An easy way to destroy the Ring .

[The Mouth of Sauron]

There's a question I always meant to ask old Greybeard but he was usually occupied hatching plots at a safe distance .

Instead of forming the Fellowship of the Ring and going through nightmares until Frodo, Sam and Gollum reached Mount Doom , why didnt he arrange for 2 or 3 great Eagles to pick up the Ring at Bag End, fly in stages to Mordor and drop the damn thing in to Mount Doom from a great height ?

The Eagles flew from the Black Gate to Mount Doom in no time and the Nazgul couldn't stop them - so why weren't they given the job of destroying the Ring from the start ?

I am the Mouth of Sauron.

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

This was never completely resolved, but it has been discussed quite a few times in the past.

Ulmo posed the same question in 2001 in The Great Eagle Mystery (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=706); then it was asked again in 2002 by Keeper of Dol Guldur in Are they all stupid? (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=972). It arose again this year with a thread started by Sardy, entitled Gandalf/Eagle -> Ring -> Mt. Doom? (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=12746), and we touched on the subject in 2004 when Magician of Nathar started a thread called Flaws in Lord of the Rings... Yes in the book (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=1253). In this last thread can be found my most recent opinion on the subject (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=304690&postcount=62).

There's also rather a good argument for posting on the aforementioned threads here (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11805).

All other arguments aside, wouldn't the story have been a trifle dull had the Eagles carried the Ring to the fire?