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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3359174" data-attributes="member: 4937">I'd say that by and large that is correct, since no one knows exactly how fast a giant Eagle can fly, JRRT certainly couldn't have calculated it.  However, I think a better case for 'speed of plot' can be made for Shadowfax, and even then if you assume that Shadowfax can gallop just a little faster than the average horse but instead of keeping it up for minutes at a time can keep it up all day, Shadowfax's feats of travel are - assuming you swallow those assumptions about a magical horse - 'reasonable'. But back to the eagles, I don't have the map out to measure distances, but it can't be more than 100 miles straight line distance between the towers of the teeth and Mt. Doom.  Assuming giant eagles can in fact fly faster than horses can gallop, they can leave the battle at the towers of the teeth and rescue the hobbits who are walking slowly away from a volcanic eruption in two hours or less.  The real power of plot here is the answer to the question, "How slowly does a volcanic erruption proceed?"  The answer is of course, "As slow as necessary to not roast the heroes."  But in no way are we given to believe that mount doom is generating pyroclastic flows, since it seems to be a shield volcano of some sort, and if the lava flow it generates is viscous enough this 'reasonable'.  The scene in the movie where the lava is only feet away from the hobbits is of course just Hollywood.</blockquote>

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