The Lord of the Rings – The Giant Eagle Shortcut

Posted by Fred Lecavalier on Oct 18, 2011 in Movies | 0 comments

Time and time again, I’ve heard this question being asked about the Lord of The Rings: Why didn’t Frodo fly to Mordor on a Giant Eagle instead of walking the whole way?

For those who have heard about the How It Should Have Ended videos, there is an animated version of Frodo and the Fellowship going to Mordor on an Eagle, with emphasis on the swiftness of the journey.

Every time I heard this question, I thought to myself that this particular option would make for a very poor story, let alone a novel or movie trilogy. Nevertheless, there has to be a feasible reason in the storyline to explain this.

I recently found an excellent explanation listed on the IMDB FAQ‘s:

Q. Why did Frodo have to make the long quest to Mount Doom on foot? Couldn’t he fly there on the back of a giant Eagle, like Gandalf does?

A. The book is more elaborate on this point than the film, and Peter Jackson also explains the reason during the audio commentary on the dvd. The Eagles did not take sides in the War of the Ring until the end, so they would not have assisted Frodo when he started his quest. This is similar to the Ents, who only participated when they felt they were drawn in by Saruman. The Eagles are also very proud creatures, who will not allow themselves to be used as just a means of transportation. The Eagle that rescued Gandalf (Ian McKellen) from the tower of Saruman (Christopher Lee) did so as a special service to Gandalf, whom he knew personally (Gandalf had previously saved his life). In addition to this, there are allusions that while Sauron was still in power, the Eagles would have struggled getting to Mount Doom, not least because of the wraiths on their fell-beasts and other dark creatures and powers that Sauron had at his disposal. Sending Frodo on the back of an eagle into Mount Doom would have been effectively air-mailing the ring to Sauron. A ground-based approach was decided to be much more effective and appropriate. Finally, the ring corrupts the proud much more easily than the humble. While there is no proof that the ring has the same effect on an Eagle as it does for men, there may have been too much risk in tempting the extremely proud Eagles.

After reading this, I felt the need to share it…