Orc intergration after the War?

[Boromir88]

So to finally get around to answering the question, I think orcs might be able to integrate into human society because they were more or less "human" to begin with.~Kuru

Professor Tolkien certainly seems to have thought, in my reading at least, that in the Ages leading to the modern day there came to be little, if anything, to differentiate Orcs from Men in many places and situations. In saying this I also mean to propose that this would not be a quick process; I scarcely think you would see Orcs mingling in the societies of Men during Aragorn's reign, but very slowly and gradually in the centuries that followed, perhaps.~Zigur

I agree, and certainly by WWII in a letter to Christopher, Tolkien writes there were "Orcs on both sides."

It could be argued that the beginning of the integration begins with Saruman's breeding of Men and Orcs. I don't think it's a coincidence, that the Men guarding Isengard's gates are described as resembling an Orcish appearance. I don't think this integration is meant to be a positive thing though. I mean, just as there will always be the "Saurons" of the world, to a lesser degree, people who seek power control everyone else, there will always be a healthy population of Orcs serving the "big bosses."

And all this gets you wondering about Orc-women, as Tolkien says there must have been. After the destruction of the Ring, what happened to them?

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

And all this gets you wondering about Orc-women, as Tolkien says there must have been. After the destruction of the Ring, what happened to them?

I would presume the same thing that happened to the males.

An unpleasant thing to ponder is what the lives of orc-women would have been like at any point.

However, I don't know that bears any examination in detail.

[Andsigil]

We're talking about two main branches of orcs, right- those of the Misty Mountains-Gundabad, and those of Mordor?

As far as Mordor orcs, I doubt any of them stayed close enough to Rohan or Gondor after the war to attempt any kind of assimilation in the first place. It would make sense for them to have fled east, where their allies originated and where they, too retreated, after being defeated.

Orcs, being orcs, would then "orc it up" in their new eastern homes, and they would quickly find out (the hard way) that Easterlings, like the Variags of Khand, were just as cruel and genocidal as they were.

As far as the Misty Mountain orcs, I had the impression that most of their power was broken in the Battle of Five Armies. By the LoTR, they seemed to be, at best, a local threat, and probably faded away as a society relatively quickly.

[Andsigil]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

And all this gets you wondering about Orc-women, as Tolkien says there must have been. After the destruction of the Ring, what happened to them?

Have you seen the film, "Bone Tomahawk"? Picture that.