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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1270050" data-attributes="member: 177">Well, that makes them a chauffer service.  Much more selective.  Though, the fact that the eagles always seem to rally around Gandalf is telling.  You see, implication is a valid literary tool (so JRRT does not have to mention that having the Company of the Ring get in a clown car to drive up to the Gates isn't a good idea).  So are imagry and symbology.In the celtic and anglo-saxon traditions from which Tolkien takes inspiration, the eagle is one symbol of connection with divinity. In a symbolic sense, Gandalf can call on the eagles because Gandalf is, in fact, a divine power himself.  But divine power isn't to be used lightly.  Saving the bacon of a semi-divinity is one thing (especially when in LotR, the Eagles show when Gandalf is fairly directly facing another similarly divine critter like Saruman and Sauron).  Saving the bacon of mortals who are supposed to be tested to see if they can fend for themselves is quite another.Oh, someone will no doubt bring up The Hobbit, and the Eagles saving Bilbo and company.  Well, for one thing Gandalf is there.  For another, one can read that (again, symbolically) as the divine hand making sure Bilbo says on the road to recovering the One Ring, which is required for the testing of mortals in the trilogy to follow.  Plus, The Hobbit wasn't written on quite the same basis of rigor as the LotR in the first place.</blockquote>