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Old 01-15-2010, 12:34 AM   #39 (permalink)
Xerxys
Junkie
 
Location: My head.
Quote:
Originally Posted by levite View Post
In the Silmarillion and in "Unfinished Tales," as well as elsewhere in his notes and manuscripts, Tolkien describes the origins of the Orcs (who are referred to as "goblins" almost exclusively in The Hobbit) as being at the hands of Morgoth (the byname for Melkor, the Vala of Hate and Terror).

In the first days of the existence of the Elves (the first Elves were said to have "awakened" under starlight-- i.e., before the time of the sun and moon, during the epoch of the Two Trees of Valinor-- at a place in Middle-Earth called Cuivienen, or "Water of Awakening"), before they had encountered the Valar, even before the Elven clans split to form the different Elven peoples, Morgoth sent forth from his fortress of Utumno in the far North, hunters and spies, who captured Elves and brought them back to Morgoth's pits. There, using the corruptions of slow torture, cruelty, and black magic, Morgoth broke them, debased them, and from them bred the race of Orcs, in mockery of the Children of Iluvatar. It is implied that in later times, Sauron, and perhaps Saruman also, continued this controlled breeding program, introducing broken and debased Men into the Orc blood-pool.

But Tolkien is quite clear that this breeding of Orcs from a base of broken Elves and Men is the only way that Orcs could have initially come about, because he says that Orcs mate and multiply independently and of their own accord, after the same general fashion as do Elves and Men, and thus it is clear that they have life of their own, they are "true" living creatures, not merely homunculi that move when their master thinks to move them. And since only Eru Iluvatar is capable creating "true," independently living creatures-- no Vala, no matter how powerful, could do so-- the origin of the Orcs must lie among Elves and Men.

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@OP: Probably gonna have to go with Phoenix, although I could undersnd disqualifying her as a demigod....
Phoenix is very powerful despite the fact that she didn't have time to let her level 5 abilities grow. She was caged inside Jean Grey for a long time by professor Xavier. With enough time she could have the ability to remap her entire body to immortality and beyond. She was, however, mentally broken before the Professor got to her. It doesn't explain though why Jean was unable to use her powers without undue distress.

Now, I read all the essays of Tolkien in the Unfinisdhed Tales and was unable to get info on Goblins. I know Orcs came from Elves initially making them a strong and combative force (much like Ants) and Uruk'ai (sp?) were the amalgamation of both Orcs and Men add to that very well trained and good at taking orders. So I assume they either came from a lower breed of Dwarves. The same way the hobbit Smeagol was transformed into Golum by the One Ring.

I do disagree though that they were unmoved or not influenced heavily by Darkness because in the end of the Trilogy it says they all became afraid when they sensed Saurons departure from the dimension. They were all filled with fear and sudden foreboding when he was destroyed. Initially they were very confident because Sauron could sense his Ringh was near coming to him when Sam put it on.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeraph View Post
... Xerxys- What's happened to superman when he's been exposed to serious amounts of kryptonite and then shot a lot/killed? Or has the story always stopped just before that's happened?
Supermans blood reacts like rapid photosynthesis when in contact with the radioactive material but it has great amounts of regenerative properties. As long as it doesn't clot or left dead AND around Kryptonite long enough to finish him off he will eventually recover.

In the Animated movie Doomsday the beast (doomsday) almost destroyed him. But his body was still intact. So he recovered. Superman is powerful because he is the only one of his kind and no such environment (native home) such as the red sun exists in order to incapacitate him. For his weaknesses he makes up for with resourcefulness. Anything more than him then definitely goes into the DemiGod category.

I could very easily have picked Clair Bennet but she can die in an extreeme fire if jabbed in the back of the head with a sharp stick! So if you refuse Superman then go with Sylar.

/virgin.

Last edited by Xerxys; 01-16-2010 at 12:19 AM.. Reason: Smeagol ... not Gimli!!
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