Posted: May 16, 2000 at 23:36:42: by Aelmer
: Another thought on this subject: the tracker orc that was chasing them seems to have been of a special breed. The olfactory organs of the ordinary orc (how's that for alliteration?) may not have been that acute. It is said that the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War could smell American soldiers, but that seems to have been a function of different diet, deodorants and soap used by U.S. troops, rather than any innate racial differences. By the same token I suspect that Hobbits eating Orc food and wearing Orc clothing would quickly begin to smell pretty much like Orcs. From a biological standpoint I would guess that Hobbits and Orcs would be close enough cousins that there would be no difference in innate odor. After all, Frodo says at one point that orcs cannot eat poison. Though their food was different, and disgusting to free people like Hobbits, it was still food. Yep. Another interesting thing about odors. If you are dirty and smelly and in a group of dirty smelly people, you probably won't notice the smell. You stink, your buddies stink and your nose says " no one stinks". This especially true if you and the group have been eating the same food and tromping through the same dirt and filth. As to Viet Cong, and I might add other Vietnamese, being able to smell U.S troops, it is true. The opposite was sometimes true, at least in my platoon. I read somewhere that the primary cause of our odor was the fact that we had diet high in meat, while the Vietnamese did not. I have also heard stories of men on liberty in Japan being told that they smelled funny.
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