: : I think you are perhaps missing a vital point here: the
: : distinction between the physical body and the spirit in
: : Tolkien's work.

: : Illuvatar gave "true life" and spirit to his own creations:
: : Elves and Men (& possibly the Great Eagles etc.) and also to
: : the creations of Aule and Yavanna. The difficulty for Morgoth
: : was that Illuvatar was unlikely to do the same for his
: : creations. I think it is clear from the account of Aule's
: : creation of the Dwarves' physical bodies that the creation of a
: : creature's body (of stone or any other material base) was quite
: : within Morgoth's capability. Therefore, whence came the
: : spirits which inhabited Morgoth's creatures;

: You're assuming they HAD spirits. Tolkien himself wasn't so sure of that, especially where the stone-trolls were concerned.

: [snip of careful argument]

: : In short the fact that a troll's body turns to stone and an
: : ent's does not is not a proof that the "Soul" inhabiting the
: : troll was not of ultimately entish origin.

: That a stone-troll turns to stone in sunlight shows it is not an ordinary living creature. We know that Iluvatar sent spirits to inhabit the bodies of Elves, Dwarves, Men, Ents, and Eagles. Morgoth corrupted some of these spirits and it could be surmised the Stone Trolls were perhaps empowered by imprisoned spirits which, when touched by the Sun, were freed. But there is no evidence that the Stone Trolls had spirits, let alone that they would have been imprisoned spirits.

: That they turned to stone was, in Tolkien's estimation, an indication that they were "mere 'counterfeits'". But he acknowledged that once you made them speak you implied they might have a soul. He never seems to have been fully satisfied with this issue.

The Stone Trolls in The Hobbit seem to be rational creatures (if dim) and as far as one can tell were living independant lives, very different to the description of The Fathers of the Dwarves before Eru's intervention. This tends to support the idea that trolls were fully functional spirit-inhabited creatures. Though I agree that Tolkien never rationalised his views on the subject.

The argument about the lack of volition of the Olog-Hai after Sauron's demise seems to have some holes in it as I think the bewilderment affected the orcs also (and they were rational incarnates by all accounts). Also there is no proof that it was not a temporary phenomenon; and that given some time the Ologs might have recovered what little wits they ever had.