Merry turns out to be a boy after all, by the way. Despite not being neutered when we first sent him in because the vet thought he was a girl. I suppose he’s probably somewhat intersex, but eventually a vet removed testicles from him, not ovaries.
I’d long wondered this about D&D adventurers. Finally I got an answer:
https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0086.html
I included latrines in my dungeons. 
Thanks!
Kitties! 
In keeping with the thread, I guess Tolkien wasn’t a cat person, according to this listing of cats in his writings.
Berúthiel isn’t the best name for someone’s cat, but Tevildo could work.
Part of the fauna of Mordor, huh. 
Possibly. Friend had cats named The Golux and The Todal, though…
A very obscure question: we know Sauron wanted black horses for his Nazgûl so they offered to buy ‘em from Rohan. I wanna know who’s making the offer? Orcs aren’t gonna roll up and start negotiating. And who mentioned the rumors of Rohan selling their horses to Eomer? Was it “You know what people are saying?”
Actually I just checked, and Aragorn suggests that they sold horses to Sauron. You would think he’d be smarter than to believe rumors.
I bet it went something like this.
Sauron had human servants. The Mouth of Sauron, for example.
I bet that guy could really negotiate.
I was going to say, many Southrons and “swarthy people” in general were supporters of Sauron. The Haradrim had been largely devoted to Sauron, so he had plenty of humans ready to assist.
Also, there were humans with mixed orcish ancestry running around as well who could mostly pass for human.
It’s not silly, but I came upon this blog that talks about strategy and politics and things. One of the parts that caught my eye was a discussion of why Saruman’s plan to get the Ring and defeat Rohan was terrible.
Thanks for that, @Love_Rhombus; that was a fascinating read.
You’re welcome.
This may or may not be a “silly” LotR thought: Since Tolkien named his two Stoors “Déagol” and “Sméagol,” (WITH the diacriticals) WHY THE FUCK do people call Gollum “Smeegle?”
Perhaps through the same process by which my paternal grandmother’s birth name (Beausoleil) ended up being pronounced “Bushley.” Given the chance to compress sounds, people just naturally seem to do so.
Not the whole way, anyway - the sidewalks only go about half a block!
Some of my ancestors were Boseleys. We could easily be related.