@Gargantua:
Ok so how is the fact they don’t ride eagles to Modor explained in the book?
Upon doing some further research, it appears that Tolkien never really addressed this issue in the book or outside of it other than to say:
“The Eagles are a dangerous ‘machine’. I have used them sparingly, and that is the absolute limit of their credibility or usefulness. The alighting of a Great Eagle of the Misty Mountains in the Shire is absurd; it also makes the later capture of G. [Gandalf] by Saruman incredible, and spoils the account of his escape.”
I was thinking primarily of Tom Bombadil (a book character not in the movie). However, below I have outlined some very plausible reasons why the eagles are not more involved or utilized. (I still cannot claim all credit here because I feel as though I have read at least one of these reasons from a book somewhere…)
The eagles, while a powerful force, are aloof from the cares of Middle-earth. The Ring does not interest the eagles, nor does the quest to destroy it. They do not understand the problem of the ring, because its power cannot influence them. They are a sovereign race that are never treated with (throughout the history of Tolkien’s works) but are given to their own devices; which are fortunately for the most part good. This lack of world-participation, even with the Free-peoples, is illustrated in their absence from the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring. They were not even invited.
Actually, the temperament of the eagles could be related to Smaug, from The Hobbit. Though Smaug is a dragon, a creature whose historic purpose in Tolkien’s works has been evil, he is not a servant of Sauron nor under his control. Smaug has his own desires and keeps to himself so long as it suits him. Gandalf is rightly afraid in The Hobbit that Smaug could ally with Sauron in the coming conflict, to disastrous effect. His purpose in helping the dwarves is ultimately so that Smaug may be destroyed, not directly to help them regain their treasure. That aside, the eagles, like Smaug, are independent and detached, given to their own devices. Smaug would care naught for the War of the Ring and for the most part neither will the eagles. Their domain high in the mountains will never be threatened.
Additionally, eagles were direct vassals of Manwe (roughly a Zeus-equivalent). In the early ages of the world, the eagles were both larger and more active with elves and, later on, men. However, as the direct power of the Valar (gods) was less present in Middle-earth, Numenor (Atlantis-like island kingdom of Men) was destroyed, and Valinor physically removed from the world, logically the eagle’s connection with Manwe was also lessened and their participation in world events similarly waned.
In terms of a literary device, Tolkien’s use of eagles was almost always a sign of eucatastrophe; a word Tolkien invented which means the sudden turn of bleak events for the good; opposite of a catastrophe. Their presence is very much of a symbolic and spiritual choice. Repeated use of the eagles would at once cheapen their status and make the whole story unnecessary in the first place; as was hinted at in Tolkien’s quote above.
But I suppose that is your point; if the eagles were utilized as transportation, The Lord of the Rings would only be 5 pages long. I guess you can take my explanations or leave them. All in all there is no direct explanation; more of a holistic understanding based on knowledge of all Tolkien’s Middle-earth writing.
