are there she orcs??

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

This does not bode well...

Imagine the stuff that Professor Morgoth is thinking when Luthien appeared before him at his throne...

Was he thinking of how to twist the hottest babe in Arda into an... orc?

I think I just lost my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[The Only Real Estel]

Why would they not be born as babies? What possible evidence can anyone give to suggest they're spawned, like the potato-fields of Jackson's Uruk-hai?

You think it might take Saruman awhile to wait for thousands & thousands of Uruk-Hai babies to grow up to, even say 20, until he warred against Rohan? Even if Tolkien never hinted towards Jackson's version of it, I'm not quite ready to believe that Uruks/Orcs produce sexually. Not to say that I'm right of course, but I've never accepted the 'born & raised' version as of yet.

I think I just lost my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I might've lost some of my future meals...

[The Saucepan Man]

You think it might take Saruman awhile to wait for thousands & thousands of Uruk-Hai babies to grow up to, even say 20, until he warred against Rohan?

According to the Tale of Years in the Appendices, Saruman withdrew to Isengard and fortified it in TA 2953. At the same time, he started setting spies on Gandalf and began keeping agents in Bree and the Southfarthing. He first used the Palantir of Orthanc, and became ensnared by Sauron, in about TA 3000. Even if you take the later date (which is the more likely), that's sufficient time to enlist Orcs to his service and to breed more for an army. I'm sure that Orcs were old enough to fight by 18.

[The Only Real Estel]

I'm sure that Orcs were old enough to fight by 18.

Maybe that would explain why they can't fight at all, draft them when they're 18, give 'em a scimitar, & send 'em out?

But still, even with 47 years, that's not all that long to raise 10,000. Although I suppose it depends on wether the Uruks-Hai breed is as agressive everwhere as it is on the battlefield...

[dragoneyes]

If Orcs reproduce sexually then surely they would go through a period of time when they are young when they can't fend for themselves. I really want to believe they reproduced sexually but I just can't see an Orc, female or otherwise nursing a baby, unless they're more like fish in that they produce a lot in one go but then leave them to fend for themselves.

[Annalaliath]

go here

And here
Like has been said a few times before this has been discussed before.... anyway I think that we didn't see the orc women because you wouldn't see them all the time and this book was written from the victors(hobbits) point of veiw not the orc's.

[rutslegolas]

Well the question still seems to hang whether there are she-orcs or no??

but i do not think that orcs reproduce sexually,and where do they breed their young ones????

well can some of the scholars please help??