June 25, 2002

Re: To Annatar
Greg H.

Yes, this is the real one. I didn't point out that Annatar meant "Lord of Gifts" to you, but instead for the benefit of all those people who are not enlightened enough to know what Annatar means. I must admit that your arguments are certainly logical. Sauron has had longer experiance being evil, and is certainly more powerful and clever than Saruman. But still, there is nothing in any of Tolkien's writings (that I have read) to suggest that Sauron has "better" orcs than Saruman. It is never mentioned that Saurons orc "sergeants" are in any way special (aside from being larger and stronger than the slave breed) nor that Sauron has ever attempted to breed better orcs. Certainly he could, but to the best of our knowledge he didnt. All we know is that Saruman did breed the Uruk hai and they are more powerful than "regular" orcs. Who knows, maybe Sauron did have orcs better than the Uruk hai but they are never mentioned nor diferentiated from any of his "regular" orcs.