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In other words: Perhaps, from the viewpoint of Tolkien/England, the U.S. and Imperial France besmirched the image of the eagle, and until their negative influence upon the creature abated, Tolkien reluctantly had to look elsewhere to provide servants for Manwe.
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Perhaps, but a 'hawk' has never really represented Britain as a national animal/symbol. America uses eagles extremly frequently to represent freedom and the nazis used it a lot to represent the same values coupled with national supremacy. If Tolkien were to use Britain's national animal/symbol then it would have been a lion, which of course CS Lewis had already used in Aslan in his Chronicles of Narnia.
In short I agree with,
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I don't really think the eagles of imperial France or the US (or the Third Reich) had anything to do with Manwë's eagles. I think he had eagles because they were the biggest, baddest raptors around.
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Well said Manwe Sulimo! The eagle is just about the greatest bird and most respected as it is top of the food chain. Undeniably it represents and has represented many things throughout history but I just believe Tokien choose them because he had so much respect for them.