"Why are orcs so nasty ada?"

Thranduil looked down into the wide, innocent eyes of his young son and wished with all his heart he had never allowed him into the library. Legolas had an unerring knack of finding those books containing the goriest stories, usually containing graphic descriptions of battles fought in ages past.

"They are just made that way I suppose, ion nin." He moved to close the tome lying on the aged wooden desk before the child in the vain hope that out of sight meant out of mind.

"I do believe it is time for your mid-morning meal." He continued briskly.

"But if they were made that way," Legolas said thoughtfully, placing his hands firmly upon the open pages, undeterred by his father's attempt to change the subject.

"Who made them, and why did they make them so mean?"

Thranduil sighed knowing that his inquisitive son was not going to be satisfied until he had an answer and a plausible one at that.

"Well," he began slowly, in the hope that either inspiration would strike or some emergency would call him away.

"There are many different tales that speak of the beginning of the orcs," he continued with a silent plea to the Valar. Surely his child was yet too innocent and young to hear of the way that creatures of light and beauty had been corrupted and twisted into such foul servants of evil.

A long forgotten memory then stirred within the king's mind and suddenly he knew the answer he should give.

"I remember my grandfather telling me that they were fashioned from mud and slime aeons ago by a powerful sorcerer in order to become his slaves." He began…


A/N

According to the oldest "theory" proposed by J.R.R. Tolkien (found in The Fall of Gondolin, from The Book Of Lost Tales. Orcs were made of slime through the sorcery of Morgoth: "bred from the heats and slimes of the earth". However, it is consistently stated in his other writings, with regard to his creation myth, that only Eru can create new life from nothing. Therefore, by whatever means the orcs came into being, it is certain that either they were "descended" from other beings or a deliberate manifestation of Ilúvatar's thought.

I have decided to use this theory however here as in this drabble I see Legolas as a youngster equivalent to age 4 or 5 in our years and feel that Thranduil would not want to scare Legolas by using the more common theory of orcs originally being elves.

Hopefully this makes sense.

To Shadow (Guest) - Thanks for your lovely comments. If you want to check out Chapter 15 it will answer your question. :)