HEY YOU! CATCH!
5d 21h ago by piefed.social/u/PugJesus in lotrmemes@piefed.social from media.piefed.social
Since Orcs are more susceptible to UV radiation, would they also be more affected by ionizing radiation from the fallout?
Interesting, but from a Tolkienian interpretation there is no strong reason to conclude they would be more affected by nuclear fallout, because their aversion to sunlight is likely symbolic and supernatural rather than a consequence of radiation sensitivity.
Wouldn't it only seem supernatural to us here outside the story, whereas to them inside of it, it would be entirely natural?
Therefore it may depend on how that sensitivity was implemented. (Both within and without the story.)
Yes. From inside Tolkien’s world, Orcs’ sunlight sensitivity is simply part of how reality works. The question is not whether it’s “supernatural” or “natural,” but what mechanism causes it.
If Orcs are sensitive to sunlight because of biological traits (e.g., poor pigmentation, defective DNA repair, unusual physiology), then they might also be more vulnerable to ionizing radiation from nuclear fallout.
If their sensitivity is due to their corruption or some unique property of sunlight in Arda’s metaphysics, then there may be little or no connection to nuclear radiation.
Since Tolkien never explains the mechanism, the answer depends on how you interpret Orcs’ sunlight sensitivity. Also, Orcs are impaired by daylight, but Tolkien does not describe them suffering symptoms typical of extreme UV damage, which suggests the effect is not simply biological UV sensitivity.
Great. Now because of the radiation, you have super powered irradiated orcs.
You zoggin' called?
What would the nuke be called? Fat Hobbit?
Or maybe Tom H-Bombadil?
That would explain why it wasn't in the movie.
The One Bomb
Sauron would win. Best case scenario the bomb destroys the tower. That shouldn't kill him though. His spirit would just become weak and wander around like it did in the past. Basically he would just have to rebuild himself all over again.
You could argue that it might kill him in the long run. He might be too weak to rebuild himself in time. Middle Earth changes so much after the bomb goes off that he loses his foothold over Mordor and consequently loses his method to grow.
Will middle earth be able to understand the concept of radiation? Is mordor now an untraversable land? Will they still be able to throw the ring into the mountain?
Hell I think nuking Mordor may be the biggest boon Sauron can get
Unless it just happens to destroy the One Ring along with it?
Which if the Ring were in the Shire and the bomb dropped onto Mordor seems unlikely, but just imagine Frodo and Sam having walked all the way up the mountain and right there at that moment the bomb drops...
What horrific irony that would be.
Whenever I think about militia like this in magical worlds, I imagine the physics are drastically unique enough that things just don’t break down the same way our world does. I imagine a nuke just wouldn’t function as we expect it to here.
One isekai webnovel I read had the protagonist constantly terrified of having his mind read by someone with enough knowledge to piece together nuclear physics from what little he knew via pop culture. Figured it would completely upset the balance of power in a world that didn't even have gunpowder. He collected every mental defense item he could get and tried the best he could to avoid mind mages.
Then he got imprisoned and interrogated by a government official who was also the most powerful mind mage in the world.
They laughed at his concern. A high enough level fireball spell was already on that scale.
A high enough level fireball spell was already on that scale.
Fireballs don't usually contaminate the area ...
Tbf for an individual nuke, the contamination effect isn't quite as extreme as pop culture sometimes portrays it. There's a reason that, for example, Hiroshima was rebuilt and exists as a city today, rather than being left as a Chernobyl-esque radiological contamination zone where people avoid living to avoid exposure.
maybe for other worlds, but the kayfabe of Tolkien's works is that they are historical accounts from our own real world. canonically, thousands of years after the end of the Third Age, Eru Ilúvatar sent himself to Middle-earth in the form of a Man who was his son, and he was called Jesus Christ; at one time Tolkien said that was the beginning of the Seventh Age, which we are currently in
essentially that means that whatever happens in the real world, or at least wherever happened between events recounted in the Bible up to 1954, is canonical to LotR. so we have explicit confirmation that it would have been physically possible, given the proper technology, to drop a nuke on Sauron
but the things is that it still wouldn't have happened. because recognizing the danger of great power and seeking to use it to your own advantage to dominate your enemies, rather than acknowledge that it should not be used by anyone, is what the dang book is about. the whole point is "don't do that exact thing." anyone in Middle-earth who would use an atomic bomb either is Sauron, or serves Sauron, or would at best defeat Sauron in order to take his place
Yeah but then someone would have to make it to Mt Doom through nuclear fallout.
Probably in his heart Frodo would begin to understand... The quest would claim his life
Could just destroy the ring in a fusion reactor.
Just airburst the nuke, standard practice for maximum areal devastation and minimal fallout and by the time Frodo gets there most of the radiation has already dissipated and he can just trot along completely devastated and empty landscape. First 48-72h are the most dangerous and after 14 days it's mostly safe.
Depending on the size of Mordor more than one nuke might be needed. Based on Google, Mordor seems to be bigger than Poland so an ICBM capable of carrying multiple warheads, up to 10-15, would be more suited for maximum areal destruction.
Anyone got the numbers on what happens in a nuke hits a volcano? would there even be enough mount doom left to toss a ring into or is the volcano itself indestructible
Ah, the Buffy method
Israel is Morodor