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Old 02-17-2004, 05:05 AM   #57
Kronos
Animated Skeleton
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: England
Posts: 47
Kronos has just left Hobbiton.
But would they need to land? They could just drop Frodo into the mouth of the Volcano. Job done.

Seriously though, given the speed at which the Eagles are able to fly from the Black Gate to Mount Doom it is unlikely that Sauron could have mobilised his troops to beat them to Mount Doom. By the time he was aware of their destination it would be too late for that. Remember he could not conceive of someone wanting to destroy the Ring. Even had he received news of the Eagles flight he would have assumed that they were likely to be headed for Gondor, at least until the last minute.

Then once the Eagles veer off towards Mount Doom he would have had very little chance to formulate an opposition. He might have been able to get the Nazgul there first but this would have depended on where the Nazgul where prior to his calling on them. Had the Eagle flight been delayed until Gondor was under attack it is likely that the Nazgul would have been engaged in that battle.
Either way it would have come down to Nazgul versus the Eagles in a race. I suspect the Eagles would have proved faster and even had they not they likely had the greater numbers. Only 1 needed to get through after all.

There may be obstacles to its success but the plan certainly looks no less likely than sending a couple of Hobbits into Mordor by foot. Especially when, as far as anyone knew, the only way in was via the Black Gate. This seems to be the case since it was the only way that Frodo knew of and it would be ludicrous to suppose that the issue of the route they would take would not be discussed in Rivendell, and subsequently.
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