Talk:Eagles

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Latest comment: 2 March 2022 by Quirinius in topic Eagles as Maiar

Maybe the eagles couldn't fly them to Mt. Doom because they were busy in the north and were only able to go south to Mordor after the Battle of Dale, which ended 5 days before the ring was destroyed. Unsigned comment by 71.135.68.111 (talk • contribs).

Maybe, maybe not. There are, AFAIK, no sources that place the Eagles in the Northern campaign of the War of the Ring. Unless you have a valid source, don't add it.
Whole page needs a makeover anyway. -- Ederchil (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 07:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Concerning the makeover: we use the Ainur template on this page, and thus basically say that eagles are Ainur. Shouldn't we note the ambiguity concerning the nature of eagles more clearly? --Morgan 13:55, 5 March 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I agree entirely: they could just be large, sentient, long-lived birds (I've also been complaining about the physical size of that template for a while). --Mith (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 10:14, 7 March 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]
In the Lord of the Rings: War in the North video-game developed by Snowblind Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_War_in_the_North), this problem is addressed by Mithrandir (Gandalf). He appears whilst the game's adventuring trio have reached Rivendell and are speaking with Elrond (about the Fellowship). Gandalf effectively rebukes the suggestion of air-bearing the Ring with a general answer.
The Great Eagles play a great part in the game whose campaign sprawls the north (such as Sarn Ford) (hence the title), so taken as canon, the assertion that the Great Eagles are never placed by a valid source in the Northern campaign of the War of the Ring as asserted by Ederchil, is false.
Disclaimer: I've only ever read The Hobbit and only once, I am a casual fan of the movies, and neither a hardcore fan of the plot in WitN (War in the North, the video-game). I recite off of memory. I have never taken the time to study the map provided in the game to determine what constitutes the north; I take from the title and dialogue. --NiteCyper 05:27, 30 May 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

quote does not actually appear in letter 210 Unsigned comment by 74.120.152.117 (talk • contribs).

Yes it does, under section 4. --Ederchil (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 07:32, 27 January 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Flying the Ring to Mount Doom[edit source]

With The Eye ever watching, it seems fairly easy to draw the conclusion that all of the military resources present in Mordor, physical or otherwise, would and could be quickly focused on a flock of Eagles flying towards and then over Mordor. This force would, in particular, include Nazgul on their winged beasts. I cannot see any frontal attack, including in the air, being a simple operation. Hobbits in Elven cloaks worked pretty well. Unsigned comment by 67.118.106.165 (talk • contribs).

There's an eye?-- KingAragorn  talk  contribs  edits  email  20:40, 25 October 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The book treats the ring itself as sentient. The books do not treat the ring as a merely a magical item or tool, but more like a being who let the human king die for killing its master, who discarded Gollum because it no longer needed him, and who kept whispering dark secrets to Bilbo and then Frodo, and wearing down latter's defenses until even his "pure" heart became completely enthralled by its power. As the ringbearer draws closer to Mt. Doom, the ring's corrupting power is also shown to grow exponentially. Bilbo was able to resist its power for 60 years because he was nowhere near Mt. Doom, but Frodo... well. And it only took a very short while for Sam to develop a near inability to part with it, regardless of the halflings' supposed ability to resist its power.

Gandalf's stance when it came to whomever handled the ring reflects this - it was never to fall into the hands of someone with any measure of power (including himself - he wouldn't even so much as touch it) or someone who had any reason (good or bad) for using it. The Eagles would fail both checks. In comparison Lady Galadriel, for all her wisdom and power, very nearly succumbed to the temptation of claiming ring and she was nowhere near Mt. Doom. Frodo merely "offered" her the ring, which is roughly the equivalent of giving another sentient creature complete control over the fate of the ringbearer.

Eagles and fëar[edit source]

The article currently claims that Silmarillion Ch.2 confirms that the Eagles have no fëar. But there is nothing about it in the actual text! It's only said that the Eagles will appear earlier than some assorted spirits. Perhaps they really are just very smart animals, or perhaps they are a group of spirits that's planned to appear separately from the rest. The text allows both interpretations (in fact, without reading Myths Transformed, you'd likely assume the latter option). The article as it is makes an assuption and calls it a fact. --46.31.30.41 09:29, 2 October 2018 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I hope the issue is now resolved, Ilma. Haran 04:37, 6 November 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Eagles as Maiar[edit source]

In The Nature of Middle-earth (Part 3, chapter: Manwë's Ban, footnote n. 3, dating from c. 1970), Tolkien states that the Eagles are Maiar who adopted such form.

Given how late this text is, how are we to incorporate it into this article, and other articles concerning the Great Eagles? IvarTheBoneless 02:15, 19 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

For some things contained in NoME such as the Undying Lands becoming America I have put them in the "other versions of the legendarium" section, due to that being a one off thing that generally does not agree with the big three published works. However, something like this has commonly been fan speculation for years predating NoME's release. This fact does not sigifnicantly alter the role of the Eagles like some other things in NoME, so personally I would be fine just editing the main text. However, I think it brings to the fore a larger issue: we don't really have a policy of addressing NoMe as a whole. Right now it's just up to the individual to decide if fact 1 can be in the main text while fact 2 must be in the "other versions" section. I think we soon need to decide some kind of policy for NoME.
Regarding this page, for now I would just put it in the "other versions" section until we can reach a consensus about NoME as a whole.Turiannerevarine 10:58, 19 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Wasn't this note written by Hostetter rather than by Tolkien? Haran 23:07, 1 March 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
No. This footnote was Tolkien's. --Quirinius 08:13, 2 March 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]