Bio-warfare In Middle-earth

[Rumil]

Hi all,

Agree that Sauron had no particular need for a plague during the War of the Ring. Although maybe he could have engineered it to infect humans, not orcs, he probably outnumbered the West in human troops alone. Therefore it could have been counter-productive to unleash such a thing, as chem/bio-warfare tends to be unpredictable to say the least.

As has been mentioned, his 17th century plague might have been a smart move - he had no great strength of numbers, the West would lose heavily, and presumably orcs would re-populate faster.

One possible biological warfare technique was the catapulting of the severed heads into Minas Tirith, that could have spread disease, contaminated water etc, though it was likely more of a morale-degrading measure. Another was the 'poisoning' of orc blades, could be a chemical poison, or contamination with, er... infectious or toxic biological materials of various unpleasant natures!

I've had a theory that the 'broils and smokes from the East' that periodically affected Gondor might have contained endocrine-disruptive chemicals that might reduce fertility, as we know Minas Tirith only had half the population that it could hold. If so, was Sauron's biological warfare rather more subtle than it seems? Its really unusual for a medieval-style city to lose population unless there's a high mortality from disease (common enough in history but MT seems a fairly healthy place), lack of food, or very high losses in warfare/political disorder.