 in j. r. r. tolkien's fictional universe of middle-earth, the eagles were immense flying birds that were sapient and could speak. often emphatically referred to as the great eagles, they appear, usually and intentionally serving as agents of eucatastrophe or deus ex machina, in various parts of his legendarium, from the silmarillion and the accounts of nÃºmenor to the hobbit and the lord of the rings. just as the ents are guardians of plant life, the giant eagles are the guardians of animal life. these creatures are usually thought to have been similar to actual eagles (for example, as an independent species of the subfamily buteoninae), but much larger. in the silmarillion, thorondor is said to have been the greatest of them and of all birds, with a wingspan of . elsewhere, the eagles have varied in nature and size both within tolkien's writings and in later visualisations and films. ==appearances== the difference between "common" eagles and great eagles is prominently described in the hobbit: eagles are not kindly birds. some are cowardly and cruel. but the ancient race of the northern mountains were the greatest of all birds; they were proud and strong and noble-hearted. ===first age=== throughout the silmarillion, the eagles are particularly associated with manwÃ«, the ruler of the sky and lord of the valar (angels or "gods"). it is stated that "spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles" brought news from middle-earth to his halls upon taniquetil, the highest mountain in the blessed realm of valinor, although later in the book the same is said of birds in general, and in the valaquenta of "all swift birds, strong of wing". (on the different conceptions implied by these and similar passages, see nature below.) upon their first appearance in the main narrative, it is stated that the eagles had been "sent forth" to middle-earth by manwÃ«. he commanded them to live in the mountains north of the land of beleriand, in order to "watch upon" morgoth, the ultimate evil power who had made war upon the elves and men, and to help the exiled noldorin elves &quo
Fictional_birds_of_prey Middle-earth_animals Middle-earth_lists Middle-earth_races Talking_animals_in_fiction