Deaths and 10-Hour 'Lord of the Rings' Quest Avoidable: Why Eagles Don’t Just Fly Frodo to Mordor
These beings possessed intelligence — and that made them dangerous.
One of the most frequently asked questions among viewers of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and readers of Tolkien’s books is: why didn’t Frodo and the company simply use the Great Eagles to fly straight to Mordor and avoid all the dangers?
There are several explanations for this conundrum. We’ve gathered some of them below.
The Nature of the Eagles
The Great Eagles of Middle-earth are intelligent, almost divine beings — not just giant birds. They help Gandalf and other heroes only in extreme situations, as old allies, but they do not serve them. They have their own purposes, and risking themselves for the Ring’s mission would not have aligned with them.
Even if the Eagles had agreed to fly, their appearance over Mordor would have immediately drawn Sauron’s attention. The Dark Lord could have sent Nazgûl on fell beasts to intercept, used magic, or deployed siege weapons to shoot them down. Frodo and Sam succeeded in entering Mordor because of stealth — the Eagles would have destroyed that chance completely.
The Influence of the Ring
But the most important argument is rarely discussed: the Eagles could also have fallen under the Ring’s temptation. In the books, these beings speak the Common Tongue (Westron), which highlights their intelligence. Like Elves, Men, or Dwarves, the Eagles wouldn’t have been immune to the Ring’s influence. If an Eagle carried Frodo and felt the power of the artifact, it could have thrown the hobbit off and become the new Dark Lord — even more dangerous than Sauron.
