I've been hearing lots of talk lately about what everyone perceives as the BIG FLAW of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It always comes back to the eagles. Why didn't the eagles just take the ring to Mount Doom? Why didn't the eagles just take the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain? I'll explain why this doesn't happen, but first I'm going to give you some background on the Middle Earth pantheon.
The god of all Middle Earth is called Eru. He sent the Valar to create the world. The Valar are basically “high angels”. The head of the Valar is Manwe. He is the Valar of the air. The Great Eagles (giant eagles) are his personal servants. We are in the 3rd age of Middle Earth. Man was created in the 2nd age. Elves were created and ruled the 1st age. Melkor (a.k.a. Morgoth) was the one Valar who rebelled and became the “Satan” of this world. The lesser demons that followed him were called Balrogs. Sauron was one of these lesser angels. In the 1st age (and even before, when no intelligent life was on Middle Earth) the “angels” and “demons” were constantly warring over Middle Earth and each epic battle would reform the surface of the earth. The last time this happened was at the end of the 1st age. Whole nations of elves were destroyed by landmasses being relocated to the bottom of the sea. “God” said that enough was enough and forbid the Valar from ever interfering in Middle Earth again. The good thing is that Melkor was finally chained forever in outer space. Most of the balrogs were destroyed or buried (Sauron being one that laid low for quite a while).
The Valar saw Sauron gradually coming to power but they couldn't do anything about it. So they helped by sending 5 “lesser angels” called Maiar to Middle Earth so help fight battles not by using their great power, but by influencing mankind to make the right decisions and teaching them to defeat the great evils on their own. Gandalf was one of these maiar (though the people of Middle Earth called them istari or wizards). The 3rd age was ending and man would inherit the earth from the elves, so it was important for them to figure out how to stand on their own and not be so dependent on gods and elves. This is why Gandalf VERY rarely uses epic powers. When he went up against that balrog in Moria, it was like two Maiar squaring off against each other.
The other ace that the Valar kept in Middle Earth were the Great Eagles. They were the spies for Manwe who would tell them what was going on. And very rarely, at the last possible minute, they would help Gandalf if he needed it. Gandalf, after all, was a direct maiar of Manwe himself. This is why they would show up when they would and it is also why it was so important for them not to just take the ring to Mordor or help out with menial dwarvish quests. Man will not attempt to step up and accomplish great and wonderful things for the world if he knows God or the angels will do it for him.
I feel this applies in our own world as well. We blame God for the evils that exist in this world that He “loves”. But what we should be doing is drawing inspiration and courage from Him and standing up to do great deeds for our world. What goes on in this world is in our hands. I've heard it said that God is love, yet too many of us sit back getting all the love without passing any on. God (Who is love) created us in His own image. It is time we start living up to that image.
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