Why Exactly Didn't The Eagles Drop The Ring Into Mt Doom?

Berethos08 @capeo wrote:It's not a blatant oversight. Remember that Sauron had been searching for the Ring for years at this point, most of his thought was related to finding it. A Great Eagle flying toward his land with a Hobbit on it's back, coming from the North (where he already knows the Ring is located, and knows of the term Hobbit and Shire)? Game over for the free peoples of Middle Earth.

The only reason Frodo and Sam managed to get to Mt. Doom was because Sauron was tricked into thinking the Heir of Isildur had claimed the Ring and was coming to challenge him. Any attempt at reaching Mt. Doom that was more overt would have been met with utter disaster.

capeo @Berethos08 wrote:...it's a blatant oversight. Tolkien even went so far as call them a "dangerous machine" to the story and tried to limit their use because he saw how obvious it should have been to use them. The Eagles were supremely powerful as he first conceived them. Thorondor actually scarred Morgoth's face in the First Age. That's Morgoth, a being infinitely more powerful than Saruon himself. They were Valar. Eagles saved, at one point or another, just about every legendary character of the First Age. Tolkien had to back off on that because they represented a deus ex machina to his later ideas. Eagles fly insanely fast and could have made the trip in a couple days. The whole "eye like a light house" version of Barad-dur was an invention of the movies. Sauron depended on spies. He could only locate the ring directly if somebody wore it. Not to mention Aragon could have used the Palantir to make Sauron think he had the ring THEN flew Frodo right into Mount Doom.

@CrispyLardon, the Nazgul had nothing on Eagles and would be no threat to them at all. Not to mention they didn't take to the sky until weeks after the Nine left Rivendell. An eagle would have had them there in days even only flying at night.

The simple fact is this all would have ruined the story Tolkien wanted to tell so he left them out of the books as much as possible. This argument has been around since the books were first published.

CrispyLardon @capeo wrote:The Crebain were native to Dunland and Fangorn. They could have been avoided simply by flying at night or avoiding that area all together and going down the western side of the mountains. You're trying to tell me you think being on foot for weeks makes you less likely to be spotted than flying quickly to where you want to go?

Kieran Vincent Rowley @capeo wrote:Not that I really care, and not that it matters in the slightest, but I think the main argument is that the eagles, like Men and Elves, would have been corrupted by the One Ring. The LESSER Rings of Power corrupted most who held them.

And the FEELING the book quite adequately conveys to me is that Sauron could have destroyed the eagles, had Mordor not been in the throes of battle - indeed, only AFTER the Dark Lord's power has been shattered do they arrive in Mordor. Who knows what dark forces kept them at bay? In my mind Sauron, much like Gandalf, has powers which we don't see firsthand in the narrative. Perhaps the air was too befouled? Perhaps strange hybrid creatures patrolled his skies? Perhaps he could simply destroy them with a wave of his hand, if they were so deep in his kingdom, at the heart of his terrible power?

Certainly Sauron would see them coming, and would fear them as a threat, and would oppose them. To me, the power of the eagles would be somehow *sensed* by the Dark Lord.

Two hobbits (three, really, counting poor Smeagol) didn't even register as a MILD threat.

"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? You overestimate their chances!"

Sauron, like Gandalf, is a mysterious figure of great and unnamed power. If the book hasn't built that up enough to explain why a bunch of unarmed, unarmored birds don't just swoop in and fix everything, I guess that sucks. But for ME, Sauron was a figure of strength and cunning, and incredible power. What dark forces he commanded are only barely hinted at in the book, and for me, that makes him feel all the more powerful.

But all of that is moot, I think, because only Samwise Gamgee, alone among all creatures of Middle Earth, could resist the temptation of the One Ring. Even Frodo failed at the end. Only Sam never gave in, never wanted it, never tried to take it.

Kieran Vincent Rowley @capeo wrote:Not that I really care, and not that it matters in the slightest, but I think the main argument is that the eagles, like Men and Elves, would have been corrupted by the One Ring. The LESSER Rings of Power corrupted most who held them.

melatonin wrote:Because it wouldn't make for a very good story...?

Banjo wrote:

melatonin wrote:Because it wouldn't make for a very good story...?

I doubt we'll find a better argument than this.

Banjo wrote:

melatonin wrote:Because it wouldn't make for a very good story...?

I doubt we'll find a better argument than this.

Harry Bizzle wrote:

Banjo wrote:

melatonin wrote:Because it wouldn't make for a very good story...?

I doubt we'll find a better argument than this.

Agreed. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly fooling themselves.

Mockmaster wrote:One does not simply fly into Mordor.

rinks wrote:They did ask an eagle to do it, but it was feeling ill that day. It was too under par.

rinks wrote:They did ask an eagle to do it, but it was feeling ill that day. It was too under par.

rinks wrote:They did ask an eagle to do it, but it was feeling ill that day. It was too under par.

Dual wrote:It would have been too dangerous/risky to give the ring to such powerful beings, as they could be corrupted. It's the same reason Gandalf doesn't just take it himself.