Plot neeping in The Lord of the Rings (the novel)

[womzilla]

No real spoilers here.

One of the perennial fannish discussions of The Lord of the Rings revolves around a significant plot hole. At three key points in the novel, the Giant Eagles show up and carry either Gandalf or Frodo and Sam a long distance in a very short time. (They also act as deus ex machina at a couple of points in The Hobbit.) So, naturally, people have wondered, "Why didn't the eagles just fly Frodo to Mt. Doom?" (This plan was the punchline of a Dork Tower sequence, but I can't find it in the archives.)

There's a good, though not quite complete, discussion of this issue on "Could the eagles have flown Frodo into Mordor?", <http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/eagles.html>.

(A semi-recent thread on rec.games.frp.dnd pointed out that a better route into Mordor would have been between Minas Morgul and the Black Gate, keeping Mt. Doom between the Ring and Barad-Dur at all times to reduce the visibility of the flight.)

Not mentioned is my favorite objection, which is that Gwaihir, the Lord of the Eagles, is one of the Valar err Maiar err a being of great power, and as such should not be trusted carrying the One Ring, even indirectly. The corrupting strength of the Ring is clearly stronger as one approaches Mordor--Sam and Frodo both understand that wearing the Ring within Mordor would be catastrophic. In Tolkien's universe, power calls to power, and there is every reason to believe that the Lord of the Eagles would fall completely under the spell of the Ring as he approached Mt. Doom.

The cited page mentions a couple of other plotting problems in LotR, including one that Christopher Tolkien mentioned in Unfinished Tales--that Saruman doesn't steal the Ring of Fire from Gandalf, even though one of the unfinished tales shows that Saruman coveted it.

Even Homer nods. (Marge: "Homer, the sea isn't wine-colored!" Homer: "D'omicron!")

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Alan found one in the latest reread that I've never seen anybody comment on before. When the barrow-wights take all the hobbits' clothing, how does Frodo hang on to the Ring?

[avram]

How would the Lord of the Eagles put on the ring?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Put it on his claw? I'm sure the Ring would stretch to accomodate--it's implied in the novel that it changes size as needed.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Is Manwe the Lord of Eagles? I forget. Since Sauron is only a Maiar, is his Ring really capable of corrupting the Lord of the Valar? Even Sauron's patron Melkor couldn't pull that off.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

No, the Lord of the Eagles is one of the Maiar--the same order of quasi-angelic beings as the wizards and Sauron. I fixed that in my Usenet post, but forgot to correct it here. See correction above.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Did Saruman know Gandalf had the ring of fire?
I get the feeling that taking the ring is not something that can be done simply, at least by the Powers, ie, Maia. But I could be wrong.
Do we know the King of the Eagles was a Maia?
Hm, time to reread stuff.

Re:

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

According to the FAQ I linked to, Saruman is shown in one of the Unfinished Tales as being jealous of Gandalf for having received the Ring of Fire, so he did, in fact know that Gandalf had it.

I've just reviewed the Guide to Middle-Earth ("Can't tell your Valar from your Maiar without it!"), and I discover that Gwaihir is not of the Maiar, either. I'm not sure where I got the impression he was, but I got that impression very strongly from something in one of the appendicies.