Re: Populations of the peoples of Middle Earth | White Council Forum Archive - msg 1716

White Council: The Tolkien Forum Archive 08 on this day of

Re: Populations of the peoples of Middle Earth | White Council Forum Archive - msg 1716

White Council: The Tolkien Forum Archive 08

All Archives Top White Council Archive Index Archive 08 Index

VISIT LIVE TOLKIEN FORUM
Topic: Re: Populations of the peoples of Middle Earth
Reply to: Message 1711
Posted: November 17, 1998 at 11:09:49: by Martin Read
: I've been reading the archive postings on the state of Gondor at the end of the third age, and have read with interest the various arguments on the size of Gondor's armies, and also the possible size of her overall population. If Gondor had about 1 million people, and Rohan 100,000+, would it be reasonable to suggest that the Shire had about 20,000 to 40,000 hobbits. And what would the approximate populations for the various others kingdoms such as the elves in Mirkwood & Lothlorien, the men of Dale & the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain & the Iron Hills.


The whole question of population in Middle Earth is a can of worms, Tolkien was not, for all his profound abilities, a scientist or interested to any great degree in the physical workings of his created societies. Working out probable populations is possible for his human communities from analogy to the real world - doing the same for Tolkien's non-human populations is really snatching numbers from thin air.

For example something I argued a good while ago on this forum is the population levels of orcs in their native state (or non-native if you prefer), that is free of outside control or support. Thus "Kept orcs" were fed by their keepers - Sauron had his human slaves in Nurn to produce food to feed his orcs. So in this case the build up of large orc populations is feasible. However, the orcs of the Misty Mountains were on their own. It is unlikely that orcs farmed for themselves, they were living in barren mountains anyway, or that they could trade or barter for food - who would trust an orc to honour a deal? - not even another orc! So orcs would be reliant on hunting and gathering or raiding local human populations. This way of life would not allow large populations to develop so the orc "City" of Mt. Gondobad and the huge orc army at the Battle of the Five Armies are really not very likely.

Replies To This Message


Other Xenite Sites

SF-Fandom Forum Home Pages






This page is Copyright © 1999-2010 Michael Martinez. All Rights Reserved.

The White Council was the original Tolkien Forum for the Web. The Tolkien Forum on Xenite.Org hosted many discussions between some of the most renowned Tolkien scholars on the Internet. The White Council was renamed to the Tolkien and Inklings Forum after the White Council name was used by other fan sites. The Tolkien and Inklings Forum is now often referred to as the Tolkien Forum by other sites.

SF-Fandom and Xenite.Org are trademarks. SF-Fandom is part of the Xenite.Org science fiction and fantasy network. This forum archive preserves forum discussions which took place on the Xenite.Org message board network from 1997 to 2000. Some messages may have been lost.

More SciFi, or science fiction and fantasy, content may be found if you take a look at Hobbit News Web Directory.