Comments
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@Shzeah, You are 100% correct. The ring gains power based on how powerful the user is, which is why when a hobbit (a relatively weak creature) wears it it can only turn them invisible. If someone like Gandalf or the Eagles were to get the ring it would grant them godlike power and they would be near-instantly corrupted. Gandalf knows this, and if you notice in the movies he refuses to look directly at the ring and panics when Frodo tried to give it to him.
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@Shzeah, I don’t know LotR lore. Are the Middle Earth gods still actively involved in the world?
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@Langenator, That’s pretty close. The ring doesn’t gain power, per se, but rather it expresses the power it already has (all the power of a maiar) based on it’s wearer. This is also shown a different way, Hobbit’s (small mostly quiet creatures) turn invisible, but Sauron doesn’t (neither does Galadriel or Bombadil). And Gandalf already has that Godlike power (in his true form) he has just been given a weaker form so that the peoples of middle earth will use his guidance and not his power to overcome the evil.
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@Shzeah, The eagles are very powerful but closer to angels than they are gods. The maiar would be the demi-gods in this example. But yes, it was feared that they might be corrupted as easily as any.
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@PBnJ, The gods still exist in the third age, they have just been sending Maiar to help Middle-Earth, rather than go themselves.
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@Shzeah, yea and also from what little I know about the eagles and what we have seen they dont travel very far from their home unless dire circumstances (or requests)ask for them- because they're very independent and never at someones beck and call - (i.e their ex machine during the battle of five armies and battle of the black gate). But also they are a very intelligent race and have helped gandalf several times in the moves and books. And sometimes have helped in just the books. But assuredly they'd know to not go near the ring. Most importantly it's too obvious to fly to mordor and no matter how secret it is they are flying sauron would find out in time. Thus going their by stealth (not flying) is the best option. I think if gandalf really had planned that theres be more subtle or even direct hints/notes from JRR
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@Shzeah, you know what the smart thing would have been bake the ring into a brick and then have the eagles drop it into the volcano while inside the brick the ring cannot be worn also have a couple of decoy Fellowships with fake rings so that sauron’s forces go after them instead of the eagle
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@Basil Fawlty, if I'm remembering my Silmarilion correctly, the eagles obey Gandalf because he created them.
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@Lysander99, The eagles were the creation of Manwë lord of the winds, the highest of the Valar. Gandalf, known to him as Olorin is his servant.
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@Shzeah, I mean, Tolkien went on record saying that he only didn't have them riding the eagles because the book would be WAY too short then
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@PBnJ, the gods still exist but have a kind of non interference policy (that some break occasionally) because of the sh*t that went down the last time they tried to help the peoples of Middle-earth
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The reason they dont use the eagles is they are trying to sneak the ring into mordor. Flying in would be obvious and easily seen. Trying that would have been an eagle slaughter.
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@lostnomad, but by what? There’s only the nazgul for air support an d they have a large numerical advantage. Have one eagle carrying Gandalf and Frodo dive bomb from directly over it. Gandalf can protect them using magic long enough for Frodo to throw it in without landing. It’s a fvcking volcano you don’t have to be that close to make it. But yeah retaliatory arrows could kill them but they all agree to lay down their lives to do this.
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@BigJohnson86, but is that something the eagles would even agree to do? “Yeah sure bro bro, you saved our leader that one time so we’re cool with sacrificing all our warriors for you”
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@LoveTheBomb137, why would they be sacrificing all their warriors? There’s only 1 who’d be at high risk who dive bombs the volcano.
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Thats a whole lot of assumptions
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If you liked the plan, then you should have put a ring on it
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The ring already corrupts people around it into trying to get back to sauron, so it probably corrupted the mind of the fellowship into taking the most dangerous route possible to make it less likely to be destroyed.
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@Qrow, That’s a neat idea, but it isn’t supported at all by the lore.
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@TheColossalTitan, it is, actually, the ring has its own will and is very treacherous, it would do something like @Qrow said. The thing that protected the fellowship was their refusal to use the ring.
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@Hot Coffee, I never denied that it couldn’t lead people to make bad choices. It’s the idea that it led them to choose the sneaking method that I disagree with. That’s actually worse for the ring because it’s the one way that actually could have, and did succeed in destroying it. The ring didn’t influence that choice, it often attempted to subvert it.
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@TheColossalTitan, if Boromir had actually put on the ring, he would have immediately betrayed the fellowship’s existence to Sauron, and it was a very near thing on the slopes of the Misty Mountains.
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@I Are Lebo, What does that have to do with what I’m saying? He suggested the ring was involved with the choices they made involving the path they took. This is not supported by the lore. Yes, they would have been discovered had Boromir taken the ring. But this has nothing to do with the fellowship’s decision to try the pass of Caradhras or the mines of Moria. This was the decision to keep the ring hidden which was detrimental to it’s will.
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@TheColossalTitan, I was agreeing with you. That was an example of the ring attempting to subvert the plan.
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@I Are Lebo, Ah, well my apologies then. Boromir is my favorite character, aside from Faramir. I love how human they are.
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@TheColossalTitan, Faramir was my favourite in the books because he was the unappreciated younger brother who kept his head where his beloved brother failed. As a younger brother myself, I related to that. I hated what they did to him in the movies.
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@I Are Lebo, Yeah they didn’t do him the justice he deserved. They also didn’t do Denethor the justice he deserved, for all his faults he was a badass. He aged himself prematurely by holding his own against the will of Sauron and even siphoning secrets and battle plans from him.
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@TheColossalTitan, I want to read the books someday, but the way the movies depicted Denethor made me absolutely hate him. Do you have any examples from the book that might shine some favorable light on him?
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@Stealthnuker, He still goes crazy and tries to kill Faramir, but they flesh out the reasons why in the book. Denethor is of Númenorean descent, like Aragorn. And he is only a few years older than Aragorn, which means, like Aragorn he should look much younger than he is. However, he was using the Palantír of Gondor to spy on Sauron. Sauron knew this and was attempting to corrupt Denethor to his side. However, Denethor’s will was so powerful that Sauron was unable to corrupt him and he was even stealing secrets and battle plans from Sauron without Sauron being able to stop it. Unfortunately, he was prematurely aged as a side effect. Also, he knew the full might of Sauron’s armies. Which is why he had fully given up hope by the end. He knew Gondor had no chance against the army Sauron had created. He went crazy because he knew his favorite son was dead and their chances of winning the war were basically zero. He was very flawed but undeniably badass.
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@TheColossalTitan, I suppose the movies introduced him right as he was going crazy and losing hope. It would have been cool to see him before that time. Another reason to read the books! Thanks for the info! Super cool!
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@Stealthnuker, I hated Denethor in the books, too, his reasoning is just better flushed out.
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I’m pretty sure it’s explained in the books or in the Hobbit that the eagles are a proud race and not servants to be used lightly or something like that. It’s been a while though I could be totally wrong.
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It’s the same reason Gandalf won’t touch the ring. He says he’d try to use it for good, but he fears the power the ring would have through him, and if he were to be corrupted then there would be no stopping him. The Eagles are just as afraid of the rings corrupting power as everyone else, and being god-like beings rather than just giant birds, it’s the same risk that Gandalf has.
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Also, if he’d followed through with that plan, they’d have come up about two and a half books short.
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He says "run, you fools" not fly..
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@BlacksmythTV, when was the last time you saw the movies?
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@Reedmg, Couple weeks ago, and I looked up the part on youtube
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@BlacksmythTV, not according to the official bluray subtitles.
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@Stealthnuker, Classic Mandela Effect. :) Thanks for letting me know!
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I might be wrong, but the Eagles are friends of Radagast the Brown. And he did not belive that Saruman was a traitor and did not help Gandalf. So when everything came to light ablut Saruman he went to ask the Eagles for aid.
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If I remember correctly, I seem to remember the word “fly” used elsewhere in the books in a context that made it seem like they meant it as like a fast run, not actually flying in the air. In that case, Gandalf was probably just telling the others to get outta there, fast!
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In the books the Eagles refuse to fly to Mordor. They would be shot right out of the sky and wouldn’t risk themselves that way.
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Or maybe the Eagles refused to do it. They aren’t a benevolent, always agreeable group of good guys. They’re shown in the Hobbit to be only has helpful as they needed to be, and only attacked the goblins and saved the dwarves because they were already there hunting for goblin excursions.
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Not if I don't read it
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Tl;dr
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@iOS12, TLDR version: it was Gandalf's secret plan to take the eagles the whole time. Then he died and his last words were "fly you fools"
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@Stealthnuker, thanks! Glad I didn’t read.
If I know my LotR correctly, that would be a terrible idea. The One Ring grants its power based on the user, the stronger the user the greater the power. And the eagles are like the equivalent of a (Demi?) God, so if it corrupted them they’d be unstoppable. Correct me if I’m wrong anyone