What about from The Shire to the Misty Mountains? No need for both the Hobbit and Lotr trilogy.
Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
111–120 of 213 posts
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#112As the article points out, it's a question of stealth versus speed, but speed is not necessarily preferable. The powers of Sauron, especially deep within his own domain, are indeed unknown. With even an hour to react, it is quite possible he would be able to conjure up something that would end up in the whole endeavor delivering the ring to him, instead of destroying it. On the other hand, the stealthiness of hobbits…
I would also like to postulate the element of surprise. Sauron would never expect a weak, feeble creature like a Hobbit to be an adversary. But mostly I agree with your points.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#113Tolkien used the eagles as his standard deus ex machina. - Dwarves + Bilbo + Gandalf stuck in burning trees with enemies around? The eagles to the rescue! - How to wrap up the Battle of the 5 armies when all is lost? The eagles are coming! - How to rescue Gandalf from Sauruman! The eagles! - How to rescue Gandalf from the top of a mountain after an epic battle with a balrog? The eagles! - How to rescue Frodo and Sam…
You are totally right but, because I love Tolkien, I'm down-voting you. It's unfair but it has to be done. Sorry.
Ironically, it is also totally right that I get downvoted for downvoting you, too. Sigh. What we do for love.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#114Crows. http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Crebain If crows can be sent into the world to hunt for the ringbearer they can certainly patrol the skies around Mordor. Crows spy the eagles entering Mordor and forces are dispatched to counter them.
It might also be that Crows do not recognize the hobbits as at threat to report? Hobbits are less known outside of their own realm and maybe the crows thought of them as just another wild animal?
It's too late for that argument by that point. Sauron (and Saruman) are aware of hobbits and that one of them has the ring -- hence the Nazgul showing up in the Shire even before Frodo gets on the road.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#115No, because, the eagles would have been possessed by the ring.
Wasn't Boromir influenced by just being around the ring?
Yes.
> could even this strengthened Ring wholly take over the will of an eagle in as little as an hour?
Yes. Also, because the corruption of ring possession basically sentenced you to the far lands (although it's 'offered' it's really mandatory), you might have a problem where Eagles wouldn't be accepted so....why risk corrupting an eagle and pissing that race off? You need them to fight Sauron off, at the very least.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would venture that there were many possible alternate decisions at various points in the plot, and discussing all of them thoroughly was not necessarily a literary enhancement. The "eagles plan" itself is fan fiction, and refusing to accept more "fan fiction" in response to it is a bit disingenuous.
It's more of a plot hole than fan-fiction. The article is an exhaustive look at provable (written) arguments that can refute the eagles as a possibile solution to the Mordor trip. The author is trying to prove that the plot hole is, in fact, a plot hole by nature of it being plausible. Using other possibilities to refute a possibility goes against the spirit of the article, where the author looks for concrete facts t…
It may simply not have been addressed because it was obvious to anyone present that it was an infeasible plan.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would venture that there were many possible alternate decisions at various points in the plot, and discussing all of them thoroughly was not necessarily a literary enhancement. The "eagles plan" itself is fan fiction, and refusing to accept more "fan fiction" in response to it is a bit disingenuous.
It's more of a plot hole than fan-fiction. The article is an exhaustive look at provable (written) arguments that can refute the eagles as a possibile solution to the Mordor trip. The author is trying to prove that the plot hole is, in fact, a plot hole by nature of it being plausible. Using other possibilities to refute a possibility goes against the spirit of the article, where the author looks for concrete facts t…
Fan fiction fills up spaces that were not covered in the original story. The pros and cons of airborne travel into Mordor are one of those spaces. The author of the article is just as entitled to speculate on this point as anyone who responds to him.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#118How high are Ered Lithui? Can the eagles fly that high? Even if they can, there's still the question of whether a hobbit can survive at that altitude?
This is the correct answer. Middle earth eagles in this scenario are large, flying a long distance, and under load. They would not be able to survive the high altitudes.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#119Reddit actually had a few good points against it:
1) Flying Nazguls, first and most obvious - and Sauron would know they are coming, being unoccupied with war with Gondor.
2) By skipping Rohan and successively Gondor, Aragorn never becomes a king, kingdom of humans still most likely falls.
3) Nobody solves the Saruman threat, so in the meantime he becomes more and more powerful - probably crafts his own ring or in any case gets so much power he is unstoppable, even if The One Ring is destroyed. Films don't mention this, but in the book he escaped Orthank(and wasn't shot by Legolas like in the film) and took over Shire which he ruled for quite a while - he still had lots of magical power,even after destruction of the Ring. Remember that he was like demigod.
4) Boromir never dies, so he would probably succumb to the power of the ring eventually and took it from Frodo if this plan was not implemented very very quickly, which is unlikely.
In any case, it shows how brilliant Tolkien was.
Re: Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor? (2000)
#120Certain Goblins had patented the idea of dumping things from sky via birds. Obviously Gandalf could not risk getting sued.