It is a mark of things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun

Some time ago I was exchanging comments with huinare about Huan, Hound of the Valar (who I now firmly see as a borzoi) and Sauron, and said that I thought that Sauron was the kind of person who carefully obeys a certain kind of rule, and reads manuals, and sticks within those parameters even when it would make more sense to creatively explore outside of them.

Hence Sauron and Morgoth's reaction to a wolfhound who cannot be slain, save by the greatest wolf that has ever walked the earth, which is basically :  We're Going To Need A Bigger Wolf.

I was thinking about that this morning  while making coffee, and particularly about orcs.  Orcs cannot abide the Sun. It's not just that they hate it,  it appears to be physically impossible for them to operate in sunlight for long.  Until Saruman got to work on them, at any rate.

But why?  Surely it is monstrously inconvenient to have a workforce and army that can only operate at night? ( Read more... )