators and stately trees alike. https://lnt.org/learn/7-principles. Although circumstances are causing the orcs of Isengard to cut the local trees, it is not inherent in all orcs to destroy forests on sight. In The Hobbit, we see that the Misty Mountains orcs not only frequent an apparently sustainable forest near their homeland, but are allied with its wolf inhabitants.
Keep in mind that The Silmarillion was ostensibly written by the orcs' elven arch-enemies and the scene in which Ugluk appears was written from the perspective of hobbits, Middle-earth's most comfort-loving race. Hobbits would be unlikely to identify any of Ugluk's qualities as positive because such qualities are practically the antithesis of their own values. The Ents, who pride themselves on their ponderousness and look down on anything "hasty," would also be contemptuous of the orcs' love of swiftness. However, other enemies of orcs react differently. After observing Ugluk in battle, the Rohirric commander Eomer considers him a worthy opponent to dismount for and fight man to man, sword to sword.
In short, the characterization of this orc always made me skeptical of the blanket policy of killing orcs on sight, especially in peacetime.
An old conversation, but i thought i'd contribute because you never know who might be wondering and stumble on the page.
If i remember correctly, having read most of JRR's stuff, orcs are no longer produced via corrupted elves or men, but instead reproduce sexually, by way of "breeding pits". (i imagine that there are female orcs, perhaps very few, that are bred with the best male orcs in breeding pits and act as a sort of "queen", and produce offspring, who then grow quickly and independently from child form to adult in the pits, afterward emerging from the ground as tolkien says(
The way the birth of Uruk-hai is depicted in the films is never mentioned in the books and is, i think, just to easier explain how saruman could create an army quickly. Melkor couldn't create life, and saruman certainly not, hence why melkor had to corrupt existing races to make his orcs. The reason i bring Uruk-hai into the equation is that they are "orcs bred with men" indicating that orcs have sexual organs and are capable of reproducing. Consequently, orcs are "indoctrinated" if you will, by their masters and their peers, to be of the mindset that they are. If you had a new orc, and raised it in the shire, it would have a love of pipe-weed and little rivers, but there is not record in the books of any such orc.
The wickedness of Orcs is addressed in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. In "Letter 269" (from 12 May 1965), Tolkien responds to a question by W.H. Auden asking if the notion of Orcs as an irredeemably wicked race was heretical. Tolkien's letter suggests that, in the real world, Orcs would not be completely irredeemable:
With regard to The Lord of the Rings, I cannot claim to be a sufficient theologian to say whether my notion of orcs is heretical or not. I don't feel under any obligation to make my story fit with formalized Christian theology, though I actually intended it to be consonant with Christian thought and belief, which is asserted somewhere, Book Five, page 190,1 where Frodo asserts that the orcs are not evil in origin. We believe that, I suppose, of all human kinds and sons and breeds, though some appear, both as individuals and groups to be, by us at any rate, unredeemable.....
A footnote specifies the relevant line from The Return of the King, in the chapter "The Tower of Cirith Ungol":
[269] 1. '"The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life to the orcs: it only ruined them and twisted them."'
There is no mention of any 'good' Orcs in The Silmarillion.
Morgoth tortured and twisted elves into orcs. In the silmarillion, it is said that it was the "vilest deed and most hateful to Iluvatar".
Because of this proclamation in the book, I tend to beleive that the orcs can never be good. If there was even a spark of good in them or even a tendency to turn good, it wouldn't have been the vilest deed.
But then, they are not just mindless slaves or evil minions who follow Sauron's every order. This is evidenced by Gorbag and Shagrat having a fight about whether or not to directly obey Sauron or keep Frodo's Mithril coat. Also, there is the element of all creatures of middle earth having free will, so after the fall of Mordor, they might have evolved to be more good than evil, but personally I don't think it likely.
We do not know what happened to Orcs after the end of the Third Age. And this is open to imagination since Tolkien wrote very few lines about the Fourth Age and beyond. We can think as well that Orcs were extinguished by Men, or that Orcs evolved free of Sauron as a rather brutal race, but not necessarily evil, or any other option that suits us.
It is written in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, that during the War of the Last Alliance
All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only.
Implying the possibility of 'good' Orcs.
If video games can be taken in consideration , there is an orc in Shadow of Mordor called Ratbag who actually helps the protagonist. He is not really evil but not entirely good either. If you reward him accordingly he will do anything within his power , good or evil deed.
[Tolkien]eventually said that there were Orcs that did live peacefully as merchants and farmers throughout Middle Earth I do not know the actual source for this as I found it on a wiki, but if this is indeed the case, I would say no, not all orcs are pure evil.
Of course there may be good Orcs somewhere in the lands of arda. Many of you say no because they were made a mockery of the good race and evil races cannot be created, but only altered. That is also saying that there can not be any bad men or elves because they are of a good race. Now looking at how the science of nature versus nurture works, I'm sure most races on middle earth are born neither evil nor good (pls excuse a balrog). However, the culture the Orc child is born into will teach the orc youngling what they think is right and what they feel is wrong, therefore the Orc child is made evil, not born. I'm sure there were a few orcs who did not agree with the orkish way thus labeling the Orc as taboo. That would be exactly the same scenario, of a evil man from rohan who murdered innocent people after being told his entire life that killing of the innocent is wrong. Now mr. Tolkien may of never wrote this but I'm sure he would agree with me if he were alive today.
