[Bill Ferny]

I may be reading you wrong Westerly Wizard, forgive me if I am. Its my understanding from reading UT that it’s a far gone conclusion that half-orcs actually existed, especially from a reading of The Battles of the Fords of Isen.

Like WW stated in response to Matthew, it was from the UT that I learned Saruman knew, or surmised, that Gandalf possessed Narya.

Its always a delight to read Nar’s posts! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Some clarifications in response: I would assume, like you, that orcs propagated their species by sexual intercourse, though dwelling on the issue is a bit twisted. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] However, Saruman’s activity in breeding half-orcs was done, as far as my research indicates, by sorcery. I’m choosing to highlight the similarity between this sorcery and the terrible sorcery “believed” to be used in Sauron’s creation of a breed of greater orcs, the uruk-hai. (Now, far be it from me to second guess Peter Jackson’s pod theory. I personally think it was horrific…just what I would expect from Peter Jackson [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] , but that’s beside the point.) My research is mostly from LotRs and appendixes, HoME, and UT. I have yet to purchase letters, so its not readily available, and I found very little in the Silm on the subject, though I’ll take a second look in light of Matthew’s post regarding Narya. Secondary sources include Tolkien Bestiary (a good one, but no annotations indicating the original texts), and ME Encyclopdia.