Why save them?

[The Mouth of Sauron]

More to the point, why didn't Gandalf and Elrond save everyone a lot of time and trouble and just hand the ring to Gwaihir and let him fly into Mordor and drop the ring into the fire?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

More to the point, why didn't Gandalf and Elrond save everyone a lot of time and trouble and just hand the ring to Gwaihir and let him fly into Mordor and drop the ring into the fire?

The "story" explanation could be that the Sauron's watch upon the borders of Mordor extended to the air above. The Nazgûl had flying steeds, and no doubt there were other flying creatures in Mordor that could have attacked the Eagles. Also, we are talking about Sauron. I don't think it's far-fetched for him to have the power to somehow stop or kill Eagles.

The "real" explanation, is that it would have been a short, boring story. That Hollywood didn't roll with an ending like that in the films is incredible.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

More to the point, why didn't Gandalf and Elrond save everyone a lot of time and trouble and just hand the ring to Gwaihir and let him fly into Mordor and drop the ring into the fire?

Because no one could destroy the Ring voluntarily. It wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference had they rushed it there on Gwaihir, and besides, in these circumstances without Sauron being distracted, as he was at the Morannon, he would have easily identified the Ringbearer and recaptured the Ring.

The point is: it's impossible to just "drop the ring into the fire." There was no "easy" solution for dealing with the Ring. Let's assume Gwaihir's sent in alone. Being an Eagle, would he have claimed it? He was a sentient being, so I think we have to assume that he would. Even if Middle-earth was a Dungeons and Dragons world where Gandalf could cast some teleportation spell to transfer Bilbo or Frodo or himself or whoever from Bag End to the Sammath Naur instantaneously they still would have refused to "drop the ring into the fire." They would claim it, put it on, reveal themselves to Sauron and be destroyed. The Ring was destroyed by sheer accumulation of circumstances - which is to say, Fate, or the Will of Eru (or maybe by itself operating Frodo's curse on Gollum, or some combination thereon).

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

More to the point, why didn't Gandalf and Elrond save everyone a lot of time and trouble and just hand the ring to Gwaihir and let him fly into Mordor and drop the ring into the fire?

The most obvious answer would be that you would condense the story from a three-book novel to a three-page instruction manual. And one page would be in English followed by the same instructions in Spanish and French.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Mouth of Sauron

More to the point, why didn't Gandalf and Elrond save everyone a lot of time and trouble and just hand the ring to Gwaihir and let him fly into Mordor and drop the ring into the fire?

Gwaihir would not have accepted the task.

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Gwaihir would not have accepted the task.

Wasn't he a Messenger of Manw�0Š5? This Eagle theory is too simple and may I say silly?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

Wasn't he a Messenger of Manw�0Š5? This Eagle theory is too simple and may I say silly?

The Eagles in general were servants of Manwë. Therefore, as lmp said, they would not have accepted such a task. The point of the Istari was to give the Valar an indirect means of aiding Middle-earth against Sauron, not to do the job for them.

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Eagles in general were servants of Manw�0Š5. Therefore, as lmp said, they would not have accepted such a task. The point of the Istari was to give the Valar an indirect means of aiding Middle-earth against Sauron, not to do the job for them.

Yes, and weren't the Elves and Men supposed to fight on their own after a battle(which one I can't say, I was told this by a friend of mine who's read The Sil)? That's why they wouldn't participate in the War of the Ring. Isn't it? Is there any other explanation?
**
I read few posts where it's said that Tolkien got too connected to his characters, and that's why he didn't kill them. I'd heard somewhere that initially Tolkien planned to kill Pippin, but he could not endure the loss. So he killed Boromir (why?? ).

[littlemanpoet]

At the risk of sending this thread in an entirely new direction, Tolkien was able to kill Boromir and "endure the loss" because with that warrior-prince's death, he was well within the borders of Northern heroic epic theme.

As for Pippin, if one reads the various events of his life, including the words Gandalf speaks to him in warning, there is plenty of foreshadowing for his death. Personally, after reading the battle at the Gates, I thought that Pippin was dead. So Tolkien was well within his artistic rights to choose to have had him killed, because it would have worked; but it would have changed the tale, made it darker, especially on the return trip, and all the events in the Scouring of the Shire.

I'm rusty on the Sil and so will leave that question to be answered by others.