October 11, 2002

Eagles Brought Up Again
Danny

The eagles were debated on this forum several months ago if I remember correctly. There have been several speculated reasons why the Eagles didn't help. Many brought up how the Eagles were messengers from the Valar and like the Valar kept relatively removed from things, only intervening at critical moments. Others stated that they thought the eagles were mighty enough beings that they would have attracted the attention of the eye had they neared Mordor, and thus not made it safely to the mountain. Others argued that Illuvitar wasn't going to provide an easy solution to a problem that was not of his making, and willed that it be solved by the trial and dificulty of the races directly involved. So there have been a lot of arguments about why the Ealges were not the solve all answer.

I personally tend to beleive that the Eagles were not used for a combination of reasons. I don't think that an eagle (being the great eagles they were) would have slipped Sauron's attention. His borders were closely watched, and only through distraction provided by the events with Orthanc, did Frodo and Sam find a way in. Had they tried to fly into Mordor, the events would have been drastically different, and I feel that Sauron's attention would not have been pulled to other things. His borders would have been closely watched. That combined with the thought that I don't see the Eagles as a race that would have been willing to do the task. I can't exactly say why, but I just don't think the eagles would be willing to do what could be done without them.

When it comes down to it, I don't know if Tolkien ever bothered to think of why the Eagles were not more openly used, nor what his reason would be if he did think of it. However, I am glad that they weren't the heroes of the story because that would be a much shorter and more boring book.