Orcs are the primary henchmen of the villains in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books and movies, but where do they actually come from?

As incredible as Peter Jackson's adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series are, no one can argue that they completely follow the original source material. For some, that's a good thing: parts of Tolkien's works can be lengthy and even dull at times, and some of the lengthy parts that are enjoyable in the books really aren't designed for movie-making.