Tolkiens mest spridda antagande var att de blå trollkarlarna i öster avfallit från sitt uppdrag och byggde egna kulter som levde efter Saurons fall, vet inte om de dessförinnan antagits varit i hans tjänst.
I slutet av sitt liv ändrade han dock på sitt antagande (Wikipedia):
Citera:
However, some of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth) of 1968. They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was to travel to the east and weaken the forces of Sauron. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. At the same time, Tolkien considered the possibility that Glorfindel arrived back in Middle-earth along with the Blue Wizards. On this later, more positive interpretation, the Blue Wizards may have been as successful as Gandalf, just located in a different theatre beyond the borders of the map in The Lord of the Rings.
Vad gäller orker, troll osv får vi anta att de levde vidare här och var.
Problemet för orker utan en enande kraft (Morgoth, Sauron, nazguler eller Balroger) vore väl att de aldrig kunnat förena sig mer än kortvarigt och att deras stammar således fallit offer för både andra fientliga folk och andra orksatmmar tills de utrotades?
Trollen gick kanske för ofta ut i solen och blev rökta?
