syphon00

never read the books here,
just wondering if someone could explain

gcribbs

they first appeared in The Hobbit.

Then they rescued Gandolf in the first movie FOTR.

syphon00

ok..but that does really explain what the heck they are
unless they really are just some nice giant eagles that drop from
time to time to save the main chars because they must live for the story to continue or something like that

Seeker

The eagles are like Switzerland - pretty much neutral in most cases.

They happen to owe Gandalf a couple of favors though, so help three times in the four books (once in hobbit, once in fotr, once in rotk)

syphon00

so they're just mythical creature that look like giant eagles

Supermallet

They actually are giant Eagles. They first appear in The Silmarillion (in terms of chronology of middle earth, not chronology of when the books were published). They used to be the watchdogs of a hidden Elven city. They're just something that live in Middle Earth. Giant Eagles. Go figure.

Get Me Coffee

Dragons, orc, and goblins are all acceptable...but a giant eagle that's weird

Mickey_O'Neil

I wonder why Gandalf didn't give the ring to a giant eagle and have him or her drop it in Mt. Doom. That could have saved us about 7 hours.

Astro

Ahh, the classic eagle dropping ring into Mount Doom question...

Hobbits are unique in that they are able to withstand the strong corrupting powers of the ring. Bilbo was the first person ever to willingly give up the ring. Even at the end, Frodo couldn't bring himself to toss it into the fire. There's no way the eagle would drop the ring. The last thing Middle Earth needs is an all powerful dark eagle ruling over everyone.

So, lets say you instead want to have Frodo ride on the back of an eagle to drop the ring into Mount Doom. That's not the best idea considering the giant eye of Sauron constantly scanning for anything unusual, the nine Nazgul circling the land at any given time, and the thousands of orcs who would be shooting arrows at the eagle.

And above all else, the story would suck, smartass.

Snowlarbear

but galadriel resists the temptation of the ring, as does aragorn in FOTR.

Astro

They don't have the ring in their hands. There's a difference between Galadriel or Aaragorn refusing to take the ring and asking them to carry it to Mordor and toss it into Mount Doom.

DRG

Okay, so do you actually have to touch the ring to be *initially* tempted by it? (Not counting those that were already in possession of it.) If not, why couldn't they have just put it in a box or something?

PalmerJoss

I would have to say no, because I believe that it's explained in the movies that the ring is almost a living entity itself. The ring will tempt you all by itself. Boromir was tempted by it even before he touched it--you can see it at the council of Elrond. Putting it in a box wouldn't have made much of a difference IMO. Someone would still have to carry it, and that person would have to bear the weight of it all by themselves.

Tuan Jim

In the books did they also pick up Gandalf after his Balrog fight when he's lying there on top of the mountain? I can't remember.

Hiro11

Gandalf Ex Machina.

I think Tolkein ran out of gas at the end of LOTR and couldn't figure out how to get the characters out of the fix they were in...

The situation in the Hobbit is even more farfetched (Wargs everywhere, tree on fire). It's as if ol' JRR just gave up and said: "uh....Giant Eagles, yeah, that's the ticket!"

JohnL

An eagle did rescue Gandalf after the balrog fight--took him to Lothlorien to recuperate.

JohnL

It wasn't a matter of Tolkien running out of gas. It would be easy enough to rewrite the story so that Gandalf & crew journey to Mt Doom and rescue Frodo and Sam in the nick of time. But the ring has already been destroyed, the main conflict of the story over, so the journey would be tedious. The eagles provide a handy, and more inspirational, shortcut.

It's Jackson's amplification that has the eagles attacking the fell-beasts.

Duran

Tolkien never had a problem with being tedious before, especially in FOTR.

Hobgoblin

Smeagol was a hobbit......

Goblincat

He had the ring for 7 years before going into hiding in the mountains, and had it for nearly 500 years there. Kinda hard to resist it for that long.

Jason

Giant eagle?

Giantrobo

I would say a "Hobbit-like" before he got the Ring.

TCG

^^
technically, Smeagol was one of the 'riverfolk'.

caligulathegod

Gollum was indeed a Hobbit. Tolkien confirms it in his other writings. The power the Ring bestows is commensurate with the power of the user. If Gandalf or Saruman were to use it they would be nearly as powerful as Sauron himself, but because the Ring was filled with such malice, it would ultimately corrupt them. Even the desire for the Ring corrupted Saruman. If Galadriel had taken it, she would have become a powerful queen. She is the most powerful of all the extant Elves because she studied under Melian the Maia and learned much Lore and "magic" which she enhanced with her own Ring of Power. She would be almost as powerful as Gandalf would have been. Aragorn would have become like a great Dictator. His power would have been to command great armies and they would follow his will, regardless of what he desired. The Ring would have made his desires evil. Even Sauron's power was in his ability to sway others to his will. Sauron set himself up as a god and tyrant to his orcs and the Easterners and Southrons under his will.

What is unique about Hobbits is not some inborne natural resistance to the evil effects of the Ring but was their very nature. They keep to themselves. They were only concerned with gardens, and food and good times. They didn't like adventures and didn't like to command others or be commanded. One of the running gags in the book is that no one else in Middle-earth has ever heard of them. Gandalf had been among the only outsiders interested in Hobbits. He saw in their very unexceptional nature a hidden strength. What for, he knew not. He just had a feeling. Well, one particular Hbbit caught his notice. Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo was unique among Hobbits. He had their nature but he was more open to the idea of adventure and travel. It was that aspect he saw (before Bilbo did!) that led him to introduce the Dwarves to him. He wanted to help the Dwarves to get rid of Smaug the dragon. he knew that the day was coming when Sauron would challenge ME and the less tools (read:dragons) to help him, the better.

During the adventure, Bilbo came into possession of the Ring. He just found it and since his only desires were for typical Hobbit things, the Ring did not corrupt him as it would another being. Gollum was Hobbit, too, but he was not a very nice Hobbit. He murdered his cousin to get the Ring, so he was easily corrupted. Even then, because of his Hobbit nature, all he ever used it for was to hear secrets and then eventually just to hunt food. He would even kill orcs to eat. After years, he just holed up in the Misty Mountains and ate raw fish. He didn't need the Ring to become invisible to hunt them so he wore it less. He just needed it in the vacinity. That's why it was lying where it was when Bilbo found it.

Frodo was a good decent Hobbit. He had Bilbo's bravery and willingness for adventure and also had a Hobbit's typical loves, that is, well tilled earth, and a pipe in the evening. Because Gandalf had studied Hobbits for so long, he knew that this nature would be hard to corrupt completely and he knew Frodo very well. Also Sam was a perfect Hobbit. He had no desire for fame or power but was stubborn and when he set out to do a job, he finished it. This would help Frodo more than anything. Frodo would resist the Ring as much as possible but would eventually succumb. Sam was to help Frodo get as close as he could and Gollum would have some role to play, also.

So, in summary, the Hobbits didn't have some natural resistance to evil. They just had no grandiose ambitions that the Ring would be able to twist to bad ends, like Men or even Elves.



As to the Eagles. The eagles are the messengers of Manwe, the vala. He is the vala in charge of Winds and the Breath of Arda (think Odin or Zeus) and the Eagles were his emissaries to Middle-earth. His original eagles watched over middle-earth and reported to him events or would rescue those in need. Near the end of the Second age, when ERU (GOD with the Big "G") removed Aman from the earth and the Valar laid down their governance of the world, the Eagles were less involved with the events of Middle-earth. They became more neutral. They did come into events at the end of the Hobbit and also helped Gandalf on occasion. Although it was Radagast the Brown wizard that sent the Eagle to Gandalf at Orthanc, the eagles were willing to help Gandalf because he, also, was the servant of Manwe. The Valar no longer concerned themselves with the events of Middle-earth, but still loved the people so they decided to send the 5 wizards to ME to help spur people on to fight for themselves. They were to be glorified motivational speakers. Only Gandalf was faithful to the cause and when he was killed, Eru sent him back with enhanced powers to help men finally defeat Sauron once and for all. These powers were an enhanced ability to spur men on (look at what he did to King Theoden) and also he was the lead strategist against Sauron in the War of the Ring. Before his ascension to "White" he might not have taken charge like he did.

As to why the Eagles didn't just drop the Ring off. They would have been attacked by everything Sauron had. Also, it wasn't their job. Sauron had to be defeated by the actions of Men to prove they were worthy of being the leaders of the world in the absence of the Elves. Again, that's why Gandalf never really does any magic. His job was to help Men help themselves.


Anyway, I'm rambling. I'll let go now.

Puzznic

Thanks for taking the time to post all of that. Very informative