10 Movies That Relied On Deus Ex Machina

Probably one of the most-discussed occurrences of deus ex machina, the eagles in Lord of the Rings have had their actions and motives questioned and justified for the events at the end of The Return of the King. It has been noted that Tolkien used them as unexpected helpers in most of his novels, making them a convenient solution when events became too dire.

They first make an unexpected appearance at the Battle of the Morannon when one of them swoops in out of nowhere just as a hell-hawk is about to attack Gandalf. The rest follow swiftly behind, to help hold off the Mordor army long enough for Sam and Frodo to reach Mount Doom.

After Gollum ends up falling into the volcano with the ring, Mordor is crumbling around the heroic hobbits and they are trapped on a rock with lava flowing all around them. There is nowhere left to go, and they lie back reminiscing about the shire, when suddenly Gandalf appears with the eagles, flying in to save them.

While the supposed plot hole of why the eagles couldn’t just have flown Sam and Frodo there in the first place has been disputed - as Sauron would have easily noticed such an open approach - this can still be classed as deus ex machina, as the hobbits were rescued out of an impossible situation where they did not contribute to their escape.