MovieChat Forums > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Discussion > They flew home on a bird

They flew home on a bird

posted 8 months ago by Bennymuso (1233)
4 replies | jump to latest

Why didn't they fly there on the bird.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

1. The Eagles are sentient and are not carrier pigeons for the other races to use.
2. Stealth was necessary for the quest to succeed, flying a mass of Eagles into Mordor would've attracted a lot of attention.
3. No matter how fast the Eagles, they are no match for the thousands of Orcs who could shoot them down, in addition to the Nazgul.
4. The Eagles only intervened at the Black Gate because they saw that Aragorn's and Gandalf's small and surrounded army were willing to sacrifice themselves for a free Middle-Earth, and so assisted them in the fight.

Enough reasons for you?

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 8 months ago

They were only able to fly in after Sauron was defeated. That should tell you how difficult it was to get in at all.

[–] Bennymuso (1233) 8 months ago

The eagles flew over the battle at the end, they weren't shot down.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

The battle was just outside Mordor, outside the Black Gate, and the Orcs were too busy fighting Men and other good-guy races to bother with the Eagles, but they did send the Nazgul to engage them.

The danger for the Eagles would be flying into Mordor itself, where all of the Orcs with their big weapons are, as well as the Nazgul, the Eye of Sauron and who knows what other evil sorcery and the foul air, especially if Sauron figured out what they were doing, in which case they would all go after the few Eagles there were.