Lord of the Rings: Why the Eagles Don't Help Until the End

I don't know why I feel that I actually have to write this, but if people would just pay attention, then it wouldn't be too difficult to understand why the Great Eagles don't just fly Frodo to Mordor and drop the Ring into the fires of Amon Amarth from the get-go. But since I've encountered way too many criticism concerning this, I am now compelled to spell it all out.

Firstly, there is a consistency of when the Eagles come to the rescue: they only help out when Gandalf is in dire need and the Eagles are his only hope. In The Hobbit the Eagles come to the rescue when Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarfs are trapped in the trees with wolfs below, and there is no other way out. In The Fellowship of the Ring Gwaihir, one of the Eagles, comes to Gandalf's rescue when he is trapped on the pinnacle of Orthanc being tortured by Saruman (in the book Radagast the Brown Wizard sends an Eagle to rescue Gandalf, not a moth). And in The Return of the King the Eagles come to help Gandalf in the battle at the gates of Mordor. Their small army (composed almost entirely of all the soldiers from Rohan and Minas Tirith that are left over from the battle for Minas Tirith... so their numbers are quite low) is outnumbered by the armies of Mordor. The Eagles probably showed up to even out the playing field against the flying Nazgul on dragons. Some air-support would have been nice. Gandalf could very well have died in this battle, as it was a last stand after all.

In other words: the Great Eagles only ever help Gandalf when he has no other means of getting himself out of a dire situation. In all honesty, it really seems inconsistent for the Eagles to help Frodo and Sam out on the slopes of Mount Doom, because they really only help others when Gandalf is in distress with them. But I suppose if these brave hobbits could travel all the way across Middle Earth to toss a gold ring into a volcano, and since there is no longer a threat in Mordor, then the Eagles might as well get Frodo and Sam out of the situation they're in (I mean they did save the world), and probably only at Gandalf's request.

Secondly, other than the armies of Sauron there really are no alliances in Middle Earth. Men and orcs gather in Mordor because Sauron promises power and wealth (they're greedy), and threatens punishment under pain of enslavement and death. But no one else is in alliance with anyone else. The elves are all leaving Middle Earth to go to the Gray Havens, the dwarfs hide in the mountains looking for treasures and building great halls, hobbits don't seem to know anything is wrong beyond their own doorstep, the Ents say it is not their war, and men are in disagreement with each other. Rohan and Minas Tirith are right down the valley from each other, and they don't even like each other. Minas Tirith never came to Rohan's aid in Helm's Deep, and Rohan was hesitant about coming to Minas Tirith's aid for the battle at their doorstep. No one gets along. Everyone thinks its someone else's problem. Why would the Eagles be any different? They never seem to get involved with anyone else's affairs to begin with. They certainly are not errand runners, and flying a hobbit over to Mordor just doesn't sound like an errand they would feel like running. I wouldn't do it if I were a giant eagle.

The only person who could possibly bring elves and dwarfs and men together to fight against Mordor is Gandalf, and no one seems to really trust him anyway. He is unwelcomed in the Shire (except for his fireworks), being labeled a "disturber of the peace." The Steward of Minas Tirith doesn't welcome him either, nor the people of Rohan. Gandalf is a meddling trickster, and always has to trick and coerce people into doing his deeds (i.e. sending Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain, sending Frodo to Mordor, lighting to Beacons of Minas Tirith, tricking Saruman out of the Palantir, et cetera). No one trust Gandalf, and why should they? I wouldn't even trust him. But he is the only one who could form an alliance, and does a very poor job of doing so. So why would Gandalf's errand to destroy the Ring be welcomed among the Eagles? They probably would have criticized Gandalf for digging it up out of the Shire and sending it out into the world anyway.

Thirdly, it never seems to have cross anyone's mind that Gandalf might have actually tried to get the Eagles to help. Seriously, when Gwaihir, the lord of the Eagles, saves Gandalf from Orthanc, you don't think Gandalf might have asked for his help? I imagine the conversation when something like this:

Gwaihir: "SCREECH!" (translation: "What the hell were you doing up there anyway? And why do I always have to help you out when you're in a real pickle?")
Gandalf: "Oh, I was seeking Saruman's council on how to approach this dangerous mission we have, but he's turned into a power-grubbing son of a bitch and has betrayed us."
Gwaihir: "SCREECH!" (translation: "Oh, that sucks. What are you guys up to?")
Gandalf: "Oh, the usual, trying to save the world. Turns out the Ring of Power has been in the Shire, and I've sent a hobbit to take it to Mordor to destroy it."
Gwaihir: "SCREECH!" (translation: "Sounds dangerous.")
Gandalf: "It is. Do you think you could possibly lend a helping hand... er... claw?"
Gwaihir: "SCREECH!" (translation: "Dwag, I love you, and I'm always there for you when you need me the most, but... hell no. I'm no errand bitch.")
Gandalf: "No problem. Couldn't have hurt to ask. Oh, and thanks for getting out of there. Saruman is a dick."
Gwaihir: "SCREECH!" (translation: "Oh, it's no trouble at all.")

To recap: the Eagles don't run errands; they only help Gandalf when he has no other way out. They, like anyone else in Middle Earth, think the War of the Ring is someone else's problem, and are not in alliance with anyone else (like the Ents: "I am on no one's side, because no one is on my side"). The Eagles only show up at the end because Gandalf could die in the Battle of Morannon, and probably only went to grab Frodo and Sam off the slopes of Mount Doom because the coast is clear in Mordor, and those two hobbits saved Middle Earth, so they deserve it.

That's settled. Stop complaining about why the Eagles didn't just fly the hobbits to Mordor and save them a lot of trouble. Anyway, it would have been a lame story if it happened that way.