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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KidCthulhu" data-source="post: 1289881" data-attributes="member: 26">Pezagent, just one more thought on the Deus Ex Machina thing.  This literary device is considered hackneyed and trite by most literary critics, English professors and cognoscenti.  In modern parlance, to use a Deus Ex Machina is to admit that you can't get out of the story any other way.  I can see that you might feel that this implied criticism shouldn't be applied to JRR.The Greeks (who may not have invented it, but certainly used it a lot), used the trick as proof that the gods are watching over the actions of man and will be there to reward the righteous and punish the wrong do-er.  The gods appeared in the machine as an act of faith, and as a sign that all would be well if man did his best.I belive that Tolkein, with his knowledge of literature, and his deliberate use of a very stylized technique in LoTR, was drawing on that Greek history with his inclusion of the Eagles.  The Eagles didn't appear because Tolkein was a bad writer, who wrote himself in a corner.  The Eagles appear because the forces of good needed help at the last minute, and the (figurative) gods were coming to make sure everything turned out ok.Just my .02 cents, but perhaps this will sooth your objections.  The Eagles are a Deus Ex Machina, but that is not necessarily bad.</blockquote>