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Good question. Let me overthink it. RabidWombat Send a noteboard - 28/02/2011 11:33:37 PM
Throughout the series, but especially the later books, we've seen huge hordes of Trollocs.

I would guess that, despite their penchant for eating human flesh, they are omnivorous. But that begs the question, what do they eat?

Unless Blight-ed fruits, veggies, and animals are safe for them to eat, they should be starving, since the number of humans it would take to feed so many Trollocs would probably outnumber the humans still alive, in Randland at least, if not Seanchan or Shara.

What do you guys think? Are they able to eat stuff from the Blight? From what we've seen of the Blight there is no shortage of stuff growing, it's just all rotted and putrid and liable to attack you if it can.


From a few comments from RJ and Brandon, I get the feeling that there is something about the process that we don't know. I seem to remember a quote that the DO has orders of magnitude more trollocs than than the blight will allow.

First of all how many trollocs are there? A reasonable guess from the storyline is that there is around ten times more trollocs than light-side soldiers. That will put an upper-limit less than 100 million. Can the blight reasonably support that many trollocs (or 1/10th that amount if my statement above is correct)?

Well how does the food needed per trolloc compare to the food needed per human. At first glance it might seem quite large not necessarily so. A lot of it depends on the lifespan and support staff needed for Trollocs. Humans take a long time to mature and need significant amount of care to do so. At any given time only a small fraction can reasonably contribute to the fighting.

If a trolloc can grow up in half the time and then either put in stasis or immediately sent out to raid that makes a difference. If food can be kept for hundreds of years in stasis either through AoL tech or the DO that makes a difference as well. If they can only eat meat, that is a huge problem of course. But some fast growing blight creature might help with the aid of the DO. I would guess, though that the trollocs are given only enough meat to make them want a lot more. When they go on raids they only eat meat since it is readily available.

If we assume that a typical human can field 1/10 of its population as a viable army and a Trolloc army can field 1/2 of its population than a Trolloc army that eats five times as much would cost the same as a human army per army member. The trolloc army would also be easier to sustain assuming that they grow up quicker. Feeding 100 million off of the blight would be a stretch for 3rd age tech. I think it would be a walk in the park for AoL tech though. And who knows what the DO has up his sleeve. If we decrease the total sustainable number of Trollocs to 10 million, though, it sounds ballpark reasonable even without too much DO intervention.

This is probably over thought, though. RJ has been pretty good about a lot of details. I am not too sure about his understanding of population, though. I don't think there is a 'primitive' desert population that comes close to the population density of the Aiel for instance.
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What do all these Trollocs eat? - 24/02/2011 01:39:13 AM 1613 Views
As it's been pointed out in the books... when they can't find anything from raiding... - 24/02/2011 02:24:10 AM 981 Views
Re: As it's been pointed out in the books... when they can't find anything from raiding... - 24/02/2011 10:29:09 AM 902 Views
Not entirely inconsistent with the metaphysics of the series. *NM* - 24/02/2011 01:53:05 PM 665 Views
Yeah, a pity. - 24/02/2011 01:55:04 PM 831 Views
Re: Yeah, a pity. - 24/02/2011 03:09:59 PM 840 Views
Because everything we know about the True Power & its results suggests harmony with natural law? - 26/02/2011 02:52:35 AM 833 Views
I think he means using tied off gateways to produce perpetual motion. - 01/03/2011 06:10:39 PM 828 Views
yep! This, and many other possible applications. *NM* - 02/03/2011 12:57:28 PM 413 Views
Perpetual motion does not equal infinite useful energy. - 02/03/2011 02:27:56 PM 747 Views
Re: Perpetual motion does not equal infinite useful energy. - 02/03/2011 03:52:15 PM 737 Views
THEY... EAT... PEOPLE!! AAAAAH! *NM* - 24/02/2011 03:16:37 AM 395 Views
Its called Soylent Green! *NM* - 24/02/2011 05:13:20 AM 383 Views
I sincerely hope that's a Troll 2 shout out! *NM* - 24/02/2011 12:24:12 PM 397 Views
Ever wonder why Myddraals don't have eyes? *NM* - 24/02/2011 09:43:37 AM 386 Views
DF channelers could easily be making gateways to bring food in - 24/02/2011 11:03:25 AM 821 Views
Re: DF channelers could easily be making gateways to bring food in - 25/02/2011 05:09:16 PM 953 Views
they could be being supplied through the Black Tower - 26/02/2011 08:44:07 PM 771 Views
Re: they could be being supplied through the Black Tower - 27/02/2011 07:22:26 PM 777 Views
Re: they could be being supplied through the Black Tower - 02/03/2011 12:22:03 PM 739 Views
Re: What do all these Trollocs eat? - 24/02/2011 04:10:19 PM 876 Views
Who says they really NEED to eat that much? - 26/02/2011 02:47:50 AM 799 Views
Re: Who says they really NEED to eat that much? - 26/02/2011 08:58:27 PM 825 Views
Good question. Let me overthink it. - 28/02/2011 11:33:37 PM 906 Views

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