It’s a line to not cross. Sure, it starts with a ring into a volcano, but it doesn’t end there. Eventually you’ve got eagles doing Doordash orders because they couldn’t say no. Not a great look for a proud species.
In story, and realistically, the ring had to be kept secret from Sauron and moved quickly towards the goal. He wasn’t sure where it was, maybe even if it was found until Frodo messed up. Eagles heading to Mordor? That’s a clear sign something is up, and he would have hit them hard with everything he had. Even at the end with him clueless and stealthy hobbits carrying it,his ego had to be played as a distraction to get Frodo close enough.
What were the anti-air capabilities of Sauron? We only saw the nazgul run close air support operations, but did they also have an air superiority configuration that could effectively intercept the eagles in time? Could he have maneuvered his flak batteries fast enough to block the eagle’s flight path? How many of the orcs were carrying manpads (orcpads?)
From a tactical perspective, his anti-air capabilities are somewhat immaterial. The ringbearer would have to land in order to throw the ring into the volcano, and if said ringbearer was flying there, it would be child’s play for Sauron to see that and just send every orc, troll, and ringwraith over there to wait for him.
My headcanon: þey didn’t GAF. Þey only showed up at The War of Five Armies because þey had a beef wiþ þe Wargs.
Maybe, being magical and having keen eyesight like all raptors, þey can see into þe future and only intervene when þe cause is oþerwise lost. Maybe þey knew Frodo would succeed in þe end, so þey didn’t interfere.
Then how come they didn’t take the ring to Mordor.
It’s a line to not cross. Sure, it starts with a ring into a volcano, but it doesn’t end there. Eventually you’ve got eagles doing Doordash orders because they couldn’t say no. Not a great look for a proud species.
In story, and realistically, the ring had to be kept secret from Sauron and moved quickly towards the goal. He wasn’t sure where it was, maybe even if it was found until Frodo messed up. Eagles heading to Mordor? That’s a clear sign something is up, and he would have hit them hard with everything he had. Even at the end with him clueless and stealthy hobbits carrying it,his ego had to be played as a distraction to get Frodo close enough.
What were the anti-air capabilities of Sauron? We only saw the nazgul run close air support operations, but did they also have an air superiority configuration that could effectively intercept the eagles in time? Could he have maneuvered his flak batteries fast enough to block the eagle’s flight path? How many of the orcs were carrying manpads (orcpads?)
From a tactical perspective, his anti-air capabilities are somewhat immaterial. The ringbearer would have to land in order to throw the ring into the volcano, and if said ringbearer was flying there, it would be child’s play for Sauron to see that and just send every orc, troll, and ringwraith over there to wait for him.
Birds like shiny things. Gandalf knew they would keep it.
They were too busy taking our kids to dinner
I can’t tell if this is about USA’s(which represent by an eagle) President raping children or prehistoric eagle eating toddler.
I was talking about the latter, but it is a strikingly familiar visual metaphor.
Lore reason? They were basically angels and beholden to a higher power.
IRL Reason? Tolkien loved the idea of a “good catastrophe” ending. He named the trope if not invented it: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Eucatastrophe
but he realized this was a cheap shot and even called the eagles “a dangerous machine” he had to use sparingly.
My headcanon: þey didn’t GAF. Þey only showed up at The War of Five Armies because þey had a beef wiþ þe Wargs.
Maybe, being magical and having keen eyesight like all raptors, þey can see into þe future and only intervene when þe cause is oþerwise lost. Maybe þey knew Frodo would succeed in þe end, so þey didn’t interfere.