10 Movie "Plot Holes" You're Getting Completely Wrong

2. The Lord Of The Rings - Why Didn't The Eagles Fly The Ring To Mordor?

Gandalf and the eagles
New Line Cinema

Arguably the single biggest issue that people have with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy as a whole, the question of why the Eagles didn't just fly the One Ring to Mordor themselves - or fly Frodo there - has been brought up time and time again.

And at first, that seems like a fair question to ask. Not only are the Eagles enormous, powerful, and plenty in numbers, but they're even shown flying into Mordor at the end of Return Of The King, when they rescue Frodo and Sam.

This perceived plot hole is often discussed, but a lot of fans seem to miss the very obvious reason why the Eagles can't just fly into Mordor and destroy the One Ring in a record amount of time: the Nazgul.

Lord Of The Rings Nazgul Fellbeast
New Line Cinema

Sauron's hooded servants ride large flying beasts that could easily attack an Eagle while in mid-flight, or, at the very least, hold them off long enough to allow troops on the ground to shoot them down.

In addition, Sauron himself is essentially a huge radar dish that would be able to detect a group of massive Eagles from a mile away, giving him plenty of time to ensure that his armies are ready to ward off any intruders.

The whole point of Frodo and Sam taking the Ring is that they're small, and can sneak around without anybody noticing. The Eagles, on the other hand, would stand out like a pink spandex body suit. The only reason that they can enter Mordor at the end of the third film, is because Sauron has been defeated by that point.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.