Eagles of The Hobbit (Spoilers)

[Maxtro]

Thanks for the explanation guys and keeping cool.

Saregon please edit your post because you're directly spoiling the ending of the third movie which nobody has seen yet.

 

[Souplex]

The book has been out for several decades, I think it's safe to assume that most people who want to watch the movies here have read the books. If they haven't, they deserve getting the spoiler because the books are awesome.

The only plausible explanation is that the eagles are obscenely proud as a race, and don't like being ridden. I think this was mentioned once or twice? Still doesn't explain why they couldn't hold the ring in the trilogy and take it to mount doom...no hobbits required.

Apparently the reason in The Lord of the Rings was because then Sauron would sense them coming, mount a bunch of archers along the walls, and send the Nazgul in on their dragons.

 

[Saregon]

Thanks for the explanation guys and keeping cool.

Saregon please edit your post because you're directly spoiling the ending of the third movie which nobody has seen yet.

Well, that's why I put it in a spoiler tag though, but sure, I can take it out.

 

[sky14kemea]

I was thinking that exact thing when the Eagles flew away. xD

"The mountain is there! That's gonna take them a week to walk! Just fly them over!"

Now they gotta go through Mirkwood e,e Jerk Eagles

 

[headbanger97]

This right here. The Eagles saw the giant fire that the goblins had lit. The only reason that this whole argument of riding the Eagles has shown up is instead of the Eagles just showing up at the right time by circumstance and saving the them, in the films Gandalf has now summoned them at least twice by whispering to the stupid moth and because they have never spoken to explain their motives. It makes them look like Gandalf's toadies when they are anything but. During The Lord of the Rings the leader of the Eagles is known as Gwaihir the Windlord, who was a great and powerful being of his own accord, not one who would be akin to the idea of ferrying Hobbits and Dwarves about. He has little interest in the dwarves quest. He is just keeping an eye on the movements of the goblins and rescued the dwarves mainly to spite the goblins.
Also the eagles are the servants of Manwë Súlimo, the King of Arda, the greatest of the Valar who had sworn to no longer interfere in the affairs of Middle-earth. Having the eagles carry the ring bearer to Mount Doom almost certainly would have been a violation of this oath.

That is very true as well. Ah the Silmirilion, answering everyones questions about all things Middle Earth. (Unfinished tales as well, but in this situation it is the Silmirilion.) That is kind of what I liked about the movie, is there is reference to both Unfinished tales and the Silmirilion, so while you can get by watching the movie without those books, it is a lot more fun if you get and understand every reference.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Full disclosure: I haven't seen the Hobbit yet, I have no idea how much back story or characterization is given to the Great Eagles. However in the book itself it's pretty well explained.

The Eagles frequently rescue the party in the story but I don't recall it ever being intentional. They rescue them in the Mountains because they're at war with the Wargs. They rather reluctantly allow the Dwarves and Bilbo to ride them because Gandalf is on very good terms with the Eagle Lord who orders the other Eagles to let the Dwarves ride them. Even still they make a point of telling them that they have their own affairs to attend to and can't be expected to leave their lands just to make life easier for a few Dwarves.



Think of it this way.


Imagine your best friend calls you up and says. "Hey, some buddies of mine are stranded down town would you mind coming to pick us up and drop us off at my place?"


Ok yeah it's a pain in the ass but he's your friend right? No reason to turn your back on the guy.



Now imagine the same scenario except halfway through the drive home your friend says. "Hey...come to think of it my buddy here (whom you've never met) has a job interview on the other side of the country. Be a pal and drive us over there first okay?"


I imagine the outcome of that conversation would turn out rather poorly.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Being rescued by Eagles in Lord of the Rings was not a re-hash of the hobbit, it was a CALLBACK. It was a reference, an example of coming full circle. It works thematically. If you are upset that even if it works thematically it doesn't make sense...well...If you could escape from any situation by being evacuated by giant eagles, that's a trick you would probably fall back on pretty often

Hell, at work, Id use it a couple of times a week if I could.
Boss: "I need you to go through this stack of forms for..."
Me: :ives out the window and gets grabbed by a giant eagle.::

As for the argument of why didn't they just fly to Morodor with the ring...well, they went over this didn't they? Sauron had his giant lidless eye that forced everyone to hide if they didn't want to be watched. Flying to Mount Doom with the ring was the equivalent of tossing Sauron the One Ring. The only reason why 2 tiny, sneaky HOBBITS wern't seen while he was walking in semi-open GROUND was because an entire army was distracting Sauron. A GIANT EAGLE in the middle of the OPEN SKY would have been swarmed by ringwraiths before you could say, "Second Breakfast". But of course, once the ring was tossed into the crack of doom, Sauron didn't have the mojo to do anything except implode or whatever. So Giant Eagles were a reasonable extraction plan.

I also noticed that none of the company gave the eagles so much as a "thank you". That would piss me off, especially since dwarves are heavy for their size...

Liked the movie, the 48 fps made everything look cgi though. I mean most of it was, but it made all the actors look cgi. Which is bad.

Mildly Off Topic: Anyone else notice that the basic plot of LOTR is... Gandalf finds the one ring that Sauron needs to claim total victory. He consults the Elves who are leaving for the Grey Havens, far beyond the reach of Sauron. Elrond says "why don't you guys... take it to Mordor? Yeah just a couple guys, take the ring there, i'm sure it'll work out... i'm out" Followed up later on by Elrond going "Holy shit! I can't believe that worked! My foot was literally on the boat! Wow. I did not expect that." I always thought that was pretty funny. The Elves were basically fast-tracking Saurons return to power.