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Divers Drabbles II  by Raksha The Demon 14 Review(s)
SoledadReviewed Chapter: 8 on 12/13/2008
Prep talk by an Orc! Now I've seen it all. *g*

Author Reply: I can't imagine Shagrat as a motivational speaker to humans, but I'm sure he could motivate his troops, one way or another, LOL! Thanks for reading and commenting, Soledad.

Little DwarfReviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/26/2008
Man, wasn't this creepy? I mean, it's well-written, but it makes me sick in a way...

"Men will still give us their gold and their women. Nah, I don’t mean women to eat. You still hungry?" - couldn't help but chucle at that. Though I have to confess the origin of the Uruk-hai makes me shudder....


Author Reply: Any Orc New Year's Party would be creepy, I think, if one is not an Orc...

The story is supposed to be creepy as well as funny in a really, really nasty sort of way. I often think that mankind's capacity for violence and cruelty could be explained by orc-genes, as could mankind's capacity for heroism and kindness by the blood of the Elves; if one wants to take JRRT's works so literally; and that got me thinking about what the Orcs were up to after Sauron's fall, and some of them didn't want to just fade into the mountains and quietly die out...

Thanx for reading and commenting.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 8 on 3/10/2007
Unfortunately, we have too many with Uruk-blood and Uruk tastes in this world of ours to this day.

Poor Snaga--always felt sorry for him. As for the one whose fingerbone's being offered, well....

Author Reply: The survival of Uruk tendancies in this world is sadly too clear. But one can't say that orcs didn't know how to party - as long as you weren't on the menu, you'd have a good time!

Thanx for reading and reviewing, Larner!

phyloxenaReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/23/2007
Jolly fellow, this Shagrat. And so brave of you to do this. Do you think orks procreate via different species?

Author Reply: Shagrat could be very jolly; but not in a way we'd appreciate. Tolkien implied and even stated that there were half-orc Men, I believe; so their blood had already mingled with humanity. I don't know if they sired any half-Elf/half-orc children, in my mind, Elf-women would die first; but I have seen it in some fanfics.

SurgicalSteelReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/10/2007
Catching up a bit on my reading - and for some reason this both made me laugh and chilled my blood simultaneously.

Author Reply: Thanx for the review, Steel! That's exactly what I wanted the story to do - inspire laughter and a certain chill. The orcs would certainly not be ideal New Year's Eve party guests! They have a sense of humor, but their jokes would be on you, and chances are you wouldn't survive them...

BranwynReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/7/2007
I loved how Tolkien gave the orcs their own lingo, influenced (from what I have read) by the speech of common soldiers in the First World War, and you capture Shagrat's speech patterns well. You also give him a suitably orkish personality--coarse, pragmatic, and sarcastic.
We don't die easy.
For some reason this made me think of cockroaches, which are nearly indestructible. Very scary to think of orc half-breeds surviving to trouble later generations of Men.
I enjoyed this piece very much; well done!

Author Reply: Thanx for reading and reviewing, Branwyn! I'm glad you liked the story.

Cockroaches being as hard to kill as orcs - good point. I didn't think of it, but it's true.

There already were, Tolkien hinted, orc half-breeds, at least in the North. Orc-blood in humanity could explain a lot of evil, it's easier to believe than humankind being vicious on its own.

I do think many Orcs would have survived the Ring War, and perhaps been, at least temporarily, sheltered by Eastern or Southron kingdoms who wanted ferocious fighters.

Tolkien did do a marvelous job with the Orcs; they're very vividly written.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/4/2007
Shagrat sounds as if he's not going to give up easily! A lot of orcs were - well - pretty much non-thinking entities and as such would probably be quite easy to dispose of once they had lost their direction, but ones like him - no, they wouldn't just abandon their evil-doing.

I don't like the sound of breeding half-orcs and quarter-orcs to carry on the fight from within the race of men - but it sounds the kind of scheme that could work very well!

Author Reply: I had the feeling that Shagrat probably did suffer initial panic at the fall of Sauron, but quickly regained his cunning and instinct for self-preservation. He might have been smart enough to realize that eventually orc-kind would be eradicated; hence the desire to continue some degree of orcishness by breeding it into mankind. Which would explain some of the ghastly inhumanity that lingers in homo sapiens...

Thanx for the review!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/1/2007
Ooh, how awful a new years party! And did he truly remove Tark from LOTR? I still read my old editions, you see, and didn't realize it might have been excised.

Author Reply:

No, I don't recall JRRT saying he'd removed tark from LOTR; but as far as I can tell, the word is used twice, in the same speech.

Not a really fun new year's party. Maybe if the orcs had some confetti and champagne, they'd have been a bit more mellow?!

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/1/2007
This both very funny and very chilling. I wouLd not accept an invitation to an Orc New Year party !

Author Reply: Thanx for reviewing, Linda. I can understand not wanting to go to such a party! I'd go, if I could come in a tank and stay there, and observe from a safe distance.

NestaReviewed Chapter: 8 on 1/1/2007
I thought they wouldn't get rid of Shagrat so easily!

Perhaps if Beregond killed Shagrat in single combat, they might relent over his exile from MT>>>?

Author Reply: Nah, Shagrat seems too tough to kill. As long as he wasn't in Barad-dur itself at the time the Ring, and Sauron, met their ends, i.e. out there with the huge host of Orcs and other nasties, Shagrat had a good chance of surviving his Boss' downfall. What might have happened to him and other Orcs afterward is open to debate, hence this ficlet.

Go, Beregond! But Shagrat would fight dirty. Of course, if Shaggy threatened Faramir, Beregond would probably fight dirty as well. (though of course, Faramir would also be capable of dispatching the Orc-captain)

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