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> I doubt Sauron or Saruman care at all about their lives. Also, orcs were twisted elves, so perhaps they also had slow reproduction cycles?

• samus 4y ago
  In almost every battle with them, they had a vast superiority in numbers. Even after the catastrophic defeats they suffer when the Good Guys win, they seem to be able to quickly recover their numbers. It probably helps that they can thrive in environmentr where humans can't: high mountains, caves, the volcanic landscape of Mordor etc.
• jcranberry 4y ago
  That was a proposed background but Tolkien never decided what their true background was.