gizmo33 said:
And the rest of the PCs didn't respond to this? Man, it sure is nice to be a novel author rather than a DM. Tolkien had it easy. My players would have been all over this. I wouldn't have even bothered saying it if I didn't follow it up with a "because...". They would have said - "there are only a handful of fell beasts and some crows and there are dozens or hundreds of eagles, let's give it a go!" Gandalf would be like "errr...um...you must proceed into the dungeon. That's why we're not going around Mordor but through it, sheesh. How am I ever going to level up if you don't let me fight the Balrog?".
Whatever Gandalf said, it would have started "Fool of a Took!"
Then he would probably have pointed out that, in addition to a couple handfuls of fell beasts, the nine Nazgul, and the crebain, Sauron himself would certainly have stopped them long before they reached Mordor....or, at the very least as they crossed the border. And, had Sauron "seen" the Ringbearer and bent his will toward him, there is no doubt but that Frodo would have delivered the Ring to Barad Dur.
Not only that, but in the book Gandalf is rescued from Orthanc because he was sent there by Radaghast the Brown, who also sent the eagle to carry messages. Gandalf could not simply summon the eagles at a whim. And, even if they had deigned to carry the Ringbearer before his quest was complete, who would travel to the aeries of the Misty Mountains to speak to them?
By the time that the Nazgul had recovered, surely the Enemy would have surrounded Rivendell with spies, as the Council foretold, and nothing going into the valley or out could do so in secret. Indeed, I could easily see a scene where Orcish archers sent forth from Moria eliminate the eagles early on, when they foolishly fly low to swoop into Rivendell......
.......But, hey, it's a great plan. Go for it.
(BTW, near Moria, the crebain that find the company were sent by Saruman, who does not alert Sauron because he wants the Ring for himself. Thereafter, the Enemy believes that Aragorn, as Isuldur's Heir, has the Ring. This is because Sauron thought that Saruman had captured the Ringbearer and was torturing him by forcing him to look into the Palantir that Grima Wormtongue chucked at Gandalf's head. Sauron immediately sent a Nazgul to Orthanc, but found it sacked with a victorious army heading away. Aragorn was part of that army. Aragorn then contested Sauron's will with the Palantir, and bent it to his will. It was for this reason that Sauron sent so much of his might against Gondor when he did, and why his Eye was fixed on Aragorn when they marched to the Black Gate.)
