The Hûdhsunga (Orc."Soul-capture") was the rite of passage, as well as mental and emotional birth, for every Orc-Imp. Unlike and unknown to most other races orcs were born as soulless animals with a Hröa (Orc."Maushat", lit."Flesh") but no Fëa (Orc."Frúm"). Therefore, after surviving their notoriously brutal development, each Imp was to undergo the rite of Hûdhsunga in which the tribe’s conjurers summoned an Orc-spirit to enter the young goblin’s physical body. These Fell souls were homeless spirits of orcs who had died and, being evil in nature, had refused to enter the Halls of Mandos (Orc: Skator, “Hell") and who were otherwise forced to exist as poltergeists (Orc."Gogoli"). These spirits could be of various origins (chiefly corrupted Elves or Men but rarely Demonic spirits as well) and retained a vague imprint of their original nature, which may be a contributing factor in the consistent nature of Orcish behavior, though most of an Orc’s memories and personality developed over time. All orcs who did not undergo the rite of Hûdhsunga, would remain soulless monsters, equal only to Trolls in intelligence. With this in mind, the orcs, in a twisted sense, saw this as a form of immortality, even superior to that of the Elves.
Notes[]
Tolkien himself never really was satisfied with any of the possible orc origins or the solutions he came up with for the philosophical problem if Orcs had souls and free will.This article was intended as one possible non-canon solution.