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Old 01-29-2005, 03:33 PM   #23
Feanor of the Peredhil
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Silmaril shall we play let's make believe?

Quote:
Not if they pull a Saruman and create a new strain.

At the risk of opening up the ole "what exactly are orcs" can o' worms, by breeding orcs and/or adding new DNA to the pool, one would be perpetuating and expanding upon the maiming of Life that Melkor engaged in.
Let us, for a time, pretend that Middle Earth had the science, technology, will, and all else needed to tweak genetics. They've also got super-mommies, just for the other part of my "what if".

My Adv.Biology teacher has this lovely nice big poster on his wall with several quotes, one being "Are you a part of nature, or apart from nature. Either answer has consequences." That one has nothing to do with my point. The important on to my slightly wandering line of thought is "Nature or Nurture?"

We already know that orcs are evil by nature, having been created thus. Even if Middle Earth had my afore mentioned super-mommies, they wouldn't have been able to nurture orcs into being decent creatures. It goes against what they are.

So let's say the good guys have the facilities to tweak the orcs' genetics and make them nice little Eru-friendly creations that hate Sauron [and all the other evil guys]. After switching a few Ts with Cs, some As with Gs, Middle Earth has new quick-breeding ARMIES of good orcs.

As incredibly unlikely as it sounds, say this happened somehow. Is "The West" doing right or wrong with it? Let's go with right; the good guys have taken something wholly evil and made it good. With it, they can defeat the evil. The wrong; they have manipulated Nature, or more accurately, played Eru. Melkor already took advantage of his gift of sub-creation, but now the good guys, in order to make his no-no into a yes-yes, did the same thing. They played with something that Eru's currently got in existence (because let's face it, if Eru wanted the orcs gone, they wouldn't exist), and that's exactly what Morgoth did!

Actually, allow me to even incorporate my teacher's other quote. "Are you a part of nature, or apart from nature?" Which heading do orcs fall into? They are alive, so they are a part of nature, yes? But they are a creation of one that is not Eru, so they are apart from nature. But then again, if that is criteria for being apart from nature, than the Naugrim aren't natural either. But ignoring the Stunted People...

Orcs were made in mockery of something that belongs in Middle Earth's nature. So they are not natural, although they have qualities of natural beings. Because orcs are already unnatural, does that make it okay to play with their genes, because they are already screwed up? Would "The West" tweaking orcs to fit their needs be like Hitler's fetish with blonde hair and blue eyes, or would it be like an artist saying "Oops. Well, the sculpture is already screwed up, so let's see if I can turn it into something else."?

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