LOTR question

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,874
33,944
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Okay, granted Gandalf ain't exactly a wiz kid, taking 17 years to figure out that Bilbo found the One Ring after knowing immediately that it was a Great Ring and also knowing that the other nineteen Great Rings were accounted for. But even so, how come it takes until the last froopin' minute for Gandalf to think to send the eagles to pull Frodo's and Sam's bisquits out of the fire? He could have thought of it at the Council of Elrond. "Hey, let's stick the Ringbearer on a direct flight to Mount Doom to drop the dingus in the big crack and be back in time for Christmas. We can send a dwarf along to make make sure he does it or lop off his fool head should he fail." We could have skipped the last two reels.
 

FleshLight

Diamond Member
Mar 18, 2004
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Because then he would get shot down by the flak cannons. In the canon, Mordor was too busy fighting a war 500 miles away to man the aa guns.
 

heathertre

Senior member
Jan 29, 2007
238
0
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Because the eagles would never have gone into Mordor while Sauron was still alive. No one in their right minds would have gone in there.
 

newmachineoverlord

Senior member
Jan 22, 2006
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0
Originally posted by: FleshLight
Because then he would get shot down by the flak cannons. In the canon, Mordor was too busy fighting a war 500 miles away to man the aa guns.

The flak cannons and aa guns were mostly orcs with arrows and ballistae, plus a few ring wraiths on flying mounts, but this is basically true. Sauron had at least one seeing stone, so a direct flight would have been seen and intercepted. Success hinged on misdirection, making Sauron believe the ring had been taken to Minas Tirith for use in a mass assault.
 

SirStev0

Lifer
Nov 13, 2003
10,449
6
81
First off, gandalf did not know it to be the one ring. Bilbo was quite protective and mysterious about it. And such a powerful thing does not randomly pop up in the hands of a hobbit ( or hobbits if you consider the fact that he stole it from gollum, who was a hobbit). That being said the eagles were their own race of intelligent beings. Gandalf did not command them he would have to ask their help. They were on the other side of the misty mountains (if you read the hobbit you would know that they are encontered by the dwarfs and bilbo on the other side of the misty mountains after bilbo had found the ring). Gandalf also wasnt all knowing or all powerful, in fact his duty in the realm of middle earth was to inspire men to reclaim their greatness. He was the holder of the red ring of power that would help put fire into the hearts of men. He got the ring from Cirdan the shipwright, who at the end of the books takes them all across. The Prime God of that universe was very particular about the lesser gods interferring with humans. The elves were allowed to be meddled with but even the lesser gods did not know what became of humans after death. The dwarves came about because the lesser god of the earth got anxious for the elves and made his own race out of stone. These were decided to be okay and could be monkeyed with, but humans were off limits.

That being said Sauron was a corrupt being that had tremendous power much greater than anyone. The lesser gods were above him, but he was part of the beings directly below them. He was corrupted by the evil lesser god and was a necromancer and a huge threat. Gandalf would not have a chance. The bulrog he fights in the misty mountains was well below Sauron in power and Gandalf died in the fight. A eagle would have no chance if it was detected. The eagles went through to save sam and frodo because Sauron's fleeting might was concentrated on distroying the line of kings, what he assumed to be the real threat. It was only luck that sam and frodo were able to destroy the ring.

 

spherrod

Diamond Member
Mar 21, 2003
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www.steveherrod.com
Originally posted by: newmachineoverlord
Originally posted by: FleshLight
Because then he would get shot down by the flak cannons. In the canon, Mordor was too busy fighting a war 500 miles away to man the aa guns.

The flak cannons and aa guns were mostly orcs with arrows and ballistae, plus a few ring wraiths on flying mounts, but this is basically true. Sauron had at least one seeing stone, so a direct flight would have been seen and intercepted. Success hinged on misdirection, making Sauron believe the ring had been taken to Minas Tirith for use in a mass assault.

:thumbsup:
 

Patt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,288
2
81

edit: Wikipedia says Smeagol was a hobbit ... ? I stand corrected.
 

archiloco

Golden Member
Dec 10, 2004
1,826
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he was also grey when he found it, after he became white his powers increased and could summon them.
 

leftyman

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2000
7,073
3
81
Because it would have clopped off two of the three books, and we would have ended up with only one movie too.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: jjones
The great eagles would have been seen, intercepted, and eaten for breakfast.

Then put frickin' laser beams on their heads.



Plan B (Rated R for strong language. :p)


So you know what they do instead? Start breeding LOTS of eagles. Then have someone get on the seeing stone phone with Sauron to keep him occupied, maybe pose as a toll free 900 number for some sexy, nasty, wicked Orcsesses. Keep him "busy" with his "tower" and then have eagles converge on Mt. Doom at high altitude from all sides, then dive in. Maybe have them bring some nice big rocks as a welcome gift to anyone wishing to shoot at them. Dive in, plop ring down, fly away.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,874
33,944
136
Originally posted by: SirStev0
First off, gandalf did not know it to be the one ring. Bilbo was quite protective and mysterious about it. And such a powerful thing does not randomly pop up in the hands of a hobbit ( or hobbits if you consider the fact that he stole it from gollum, who was a hobbit). That being said the eagles were their own race of intelligent beings. Gandalf did not command them he would have to ask their help. They were on the other side of the misty mountains (if you read the hobbit you would know that they are encontered by the dwarfs and bilbo on the other side of the misty mountains after bilbo had found the ring). Gandalf also wasnt all knowing or all powerful, in fact his duty in the realm of middle earth was to inspire men to reclaim their greatness. He was the holder of the red ring of power that would help put fire into the hearts of men. He got the ring from Cirdan the shipwright, who at the end of the books takes them all across. The Prime God of that universe was very particular about the lesser gods interferring with humans. The elves were allowed to be meddled with but even the lesser gods did not know what became of humans after death. The dwarves came about because the lesser god of the earth got anxious for the elves and made his own race out of stone. These were decided to be okay and could be monkeyed with, but humans were off limits.

That being said Sauron was a corrupt being that had tremendous power much greater than anyone. The lesser gods were above him, but he was part of the beings directly below them. He was corrupted by the evil lesser god and was a necromancer and a huge threat. Gandalf would not have a chance. The bulrog he fights in the misty mountains was well below Sauron in power and Gandalf died in the fight. A eagle would have no chance if it was detected. The eagles went through to save sam and frodo because Sauron's fleeting might was concentrated on distroying the line of kings, what he assumed to be the real threat. It was only luck that sam and frodo were able to destroy the ring.

A minor correction on my part: It took Gandalf sixty floopin years to figure out the ring was the One Ring. Wise, my buttocks. Scouts went out from Rivendell over the mountains ahead of the nine walkers and could have sent a shout up to the eagles. The Nazgul were unhorsed at the time and were draggin' their sorry butts back to Mordor to 'spain how a hobbit and one elf kept them from the ring. This left Sauron with no air defences. Bet Sauron was pissed.

As for Gandalf vs Sauron, it was left vague with a suggestion that Gandalf might have been able to take Sauron mano to mano. Gandalf and Sauron were both Maiar as were the balrogs. Gandalf was Olórin, the wisest of the Maiar, in addition, he was packing heat while Sauron was still a ringless wonder.
 

Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
13,293
1
76
Besides the excellent explanation of why already given, the other reason is, LOTR is a history of events that took place. Just like in real life, things don't happen in the most linear, simple manner.

Like, if someone had shot Hitler in WWI, maybe WWII wouldn't have happened, but that isn't the way it worked out.