How come you never hear of orc children in the books?

[Lily Bracegirdle]

I think we don't hear about orc women and children because LotR was technically "written" by the victors of the War of the Ring: Bilbo, Frodo and Sam. None of them had any contact with orc women or children, so there wouldn't be any in the narrative.

Orcs seem to be embodiments of "fallen" beings (if Elves are "angels," then orcs would natually be "demons"). As their role in the story was to destroy, pillage and be generally nasty, it would be too humanizing to portray non-combatant orcs, so there aren't any. (And no, I don't want to get into a discussion about whether female orcs would be non-combatants.) [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

Cheers!
-Lily