KenM said:
Those are good points. Since JRRT did not like tech himself, He might never have thought that he had a logic flaw in his grand tale.
Someone else said that not everything in a book has to make sense, it does to me. if the writer/ teller of the story shows an easier way for the characters to accomplish they're goal, and does not explain why the characters does not use the eaiser way, then the story is flawed, and I can't accept it.
Here is an expample: say some peole have to get across a lake, the person that tells them they have to get across the lake shows up in a speedboat (like Gandalf got droped of at rivendale by an eagle.). He also says they don't have much time. So the characters start to swim across the lake. They don't use the speedboat and its never explained why they did not. That is how I feel about the eagles not helping in LoTR. I will not accept "dramatic effect" or "thats the way the author wrote it", there has to be logic to the characters actions.
In art (meaning creative ventures like music, painting and writing) there is the idea that the unsaid is almost as powerful as the said. That is the colors not used in a painting, the spaces between the notes in music, or the things not written in writing. However, Tolkien does not use this technique. He blatently states why the Eagles do not help carry the ring into Mordor. You just have to pay attention.
Gandalf got dropped off in Rohan (not Rivendell) by an eagle so he could get a horse. This is because Gwaihir heavily implied that he had other things to do:
'"How far can you bear me?" I said to Gwaihir.
'"Many leagues," said he, "but not to the ends of the earth. I was sent to bear tidings, not burdens."
The ring, by all description, is a burden.
It is made clear in the Council of Elrond that spies are everywhere. It is known that the West Road is watched and that if they moved in any fashion that would indicate that they had the ring, then Sauron and Mordors might would be directedagainst that region. So they state that they cannot move in any way that shows they have it. This includes hopping on an eagle and air lifting Frodo to Mordor.
Furthermore, there is the element of destiny. The ring gets harder and harder to bear the closer and closer it gets to Mt. Doom. Should Frodo get there in a day, the ring would be too much too quick. The ring was too much even though the burden increased at a gradual pace. I fully belive that had Frodo been there on the back of an eagle, it would have broken him and Sauron would not have been nearly as distracted as it states he was in the Return of the King: "The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him,...;and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare. [Sauron figures out that his enemies want to destroy the ring...] From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from his strategems and wars his mind shook free;..."
And I think Tolkein knew this too and planned on it. I think he was making the point that a higher power was at work. Gandalf was not above the ring's corruption and flying in on the back of an eagle he may have succumbed to the temptation to use it, even if he was on a different eagle just looking out for Frodo.
However, the eagles only help when Gandalf is in trouble. They rescue him and the dwarves from the hobgoblins in The Hobbit, they rescue him from Saruman, they take him from Zirakzigil (after he defeats the Balrog). And I think this is because the eagles owe Gandlaf one. A big one. We are never told what it is but there is this quote from The Return of the King:
"Twice you have born me, Gwaihir my friend," said Gandalf. "Thrice shall pay for all, if you are willing. You will not find me a burden much greater than when you bore me from Zirakzigil, where my old life burned away." Apparently Gwaihir is repaying some old debt. And I would also point out that he only ever helps Gandalf. And then only helps Hobbits at Gandalfs request.
Also, Gandalf states every time he is with an eagle and conscious that they have to be willing to help him. Perhaps they simply did not want to go to Mordor, like most everyone else in the world.
So there are some clearly stated mittigating factors to flying the ring to mordor:
1)The ring gets stonger as it gets closer. So the sudden increase in the burden might be too much to take. The increase needs to be gradual if there is going to be any hope.
2)The Eagles constantly save Gandalf's butt because the eagles owe him somthing. What? No one knows except obscure Tolkien shcolars.
3)The Eagles may not want to go to Mordor. There is a big issue of free will here, as Gandalf constantly asks if they are up to the tasks he sets for them.
4)Whoever gets to Mt. Doom with the ring will claim it for themselves. When the ring is claimed that close to home, the ringwraiths grop everything and go there. Sauron Drops Everything and focuses there. Game over.
5)Fate. Looking at 4 we see that: No Gollum, No Ring Destruction. Fate and the nature of the ring dictate that they have to go by land and pick up gollum. Also, using 4, if a powerful person gets to Mt. Doom with Frodo, they take ring and replace Sauron, so the powerful people have to be kept busy and out of Frodo's hair or game over.
That is why the ring has to be walked to Mordor. It Cannot be flown in by the Eagles. And I think it is clearly stated well enough. There is a lot to pick up on in this story. It is not simple. It is not easy reading. If that is what you are looking for search elsewhere. Most of what people consider flaws in this book are largely either from taste (they don't like Tom Bombadill) or from missing somthing.
Aaron.
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