May 15, 2003

Re: Orcs & Trolls
Stephen Faherty

This is in response to several previous posts concerning orcs & trolls.

One question was concerning the trolls at the Black Gate in TTT movie. There are several varities of trolls: Hill-trolls (from the Hobbit) and Stone-trolls (who killed Aragorn's grandfather) both of whom where common in the westlands of Middle-Earth living in the mountains and Entten-moors north of Rivendale; Cave-trolls (in Moria and other nasty places I'm sure); Mountain-trolls (who wielded the seige engine Grond at the Seige of Gondor); and Snow-trolls (to whom King Helm the Hammer Hand of Rohan was compared to for his size & strengh). All these types of trolls were subject to petrification by sunlight, as Treebeard told the hobbits as being breed in the Great Darkness before the Sun & Moon. Trolls were counterfeits of Ents breed by Morgoth from Ents, as Treebeard said, where Ents were of the earth Trolls were of stone. However, in the latter part of the Third Age Sauron breed the Olog-hai, trolls that could withstand sunlight. These were likely the ones in the movie.
It should be noted that Ents needed Entwives to produce Entings (the old fashion way), it most likely that Trolls needed Troll-wives for trollings. Which brings us to Orcs.


The question was whether or not there are orc females. There most certainly are. As Treebeard
told the hobbits orcs were counterfeits of elves breed by Morgoth, as also stated in the Silmarillion. Which also states that orcs breed the same as the Childern of Iluvatar (the old fashion way). The Hobbit states the orc chieftain Bolg as son of Azog. If he has a father, then he has a mother. Someone posted that no orc females are named. Maybe they are maybe they are not. I would imagine that they are as nasty & ugly as the males. And perhaps they make up part of the orc armies, that would explain why there is always at least double the amount of orcs as everyone else. Orcs too hated Sunlight, but Sauron breed the Uruk-hai in the latter part of the Third Age to endure sunlight. Gandalf observed several Uruks of Mordor in Moria. Saruman breed half-orcs. Which Treebeard stated were a cross of Men & orcs or men that Suruman ruined. The movie's version of orcs hatching in pits of Isengard was awful. Orcs are also cannibals. They might eat other orcs by choice, but they do eat Men, Hobbits and probably Dwarves.