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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 649144" data-attributes="member: 2020">Hmmm ...  Everyone is thinking in terms of human soldiers, and what human soldiers can and cannot do.  In Middle Earth, even the wood-elves could easily march 40 to 60 miles per day, without breaking a sweat.  If required, they could run 24 hours a day, for days on end, covering over 100 miles a day.  (The reason Legolas did not catch the Uruk-Hai carrying Merry and Pippin is because he was limited by the endurance of Aragorn and Gimli.)  The Noldor were of greater stature, and could travel even farther distances than the Wood Elves.  The Orcs (including the Uruk-Hai) could travel just as swiftly as the wood-elves.  Even loaded down with heavy armor and heavy weapons, the Orcs could - and did - cover astonishing distances on foot.  Thus, if Sauron had really wanted to, he could have sent out an Orc-Host from Mordor, and it could have reached the Shire in a matter of days.  Likewise, the elves of Linden (the region west of the Shire) and Rivendell, could have reached Mordor within a few days of running.  In modern terms, if I had an army of orcs in Adrian, Michigan, and I wanted them in Lexington, Kentucky, I could have them there in 3 days.  If I wanted them in Atlanta, Georgia, I could have them there in 7 days.  If I wanted them to travel all the way to Orlando, Florida, I could have them there in 12 days.  This changes the military map considerably.    Consider the Napoleon Example above.  Most of Napoleon's Army perished in the Russian Winter, or of hunger, or from the Russian Army, and never made it home.  Had Napoleon had an army of elves, or orcs, they could have returned from Moscow to Warsaw in only about 10 days at the most, and to France in another 5 days, at the most.  Elves carry lembas.  It is light foodstuff, and does not encumber the person carrying even weeks worth of the stuff (Napoleon's soldiers, on the other hand, were laden down with food which would run out all too quickly.)  Orcs eat ... well, I think we all know what orcs will eat.  As for what they CAN eat ... anything but outright poison will do.  (Of course, orcs do not have the prohibitions against cannabalism that civilized modern man has ... at least, I hope that civilized modern man has.)  The Morgul Host could have reached Minas Tirith in one day, after setting forth.  However, they faced an enemy host, Faramir's Army, and had to win the Passages of Anduin.  Afterwards, they had to assault the Causeway Forts, heavily defended by Faramir and supported by Gandalf the White.  So, their relative slowness may be excused.  The swift arrival of the elves, from both Rivendell and Lothlorien, to Helm's Deep, is thus explained.  For the elves, it was a run of only a few days.  I am assuming also that the elves set out before Saruman's force did (Saruman's force took it's sweet time, burning and destroying assorted crops, villages, and those unlucky enough to be caught in their way, before assailing Helm's Deep.  Not to mention they brought Siege Engines that slowed them somewhat.)  So no, the Shire was not safe because it was a long ways from Mordor.  Had Gondor been crushed, Sauron's forces could have been up there to say Hi within days, and doubtless, they would have done just that.  Sauron wished a dark revenge against those who had stolen what was his, and dared to hold it against him by force.</blockquote>

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