• RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    3 days ago

    The reason given in the books is that the Valar shouldn’t intervene anymore, last time it almost destroyed everything.

    The Istari weren’t meant to do magic / go after sauron themselves either. Most of them did nothing.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Eagles were messengers, not Valar. If they could meddle in a war over some treasure, then they could certainly meddle to save all of Middle Earth.

      • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        Manwe is the one who sends them though, and he’s a valar.

        I don’t remember if it’s in the Silmarillion or LOTR but they specifically say they arent going to interfere anymore because last time it sunk a continent

        The dwarves weren’t fighting Valar/Maiar

          • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 days ago

            Thats a dumb comparison. Gandalf didnt make gimli nor does he control him, and how is passing a message the same as literally carrying the ring into the fire?.. fighting off nazgul?

            I guess some people will just never get it and we can keep the meme alive.

            • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              2 days ago

              Eagles fought at the battle of 5 armies!

              If they got involved for a minor events, they could have gotten involved for an important event. Surely those at the council, having known about the Eagles at the battle a few decades earlier, would have suggested it.

              Again the problem is that no reason was given despite the Hobbit showing it was a possibility.

              fighting off nazgul?

              “The Eagles appeared in great numbers at the Battle of the Morannon, helping to fight against the Nazgûl.”

              https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Eagles#%3A~%3Atext=The+Great+Eagle+became+known%2Cto+fight+against+the+Nazgûl.

              • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                2 days ago

                if they got involed in a minor event, they could have gotten involed for an important even.

                How does that even make sense… They were not allowed to interfere in important ways directly against Sauron or Morgoth

                In The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Letter #156), Tolkien explains the Valar’s diminished role during the Third Age:

                “The Valar… were forbidden to interfere: the governance of the world was committed to the Younger Children [Men and Elves].”

                It’s cute you know how to google for the answer you wanted. Nowhere in the book does it say that. The eagles only fought the zagul at the end in the movies.

                Even in your link the reference they give for that paragraph doesn’t contain that info. As the eagles arrived the zagul were destroyed by Frodo destroying the ring.

                The narrative returns to Gandalf and those outside the Black Gate. To the north, the Captains of the West foundered on the hills outside the Gate, surrounded by a dark, rolling sea of Orcs and Wild Men. Gandalf stood proudly, white and calm, with no shadow falling upon him. Suddenly, a great cry rose up: “The Eagles are coming!”[1] Out of the north arrived a company of great eagles, led by Gwaihir the Windlord. The will of Sauron faltered, and all the armies of Mordor quailed in terror. A great roar shook the hills. Gandalf cried in victory that the Ring-bearer had completed his quest, and that the reign of Sauron has ended.[2]

                The eagles never attacked the nazgul to help frodo, nor were the five armies involved with the ring or sauron, nor was them helping the dwarves a pivotal moment for the survival of middle earth.

                • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 day ago

                  Nowhere in the book

                  Return of the King chapter 4.

                  “The Eagles are coming! And many voices answered crying: The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming! The hosts of Mordor looked up and wondered what this sign might mean. There came Gwaihir the Windlord, and Landroval his brother, greatest of all the Eagles of the North, mightiest of the descendants of old Thorondor, who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the Encircling Mountains when Middle-earth was young. Behind them in long swift lines came all their vassals from the northern mountains, speeding on a gathering wind. Straight down upon the Nazgûl they bore, stooping suddenly out of the high airs, and the rush of their wide wings as they passed over was like a gale.”