@Fox: there is nothing to actually support that though, beyond Gandalf using the word "fly", which is very clearly "run from the shadow creature older than time and the massive orc army"
and trust me, Tolkien would have mentioned it in some form or another if he had intended for it to be the case
the real reason, as space mentioned, is that giant flying birds that rarely leave their territory are actually really fucking conspicuous, especially when they're holding the thing that Sauron was constantly searching for
that and they wouldn't have been able to destroy the ring anyway, although to be fair, no-one in Middle Earth at the time had that willpower anyway
that and there's an actual quote about how the eagles have to be used sparingly in-story by tolkien for thematic reasons
this nerd rant was brought to you by pyro
ah but ram how do you know I'm not doing that behind my screen
@space: [1]
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@Fox: "oh shit, Sauron, the last lieutenant of Morgoth is dead and we don't have to worry about him erupting a volcano on us while we retrieve the heroes of Arda"
basically thematically the eagles are hope and reprieve IIRC. the force that appears when all seems lost (frodo and sam gonna get lavad)
edited 5th Jul '15 12:42:30 AM by ThanatoSeraph

the ringwraiths have like these dragon hirses
and sauron woulda seen them go by air and just mass all his forces around mt doom
UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI