Why didn’t the Eagles just take the Fellowship directly to Mordor?
- Eagles are very proud and noble creatures who refused to get involved in the wars of men. Gandalf was only able to ride them because he was a Maiar, a semi-divine spirit, who the Lord of the Eagles, Gwaihir, owed a favor because Gandalf had once saved him from a poisoned arrow.
- The Fellowship was supposed to travel in secret. Sauron only knew that the Ring had left Gollum’s cave for the Shire, and was now somewhere else. Large eagles flying into Mordor would have tipped off Sauron and, most importantly, the Nazgul, which no creature could out-maneuver. The Nazgul would have killed the eagles and taken the Ring to Sauron.
My niggliest pet peeve about The Hobbit is why couldn’t we shorten the storm giants scene, which has no effect on the plot, by 40 seconds, and put in a 40 second scene where this happens:
Bilbo: Can’t they take us any further, Gandalf?
Gandalf: One does not ask favors of an Eagle lightly, Mr. Baggins. Least of all Gwaihir the Windlord and his hunters.
Because, seriously, the movies make it look like Gandalf can just freakin’ manifest giant eagles on a whim, but not when it would be most useful. The movies don’t even affirm that they are sentient, much less that they have a kingdom and politics. Rarrrr nerdery.
I hate it when people are talking about the Hobbit saying, “Oh why didn’t the eagles take them all the way??”
They say in the book that they don’t want to take them any farther because they don’t want to get too close to the town nearby, because the men who live there will shoot them down with arrows, believing that they are trying to steal their sheep.I also really didn’t like that Gandalf just summoned them like steeds and then they dropped them off without any sign that they were conscious beings. In the book, they just happened to be flying by and saw the commotion, ready to put any trouble that might be afoot by the Goblins to rest. They picked them up as a favor, not like pets who’ve been called.
Lesson: DO YOUR READING BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE
