Controversy[]
The notion that the eagles wouldn't be able to fly higher than arrow range is quite implausible. In that case they wouldn't even be able to cross over the mountain ranges surrounding Mordor, they'd have to enter from the east or fly right above the Black gate. I don't even think their own nests are at such low an altitude. The eagles carried people over the mountains surrounding Gondolin - surely that is much higher than arrow trajectories? Gwaihir even flew Gandalf down from the peak of Zirakzigil.
I think they are simply not stealthy enough. The Crack of Doom is right next to Barad-dûr, if Sauron saw eagles approaching he might put it under heavy guard. It is also a matter of how much aid the Valar decided to give the free peoples in their struggle against Sauron. They elected to send the wizards but the eagles of Manwë were never sent to take such an active role. Aewheros (talk) 00:58, November 25, 2014 (UTC)
That it is not the Eagle's responsibility is rather myopic, and is forcing modern day contentions (people are trying to force video games, or the "Game of Thrones" into Middle-earth) upon the relationships of the forces arrayed against The Shadow. Gwaihir, as he states in the chapter The Field of Cormallen would have no problem taking anyone, anywhere they needed to go (earlier citations of the conversation of Gandalf and Gwaihir after Gandalf's rescue from Orthanc confuse the refusal of Gwaihir with a rejection, and not simply Gwaihir saying "I CAN'T take you very far, because you are heavy, and I was planning to carry messages, not heavy people, and thus I currently cannot fly very far." - see the meaning of the Old English Barun, from which is derived the verb used by Tolkien when discussing the Great Eagles carrying people: "to bear"). The Problem is that the Great Eagles are too obvious to the forces of evil. If they were to be flying toward Mordor for no apparent reason, Sauron, and everyone in Mordor would be deeply concerned, and attentive to their actions, focusing quite a bit of attention upon them.
It would, though, have been exactly the Great Eagle's responsibility to carry the Ruling Ring to Mordor if such a plan was sane, reasonable, and stood any chance of success. They, like Gandalf, and the Istari, were sent by Manwë to fight again The Shadow in any fashion they could. Thus, if a reasonable plan were presented to them, it would have been a grave sin, and a great evil to refuse it. Like Gandalf, they were willing to lay their lives down to defeat The Enemy (Sauron at this point), and would have done so to a bird if it meant they would have been able to destroy the Ruling Ring. But no such plan existed. Tom shippey briefly mentions this in the work The Road to Middle-earth.
MB
73.166.84.4 06:39, August 2, 2015 (UTC)