The Crack of Doom was at the end of a tunnel that bored into the mountainside, and an Eagle would likely not fit inside, so it would have to bring have a rider. First, the Ring could not just be dropped into the caldera it had to be taken into the Crack of Doom itself: the center of Sauron’s sorcererous powers. The “classic” Eagle plan, as outlined in the YouTube video, would not work for a couple of reasons. There are the threats of the Nazgul’s fell beasts, and archers (the Eagles in The Hobbit were afraid of shepherds with bows, so one can imagine how they might react to trained soldiers). Once inside Mordor (if they even make it), there is still the chance that the Eagles could be caught. The Eagles might have been able to slip by unnoticed, but it would have become far more likely that they would have been caught. Travelers on foot could sneak around much more easily, scout ahead (especially with a ranger), and slip by unnoticed (remember how quiet hobbits are?). Not ideal ones, perhaps (though Cirith Ungol itself was not ideal), but mountains are not impenetrable and continuous walls of rock.Īn Eagle flying through the air would be easily noticed by Orcs or other watchers (remember the sinister and sorcerous ones at the Tower of Cirith Ungol – there might have been more). We know of only three (the Morannon, Cirith Ungol, and the Nameless Pass), but it stands to reason that there were more. We don’t know how exactly Gandalf planned to get into Mordor, but we can surmise that they would have gone through a mountain pass or valley some where. When you have the fate of the world hanging in the balance, you don’t want to take any unnecessary chances.Įagles are, clearly, far more noticeable than Hobbits or other travelers on foot. However, it would have sacrificed secrecy and drastically increased the changes of the Ring being captured. It may have been a successful mission and allowed the Ring to be destroyed earlier than it “actually” was. Taking the Eagles might have worked, I will grant that. However, the reason the Ringbearer did not fly to Mordor by Eagle is fairly simple: the purpose of the Fellowship of the Ring and the linchpin of the entire strategy decided on in Rivendell was to destroy the Ring in a mission of secrecy. The video is, of course, comedy, and not all Eagle scenarios are the same, yet it raises an interesting question. It is frequently illustrated by the (in)famous How It Should Have Ended video: One of the most commonly asked questions about The Lord of the Rings is why the Fellowship didn’t just fly into Mordor on the Eagles. For the role of the Eagles in The Hobbit, see the update at the bottom of this post. NOTE: A revision of this post is now up on my new site.
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