Solving LoTR’s Eagle Problem

Why didn’t the Eagles just fly the Fellowship to Mordor in Lord of the Rings? It’s one of the biggest and most annoyingly articulated “plot holes” in film. I think this question can finally be answered…by biology!

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[grayrook]

For the record the books actually go out of the way to describe how, because armies and ring wraith with wings and stuff, the journey was supposed to be secret. And eagles are not a low key ride.

[josue]

Even in the Hobbit itself, it tells us that the eagles can be taken out with mere bows and arrows. Flying into a fortified hostile nation like Mordor with the ring would be the equivalent of Sauron's same day shipping delivery.

[jowolf]

It's an amazing detail that Tolkien actually thought about just how big an eagle's wings would have to be for them to support carrying full sized people.

[rileyh]

Once they evolve turbofan engines we're done for.

[dragonmaster]

How is this still a question?
What Gandalf told Frodo at the Shire spells it out: "Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe!"
The Eagles would do neither: Sauron can spot them the moment they leave Rivendell, and (like Dimestore Thor here said) are easy pickings for the Nazgul's flyers!
And the biggest reason of all: *PLOT!*

[xenotundra]

Anyone with a second of thought could have understood why. The Eagles are wild and have their own will, the nazgul, the fact the journey was meant to be secret, the direct gaze of Sauron, orcish archers etc etc etc.

[SvengelskaBlondie]

One funny thing that so many overlook regarding this is that in the book BIlbo: An unexpected journey, the eagles refuse to get too close to the woodcutter settlements. The reason is they are fearful of the woodcutters longbows of yew, imagine how much worse it would be to actually try and fly to Mordor.

They would barely get anywhere before Saruman would have noticed them, thanks to the grotesque number of Crebain that he used as spies. Would sort of instantly remove any form of stealth that the mission already had, people also forget that Gandalf urged Frodo to not make his direction known as he was leaving the Shire (hence the reason he faked moving back to buckland and selling bag end cause he "ran out of money").

[JeffMcJunkin]

I like to think that the "because magic" line is a nod to the aged "Because Science" channel

[eraserartem]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the eagles are the same rank like gendalf and balrog, which means they not supposed to intervene unless it’s eru’s plan

[cryisfree]

I believe tolkien had the best answer to why the fellowship didn't use the eagles to fly to mordor which was "shut up"

[Boevaia_Pelmeha]

"Why didn't we use the eagles in the first place?"
"They were on cooldown, Frodo."

[TAPa]

"Why didn't the Eagles just carry Frodo and the ring to Mordor?"

Eagles: "Hell nah I don't wanna get pincushioned by orcs or eaten by Nazgul I'm gonna need you to clear the airspace first"

[stonedsasquatch]

Now we need a comparison video on the Eags vs nazgul

[nigeldepledge]

Also, there's the fact that Frodo failed. He could not destroy the Ring. If it had not been for Gollum taking the Ring, the quest would ultimately have failed.

Thus, the quest could succeed only if Frodo had Gollum with him in the Sammath Naur.

Thorondor was the agent of Manwë. But Gollum was the instrument of Eru Iluvatar. Tolkien was making two points with the way the quest ended : first, that there are no paragons; and, second, that evil is ultimately its own undoing.

[minikawildflower]

The valar said we can't interfere in the affairs of middle earth. Gandalf: hold my beer. (jk I know Gandalf was sent specifically to do this)

[bartmannn]

Just for comparison, the wingspan of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is 197ft.

[Mare_Man]

The eagles were also just as susceptible to the corruption of the Ring as anyone else

[GenesisTheKitty]

Everyone is making good points about Tolkein's attention to detail, but it's also important to point out that even in the LOTR movies, after they get into Mordor, they have to painstakingly hide from the eye of sauron the whole time. The eagles wouldn't exactly be able to hide from that... This has always been a stupid non-issue

[TakoyakiStore]

Considering that the world of Lord of the Rings was made from a flat world into a globe tells me that higher oxygen in the atmosphere and lower density in the air isn't out of the question. For all we know the Eagles in LOTR's could be the same size as real life Eagles, it's just that everything else was actually smaller. When you're dealing with fantasy worlds, even one's that supposedly take place on earth in this timeline, etc..., doesn't mean that no rules of physics or the sizes of humans have stayed the same.

[DeaconTaylor]

the eagles werent stupid. they didnt take the ring because they didnt want to.