Lord of the Rings geeks fans?

Question

My friend is a big fan of the books and films but he can't give me a good answer as to why Gandalph wouldn't have just given the ring to the eagles in the first place if they end up saving Frodo and Sam. Surely they could have just flown over Mount Doom and dropped the ring in it?

I completely agree that there would have been no point to writing the story if it could have been solved so easily so this question is just meant as a bit of conjecture.
But for those who are pointing out that the eagles could have been intercepted or ruled by Sauron that's not true. Not being a massive fan I admit this comes from my friend but he says that the eagles are basically free spirits and not at the beck and call of anybody including Sauron or Gandalf and wouldn't have any interest in the powers of the ring and likewise the ring would have no power to turn the eagles to evil. So Sauron would pay them no interest because the ring would effectively have no power to call to him as they sneaked their way to Mount Doom and although Gandalf couldn't command them to take the ring you have to conclude that because they helped rescue Frodo and Sam then they are on the right side and would surely have been only to pleased to help with the destroying of everything evil in Middle Earth

Answer 1

Good research. I’ve spent sometime thinking about this idea in the past and, while I don’t think Tolkien explained it well, I think there is good reason why the eagles could not have been used (aside from their free will). The first thing we need to remember is that not everything in Lord of the Rings is explained. Likewise not every force in Lord of the Rings follows the same “rules” (Tom Bombadillo for example). We don’t know the extent of Dark Tower’s powers but we do now it could wreck havoc from a great distance and that the Ring had a habit of corrupting even the most well intentioned. The ring is evil and Saruman was also hunting it.

So why not fly over all this danger? Tolkien seems to solve this and many other problems with the basic idea that the only way to defeat this evil is with the most humble and most unexpected approach: Hobbits. Like Tom Bombadillo, I doubt the ring would have much pull on the Eagles (or the Ents, for that matter), but it would have a great pull on those sent with the eagles. It could be said that if Gandalf or Aragorn were at Mount Doom they might have acted to stop the destruction of the ring themselves. So it was needful, although unknown at the time, that the fellowship be broken and that the most unlikely path be taken. It is, in a way, a miracle that so many powerful creatures had been so close to the ring and yet let it slip by to follow the path chosen for Frodo. If they had to see the ring destroyed then who knows what would have come of them and their good will? We saw what impact even offering the Ring had on Gandalf and Galadriel. Like Gollum’s part the actual act of destroying the one ring was not something anyone could entirely envision, or were entirely willing to. But fate had given the Ring to them this time and they need to act.

So, in short: The eagles couldn’t take the ring anymore than Gandalf could take it and march into Mordor and take the enemy on himself. They couldn’t take it anymore than Gondor could march on the black gates. The only chance to keep the ring out of the Dark Lord’s hands and from being used by someone else to become their own Dark Lord was to give it as low a profile as possible. In the end the war was not fought around the ring, but merely where Sauron thought the ring was. And that is the only way the Ring could have ended up at Mount Doom, and even them Frodo could not bring himself to cast it away.

Answer 2

Gandalf doesn't give the ring to the eagles because the whole story is a quest about spiritual and physical morality. The ring is a metaphor for any addiction or violence which are short cuts to feeling, or any short cut to thinking like hatred or racism. The reason the eagles don't drop it into the volcano is because with powerful evil like that there are no short cuts to dealing with it. In terms of the story, Tolkein probably would have said that it would be impossible for the eagles to fly there while Sauron was still powerful. They only fly there at the end after he has been destroyed -- which is to say, freedom (which they represent) can only exist on its own terms, and Sauron's Mordor is the exact opposite of that idea -- a single-minded tyranny.

There is a saying that a 'lie flies half way around the world before the truth gets its boots on.' That is the general idea -- the ring makes things easy. Why doesn't Frodo put the ring on to make himself invisible in a thousand situations -- or give it to the other characters so that they can become invisible and escape fighting? They can't use it. That's why the story is so complicated and drawn out in the books. Every single character they meet, and the companions themselves, are tempted or tested by the ring, and have to choose to do good rather than evil. The closer they get to getting rid of the ring, the harder it is to do it and the more forces rally to stop them. -- That's the real sign of a true moral battle, it's not easy, it's hard.

So the quest to combat the ring has a physical/spiritual journey pursued by the other companions; and Frodo and Sam face a more spiritual/physical test (Frodo has to freely agree to carry it and consciously know what he's doing); but you can't have one without the other. Anyone trying to combat an addiction, abuse or violence will tell you this. There was also a theme in Tolkein's books, and in his friend C.S. Lewis's books, against industrialization and machinery -- the idea that you can use a tool to bypass what should be done naturally is morally corrupting.

Answer 3

I wonder if maybe the Ring itself didn't have some hand in the decision.......after all it was trying to get back to its master the whole time. It didn't want to be thrown in the fires of Mount Doom and unmade......it wanted to survive. If the eagles had been given the ring, they would have flown straight to Mordor and dropped it in the fire. Not much chance for it to "escape" maybe. But the more time it took, the longer it stayed in the hands of the puny mortals, the better the chances of it being recovered by Sauron, or Sauron's agents. So maybe the Ring thought its best chance to get "home" was to stay with the one least likely to be able to keep it. Surely Sauron felt himself to be very powerful, and it was his spirit that imbued the Ring. So the Ring "thought" as Sauron did.......send out a few Nazgul, some Orcs, some nasty people, etc..........no problem. Sauron and the Ring both underestimated the strength and determination of not only the Hobbit and his Companions, but of the people of Middle-earth to prevent evil from taking over the world.

Answer 4

Superb question. I have been a big fan of the Lord of the Rings for about 25 years - but it wasn't until I watched The Return of the King on DVD (I didn't even realise when I was in the cinema) that I suddenly thought the very same thing - how much easier it would have been for the eagles to take the ring.

Unless, of course, Gandalf was worried that the eagles would be as easily corrupted by the Ring as, say, Boromir was ...

Answer 5

The same reason he didn't take it himself. Part of the point of the ring and why it was given to the hobbit Frodo was the way it corrupted whoever possessed it. Gandulf presumably didn't want evil eagles flying around. Hobbits apparently have an unusually high resistance to the rings influence.

Answer 6

There are many reasons
1.the eagles would have been corrupted by the power of the ring
2.Sauron would have had them shot down (the war was over when the eagles came to mount doom) *arrowed!*
3.No fingers.(just talons)

Answer 7

The Eagles would have been seen and the ring taken by Sauron himself.

Answer 8

The ring needed a bearer who could withstand its desire to get back to its owner. The ring could have just instructed the eagles to take it back to Sauron without destroying it. The ring was not just an inanimate object, look how it corrupted Smeagol/Gollum. Hope that helps. :)

Answer 9

Would the eagles have been more or less susceptible to the evil of the ring? Maybe is would've controlled their minds easier.
Anyway- what kind of story would that have been!!!??

Answer 10

Noooo, I don't think so;
a) They would have been seen by Sauron-the all-seeing eye.
b) What about the flying Nazgul?