I've tried answering this question before, so here's my short essay/answer (copied and pasted because I'm lazy ):

[quote="Eldorion":1hgmxq95]The purpose of the Fellowship of the Ring, and the linchpin of the entire strategy decided on in Rivendell, was to destroy the Ring in a mission of [i:1hgmxq95]secrecy[/i:1hgmxq95].

Taking the Eagles might have worked, I will grant that. It may have been a successful mission and allowed the Ring to be destroyed earlier than it "actually" was. But it would have sacrificed secrecy and drastically increased the changes of the Ring being captured. When you have the fate of the world hanging in the balance, you don't want to take any unnecessary chances.

Eagles are, clearly, far more noticeable than Hobbits or other travelers on foot. We don't know how exactly Gandalf planned to get into Mordor (presumably it didn't involve the breaking of the Fellowship), but we can surmise that they would have gone through a mountain pass or valley some where. We know of only three (the Morannon, Cirith Ungol, and the Nameless Pass), but it stands to reason that there were more. Not ideal ones perhaps (though Cirith Ungol itself was not ideal), but mountains are not impenetrable and continuous walls of rock.

An Eagle flying through the air would be easily noticed by Orcs or other watchers (remember the sinister and sorcerous ones at the Tower of Cirith Ungol). Travelers on foot could sneak around much more easily, scout ahead (especially with a ranger), and slip by unnoticed (remember how quiet hobbits are?). The Eagles [i:1hgmxq95]might[/i:1hgmxq95] have been able to slip by unnoticed, but it would have been far more likely that they would have been caught. Once inside Mordor (if they even make it), there is still the chance that the Eagles could be caught. There's also the threat of the Nazgul's fell beasts, and archers.

The "classic" Eagle plan, as outlined in the YouTube video, would not work for a couple of reasons. First, the Ring could not just be dropped into the caldera; it had to be taken into the Crack of Doom itself. As the name implies, this is an enclosed space inside the mountain. An Eagles likely would not fit inside, so it would have to bring have a rider. This would limit the height to which it could fly (the rider would need to breathe) and its agility during a fight. Yet more possibilities for failure. Second, a giant Eagle landing on the slope of Mount Doom would be quickly evident to any troops stationed there. A small group of people on foot might be able to sneak up unnoticed. Again, the Eagle plan might work, but it increases the chances of being caught.

The Council of Elrond did not know exactly what to expect in Mordor, so they had to plan for the worst (i.e., assume the worst case scenario for each possible solution). The Fellowship plan was itself a very long shot and indeed, it failed in its original conception, though obviously a fragment of the Fellowship persisted; but the Eagle plan raises such a host of potential issues and problems that I think it is quite understandable why the Council opted to send people on foot. As I mentioned at the beginning, their emphasis was on [i:1hgmxq95]secrecy[/i:1hgmxq95].

(This of course assumes that the Eagles, were they asked, would consent to fly the Ringbearer/Fellowship to Mount Doom.) [/quote:1hgmxq95]

You're very welcome.

Sauron - and Saruman - had many spies that would have ntoiced the Eagles. Given the incredibly sensitive naturenof the Quest, I can understand why they didn't want to risk it. In any event, I agree that it isn't a plot hole.

Perhaps. However, they weren't on the lookout for him (much less him and the One Ring) at the time. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have let him come through even if they saw him, though. They didn't know he was going to rescue Gandalf (Gwaihir didn't know that himself!).

[quote="Odo Banks":dbtl6mob]Imagine the adventures they could have had if the Nine of the Fellowship were to set out on Eagles. Dogfights with Nazgul? Anti-eagle flak-guns over Mordor? Dam Buster technique training as Frodo earned his wings?[/quote:dbtl6mob]

Even I have to admit that that story would be incredibly awesome.

[quote:dbtl6mob]Eldo, Mount Doom had a hole in the top. It just had a passage bored in its side. If it had a roof, surely T would have mentioned it. Please correct me if I'm wrong! (I'm sure you will! )[/quote:dbtl6mob]

You know me too well. Tolkien actually did mention it, at least by implication. In Book VI, Chapter 3 (Mount Doom), we read that Sam "was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers were hear subdued.... Then Sam saw that he was in a long cave or tunnel that bored into the Mountain's smoking cone." The Crack of Doom itself was at the end of the tunnel where it opened up over a pool of lava. It was in the tunnel itself, home of Sauron's sorcery, that the Ring needed to be brought.

What [i:1fe7ktww]implication[/i:1fe7ktww] are you implying? I'm gonna win this one, I just know it! Not that just [i:1fe7ktww]winning [/i:1fe7ktww]an argument is important. No, finding out the[i:1fe7ktww] facts[/i:1fe7ktww] is the [i:1fe7ktww]true purpose[/i:1fe7ktww] of any discussion or debate. We should all seek to be winners in matters of the intellect - of learning - of history - of human knowledge - of Lore... Discussion should never be there so some egomaniac can just set out to win an argument ...[b:1fe7ktww]LIKE HELL IT SHOULDN'T [/b:1fe7ktww]!

Come on Eldo, let's see you put your dukes up now!

Um... "smoking cone"? "Crack of Doom"? No [i:1fe7ktww]'lids'[/i:1fe7ktww] mentioned, pray tell! No [i:1fe7ktww]'oven covers[/i:1fe7ktww]', no [i:1fe7ktww]'silcone in the cracks'[/i:1fe7ktww]?

"Youiz wrong, Preciousss! I knows you iz! I saw it with eyeses, but I've only got the two, isn't it so Preciousssssss...Mustn't gloat... That wouldn't be nice, now would it? Oh no, no....that wouln't be nice... Mussent glowat, Preciousssssssss!"

Loremaster! Oh well. so much for your mantle! Oh how it has fallen!

Sorry - it's the Sauron inside of me that makes me do it, Eldo - I don't blame myself!

Odo the Great! Odo the Loremaster! Odo the Humble Genius! [i:1fe7ktww]Nice![/i:1fe7ktww] ....

Don't try and be inscrutable, Eldo! (It doesn't suit you - more up GB's alley than yours! [i:1ndu9vx7]Alley![/i:1ndu9vx7] Tee-hee.. sorry...) Where was I... Oh yes... I was being flaming mad!!!! )... Eldo - a volcano's cone has a hole in the top of it! Yep - the top of it! Even [i:1ndu9vx7]I [/i:1ndu9vx7]know a tunnel hasn't got a lid on it! Otherwise it would be a 'ditch'! Don't try to bamboozle me with your fancy talk of tunnels-in-the-side-of-volcanos, when you know full well we're talking about Mount Doom (a volcano) having a hole in it's top! Yes, if you must, a [i:1ndu9vx7]hole[/i:1ndu9vx7] in its [i:1ndu9vx7]cone[/i:1ndu9vx7]! See how angry you've made me! I've gone and put seven - yes, [i:1ndu9vx7]seven[/i:1ndu9vx7]! - angry faces here! And I'm not even sure that's legal!!!

I can live with risk - it's volcanos without holes in the top that worry me! Your illustration implies that at last you've replaced [i:388ocxj8]madness [/i:388ocxj8]with [i:388ocxj8]reason[/i:388ocxj8]!

So long as you're saying it was a [i:5uq6rx6p]whole[/i:5uq6rx6p] hole, I suppose... But I do suspect you're being a little tricksey....

Now, now, Tin, I usually agree with you on most things... but... imagine this!

Frodo: Eagle One to Eagle Two. I'm closing in on the Mountains of Shadow!
Sam: Eagle Two to Eagle One... I'm at eleven o'clock and closing.... Oh God! I'm hit! I've lost me dorsal! Dorsal down! Dorsal down!
Fodo: I'm coming Sam! I'm coming!
Sam: No... it's too dangerous... You must guard the Ring!
Gandalf: Eagle Three! Eagle Three here! Frodo, I'm right on your tail. Don't worry, I've got an eye on your ring...
Frodo (alarmed): [i:37r63e8f]The[/i:37r63e8f] Ring....[b:37r63e8f][i:37r63e8f] THE[/i:37r63e8f][/b:37r63e8f] Ring!
Gandalf: Eagle Three - whatever!
Frodo (looking nervously over his shoulder now): I feel very uncomfortable with that old poof bringing up my rear!
Gandalf: I heard that!
Aragorn (on the ground and viewing everything through a Palantir): It's looking dirty up there, Faramir!
Faramir: All I can say is, I'm glad my ass is on the gound!
Legolas (on the side of a shadowy mountain - and frantic): Skateboard Seven! Skateboard Seven! The Enemy have ball-bearings! Repeat! The Enemy have ball-bearings...!


Now, Tin, you can't tell me that wouldn't be an improvement!

I suppose you're right But how interesting would it be if that did work? I could see a whole new story working itself out! The prologue being the destrution of the ring.... and the story itself being what happens to all of the characters afterward since all 3 books never happened

Manwe picked Gandalf, the eagles are the heralds of Manwe, the Gods generally don't interfere except around Gandlaf, (I suspect that's all Manwe's doing) so the eagles are only allowed to be used directly in association with Gandlaf- Battle of 5 Armies, Isengard, bringing Gandalf resurrected self to Lothlorien, attacking the Nazgul and going to find Frodo, Sam are all associated with Gandalf.
So the reason they don't use the eagles is the Gods dont want them to- and the eagles are pretty picky and moody in the book anyway.
p.s. getting deja vu here haven't we covered this somewhere?

[quote="Tinuviel":38a3hkqd]I suppose you're right But how interesting would it be if that did work? I could see a whole new story working itself out! The prologue being the destrution of the ring.... and the story itself being what happens to all of the characters afterward since all 3 books never happened[/quote:38a3hkqd]

Fanfiction, anyone?

I thought it was Mount Doom, not Mount Dormant? And if one were to delve a tunnel into the side of a dormant volcano, wouldn't one hit hot lava? And do volcanos have big hollows beneath their crusty tops? And if so, wouldn't the heat and gases inside the chamber be too much to bear - even for Sauron? Tricky place to make a Ring all round, I'd say! Give me an open top volcano with a tunnel delved so that it was somewhere just above the bubbling lava! Come on, guys, we're not discussing fantasy here - or are we?

I have a feeling Sauron would realize it wasn't the One pretty quickly. Granted, he still wouldn't expect them to destroy it, but the Sackville-Baggins sacrifice wouldn't really accomplish much (other than getting rid of them ).

"Mature" or "Fantasy", which is it Odo?

[b:3od9otzi]GB[/b:3od9otzi]

Good point, lad, good point! About time we started being a little more mature all round, don't you think?

Whaaat?

Well may you roll your eyes (or look shocked!) I'm pointing the blame squarely at two particular forumers. Ringleaders of Sillliness I name them! (Yes, you know who you are!)

Anyhow, I think at last we've established that Mount Doom had a hole in it.

I still say the biggest plot hole is Gandlaf not spotting the ring Bilbo found was the One Ring for 50 years, and I'm not afraid to back it up with quotes!
Gandalf has this to say about the year Bilbo found the Ring, "...it was in the year that the WC drove the dark power from Mirkwood...that Bilbo found his ring. A shadow fell on my heart then...I wondered often how Gollum came by a Great Ring, as plainly it was-that at least was clear from the first.."- Shadow of the Past.
Now if he knew it was a Great Ring then it had to be either of the 7, the 9 or the 3, or it was the One. So how to tell? Well Gandalf has this to say at the Council of Elrond;
"The Nine, Seven and the Three had each their proper gem. Not so the one. It was round and unadorned, as it were one of the lesser rings."
Except Gandalf knew it wasn't a lesser ring from the start- so a simple process of elimination should have pointed out it was the One Ring half a century before Gandlaf actually worked it out! Too much pipe-weed maybe?

Even assuming that Gandalf did not know what all the Great Rings looked like (and I concur that the matter was discussed at the meeting of WC if it wasnt already generally known by the Wise before that) he would have known it had to be either the One or one of the 7. He knew where the 3 were (he was even wearing one) and the 9 were still with their owners or with Sauron (never been quite clear if the Nazgul wore their rings or if Sauron held them to control them). Only the 7 seem vaguely accounted for-either reclaimed by Sauron or consumed by Dragon fire. So there was a fairly narrow choice for just which Great Ring Bilbo had found and it seems unlikely "a shadow" would have fallen on Gandlaf's heart at Bilbo finding one of the 7.

Errrm...I know we had it somewhere . Didn't we decide Gandalf was just biding his time until he had more certain evidence as to the Ring's pedigree?

[b:2gj451au]GB[/b:2gj451au]

Well, it is "better" to have threads devoted to a topic to save us the trouble of looking for it for that very reason .

[b:1y03nl9u]GB[/b:1y03nl9u]

Yes, but that can get messy and complicated too. I only do that when a diversion truly demands it's own thread.

[b:rfxp16i9]GB[/b:rfxp16i9]

I don't remember a time when we weren't having lots of diversions and side discussions. I like being able to do that here, [i:2yn83v9n]especially[/i:2yn83v9n] since it doesn't stop us from also having serious discussions.

Sometimes. Like when I'm rambling about lore.