D&D General Why can Giant Eagles, Giant Elk, and Giant Owls speak?

[the Jester]

Well, sure, but that's a circular answer. They 1e authors had to make the decision about why they should speak, too.

I would guess Tolkien and, in general, all the mythology and folk tales involving talking to giant animals. If you're looking for actual logic, I don't think you'll find any- in a lot of cases, D&D draws on a lot of tropes and myths and stories in which you see people that do it, so the game has it in there somewhere.

 

[pnewman]

Because birds are amazingly smart for the size of their brains. Make them giant sized and their brains will be more than smart enough to talk. They also have the ability to talk, as seen (heard?) in parrots.

Also, Tolkein.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Because birds are amazingly smart for the size of their brains. Make them giant sized and their brains will be more than smart enough to talk. They also have the ability to talk, as seen (heard?) in parrots.

Their lungs are probably complex enough to generate lots of the same noises we can, but the ones they're going to have problems with are m's, t's, p's, and other plosives.

I agree with those saying that it might be because of their big brains, but I also think it has a bit of magic to do with it. Like, Tarrasques probably have huge brains, but they're not smart, don't speak, and so on.

 

[Khelon Testudo]

Actually, parrots are pretty good at mimicking the sounds of speech, including those you'd think need lips.

 

[Tonguez]

Have you ever met a giant Owl or a giant Elk that didn’t have language capabilities?

I bet you haven’t, and thus WotC is maintaining realism

 

[Weiley31]

As an add-on to the Tolkien part, there was a LOTR game some time ago called "War in The North" and the Giant Eagle that "joins" your party speaks Common/English.

And as an add-on to the Giant Animal part, I say/view it as such creatures being related to the Primal Spirits of Nature. Such beings have existed for quite sometime and have seen/heard the various tongues of different races spoken for long periods of time.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Talking animals are a big part of Narnia. There are talking giant owls in Silver Chair.

But remember you don't have to make them like that - if you prefer them to be regular non-talking animals it's a very easy change to make.

 

[jasper]

To make play easier. Or just to confuse you.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

The existence of talking animals makes it easier to ask for directions when your party is lost in the woods.

 

[Gradine]

What's really rude is that the Giant Raven, an unarguably more intelligent bird, can't speak