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Also, where did you get the idea that there were nine Eagles pitted against the nine Ringwraiths?
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No where in particular. In the movies, it appeared to be one Eagle per fell beast, but I assumed there were more. It was more of a comparitive term than anything, if (IMO) 9 eagles couldn't take out 9 ringwraiths, then why were the eagles whipping up with only (from what I could remember seeing) 1-1 odds?
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There came Gwaihir the Windlord, and Landroval his brother, greatest of all the Eagles of the North, mightiest of the descendants of Thorondor, who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the Encircling Mountains when Middle-earth was young. Behind them in long siwft lines came all their vassals from the mountains speeding on a gathering wind. Straight down upon the Nazgūl they bore, stooping suddenly out of the high airs, and the rush of their wide wings as they passed over was like a gale.
But the Nazgūl turned and fled, and vanished into Mordor's shadows..." (The Return of the King, "The Field of Cormallen", 927)(italics mine).
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Oh I don't pretend to say that the eagles were wimps or wimpy fighters. Obviously Gwhair & co. would be an awesome addition to an army.
The main point here is:
Behind them in long siwft lines came all their vassals from the mountains speeding on a gathering wind.
To me, this explains that the Nazgul turned & fled because they were severly outnumbered. I don't doubt that even just 15-20 eagles could do in all the
fell beasts (not the wraiths of course), but, by what I saw in the movies, it was implied that there was roughly 1 to 1.
Hopefully I'll be checking again just to be sure tommorrow night (my copy is lent out to my sister & her friends so that they can watch all three of the lotr movies), & if I see more eagles I could be retracting the statements I've made. The EE might show (clearly) that there were more eagles as well. I just had a slight problem with how easily the fell beasts were dispatched of in the theatrical...from what I remember
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