Since biological warfare in Middle-earth probably involved catapulting corpses into castles, with the desire to spread infection, it wouldn't work on Elves because they aren't vulnerable to infection or disease.

OK, yes, i agree with that. However, how would poison work if disease does not work? they affect the body in similar ways.

My theory is that diseas can kill them, but they are resistant to the point of invincibility. Poison is different.

Opinions, everyone?

Disease cannot kill them. As Guinevere said before: Not all poisions affect the body the same way that diseases do. Besides, wouldn't it be more disease like symptoms, not an actual disease itself? Even though they are similar, they are not one and the same - most poisons work either through the blood stream or digestive system; as far as I understand it, many diseases work by moving through tissues and cells, like cancer.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 5:41 PM December 15, 2003: Message edited by: Alatariel ]

So, are you saying that there are poisons that do not effect elvs, because they work like diseases? This is what you seem to be saying.

Beside the obvious Eöl/Aredhel case here are some other references that might help you guys...

I think you have to use garlic or something don't you? Or EDTA like in Blade II?

Elves are not vampires!! JRR Tolkien didn't create them to be comic book characters with highly defined, very specific weaknesses. They're not in a Saturday morning cartoon!

Surely the above quote from Saucepan Man should be enough to stop the madness? Biological warfare?! OMG... this is The Lord of the Rings we're talking about, not the latest X-Box game (although unfortunately these days they are one and the same thing).

What is so farfetched about biological warfare? All biological warfare is is introducing a disease into a sustem that cannot handle it. DEAD COWS AND A CATAPULT!!! What is wrong with this situaltion? Nothing.

I do not mean to be picky, but just because it DID not bring death did not mean it CAN not bring death. This is the literal meaning of the quote.

GREAT TOPIC!!! Let's discuss how deadly it would be to elves - or men for that matter -to Catapult Dead Posinous Cows on on them (preferable while they are sleeping) [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

Um... is that sarcasm? I cant tell. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Anyway, I think, as you may have noticed, that biological warfare would work just as well against elves as it would against humans.

Tuor, biological warfare is only effective if the population being attacked is vulnerable to the disease being introduced. In the case of the Elves, since they weren't susceptible to disease, the worst that would happen was that the place would smell of rotting corpses. No Elves would die of disease.

OK, that kind of makes sense. But, would 'chemical warfare' work, such as using smoke to make elves get out of a building?

Something like that could probably work, since Elves need to breathe just like Humans. In The Silmarillion, the death of Ecthelion, Captain of Gondolin, is accomplished by drowning, proving that Elves do indeed need to breathe. (For those of you who are morbidly interested in all the sordid details, during the Fall of Gondolin, he fought with Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, and after killing him, fell into the extremely deep fountain that "incidentally" was right next to him, and the weight of his armor made him sink to the bottom of the fountain.)