"Well, I asked Gwaihir this very thing as he transported me off Orthanc", said Gandalf, " and he responded that Sauron sees him every time he's within 300 miles of Barad Dur. He's just too big to sneak up in the un-obstructed sky that Sauron monitors 24-7. Then he mentioned something about arrows, shook his head a flew away".
Frodo responded, "I guess it would have been a low percentage chance. Even if we would have assaulted the mountain, failed and escaped, Sauron would have know the game plan and encircled Mt Doom with thousands of archers and infantry. Glad you were in charge of the strategy while you were available, Gandalf!"
"That WAS the plan." Gandalf said. "Why do you think there were eagles near enough to rescue you? One does not simply walk into Mordor."
"The whole problem is Sauron knows perfectly well how valuable and dangerous the eagles are, and was watching their activity, especially any that headed in the direction of Mordor."
"Half the plan was me leading the fellowship unnoticed to a prearranged meeting point near the border of Mordor. The other half was Radagast leadkng a band of eagles to that spot without being noticed. Which is pretty hard when you're a giant eagle flying above the trees and your enemy can magically see almost anywhere he wants....They had to walk."
"Anyway, we once we met up it would just be a quick flight to Mount Doom and done. Of course the Balrog messed that up. In hindsight I shouldn't have picked Boromir as the backup person to know the plan and meeting location, but I figured if enemies were trying to capture and torture anyone they'd prioritize the hobbits and Aragorn. One more soldier of Gondor wouldn't mean much to them. If I died he was supposed to tell Legolas the plan....well I guess it worked out anyway."
"Well," said Gandalf "Elrond and I and most of the elves were there at the last battle in Mordor. We tried using eagles that time too, but Mount Doom is designed to protect against a massive attack. It's magically shielded and has the firepower of a fleet of dragons.
The only chance would be to send a small, one hobbit eagle down a trench we know of leading into the mountain. If they skim the surface they could avoid most of the defenses and make it to a small thermal vent and throw the ring in there....but you'd be spotted on your way there, and have to outfly or outfight flying creatures and Nazgul all the way in, it would be a one in a million shot.
I guess, since we'd all seen the defenses personally we didn't even consider it enough to bring it up, but I suppose we should've rememberer the shorter lived races and said, I know we'd all like to just fly in there on the eagles and end this thing quickly, but they'd just spotted and killed so it wouldn't work.
A ground based infiltration was risky, but it was something Sauron didn't expect and didn't prepare a defense for. As we DID discuss, he couldn't imagine anyone trying to destroy the ring. He knew how powerful and mobile the eagles were, and while he wouldn't have expected them to specifically try to destroy the ring, he would expect them to attack him in one way or another, and been prepared for it."
Just subscribed and am getting caught up. Frank this is hilarious and made me laugh out loud. Love your sense of humor. Thanks for sharing this.
"Well, I asked Gwaihir this very thing as he transported me off Orthanc", said Gandalf, " and he responded that Sauron sees him every time he's within 300 miles of Barad Dur. He's just too big to sneak up in the un-obstructed sky that Sauron monitors 24-7. Then he mentioned something about arrows, shook his head a flew away".
Frodo responded, "I guess it would have been a low percentage chance. Even if we would have assaulted the mountain, failed and escaped, Sauron would have know the game plan and encircled Mt Doom with thousands of archers and infantry. Glad you were in charge of the strategy while you were available, Gandalf!"
They mention this in “The Babylon Bee Reads ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ “ Great, humorous job Frank.
Alternatively:
"That WAS the plan." Gandalf said. "Why do you think there were eagles near enough to rescue you? One does not simply walk into Mordor."
"The whole problem is Sauron knows perfectly well how valuable and dangerous the eagles are, and was watching their activity, especially any that headed in the direction of Mordor."
"Half the plan was me leading the fellowship unnoticed to a prearranged meeting point near the border of Mordor. The other half was Radagast leadkng a band of eagles to that spot without being noticed. Which is pretty hard when you're a giant eagle flying above the trees and your enemy can magically see almost anywhere he wants....They had to walk."
"Anyway, we once we met up it would just be a quick flight to Mount Doom and done. Of course the Balrog messed that up. In hindsight I shouldn't have picked Boromir as the backup person to know the plan and meeting location, but I figured if enemies were trying to capture and torture anyone they'd prioritize the hobbits and Aragorn. One more soldier of Gondor wouldn't mean much to them. If I died he was supposed to tell Legolas the plan....well I guess it worked out anyway."
"Well," said Gandalf "Elrond and I and most of the elves were there at the last battle in Mordor. We tried using eagles that time too, but Mount Doom is designed to protect against a massive attack. It's magically shielded and has the firepower of a fleet of dragons.
The only chance would be to send a small, one hobbit eagle down a trench we know of leading into the mountain. If they skim the surface they could avoid most of the defenses and make it to a small thermal vent and throw the ring in there....but you'd be spotted on your way there, and have to outfly or outfight flying creatures and Nazgul all the way in, it would be a one in a million shot.
I guess, since we'd all seen the defenses personally we didn't even consider it enough to bring it up, but I suppose we should've rememberer the shorter lived races and said, I know we'd all like to just fly in there on the eagles and end this thing quickly, but they'd just spotted and killed so it wouldn't work.
A ground based infiltration was risky, but it was something Sauron didn't expect and didn't prepare a defense for. As we DID discuss, he couldn't imagine anyone trying to destroy the ring. He knew how powerful and mobile the eagles were, and while he wouldn't have expected them to specifically try to destroy the ring, he would expect them to attack him in one way or another, and been prepared for it."