Maladies of Maleficence

[Inziladun]

I recently started a thread questioning the place of science in LOTR with regard to things like Sauron apparently breeding his own flies, which had an "eye" marking on them. The forum blackout seems to have eaten that thread whole, however.

In a similar vein, in the books we see Morgoth sending a plague in the First Age which affected the Edain in Hithlum (incidentally killing Túrin's first sister and also sickening him), and Sauron using something similar to clear Mordor of Gondorian vigilance. How were those plagues generated?

Biology and science would seem to have little room in the works, and to me, that's as it should be. I don't want Middle-earth being too near this world! If the plagues weren't the result of bacteria or viruses though, aren't we left with "magic" as the origin? And that should give the illnesses more of a spiritual bent, affecting the fea and the will to survive.

The "cursed" weapon like that which nearly caused Frodo to become undead would seem to be an example of this too, and the Nazgûl had other "poisoned" weapons at their disposal. It was thought that Faramir had been a victim of such a wound, though Aragorn dismissed the idea. Earlier in Gondor's history, the son of the Steward Denethor I, oddly enough named Boromir, got a "Morgul-wound" in Osgiliath, which caused him to die early, and live the remainder of his life in pain.

And then there's the Black Breath of the Nazgûl, named by Aragorn as the cause of Merry's fainting and evil dreams in Bree.

So, are these illnesses originating from evil beings the result of biological or spiritual doings? Or both?