The Great Eagles

Arda's Eagles were sometimes referred to as Manwe's Eagles. It was believed that the Blessed One was the one who created these creatures. These creatures originated from Valinore. They were ordered to stand guard in Arda. They were to observe the presence of their enemy, Melkor, and Vanyarin. The term Eagle came from the Sindarin word thoron. It translates in Common Eldarin as soron.​

Manwe managed and utilized the creatures to become his emissaries and news deliverers. The Eagles had the gift to look into the physical world. The only exception is looking into the abyss of Morgoth. Morgoth was also talented in discovering the limitation of the eagles' strength. He knew about it right before the primary fortress of Melkor called Udun had been destroyed. The Eagle Lord named Thorondor hid the nest of eagles in the three massive volcanoes in the northern part of Middle Earth. Thangorodrim has three summits within the Mountains of Iron. It was at the topmost parts of Angband's entryways.

The Lord helped the Noldorin Elf Valiant in rescuing a prince of Noldor. After a few days, the Lord's kins realized the importance of separating the Eagle's nests to their home. Crissaegrim was their original dwelling place. It belongs to the Encircling Mountains' boundaries. The King of Gondolin was their ally. He ordered his spies not to engage the mountain. There was a war waged by Fingolfin, one of Noldor's High Kings, against Morgoth. Thorondor was able to cut Morgoth's face. The King did not survive the battle and succumbed to his death. Thorondor returned his remains to Echoriath. It was where Gondolin's King Turgon laid him in his final resting place. The Great Battle was a war waged on Morgoth by the Quendi, Atanatari, Dwarves, Valar, and Men. It took place in the later years of the First Age. The Eagles joined the battle and fought together with the allied forces to bring Morgoth to its knees.​

Armenelos the Golden was the capital and the largest city of the kingdom of Numenor. There was a presence of nests from the two eagles found on the house of the King. Meneltarma was a mountain located in the center of Numenor's island. When a person would climb at the top parts, three would appear. During the impending downfall of Numenor, the eagles received a warning from the Valar. It was eagles shaped out of the clouds. It was warning them of the oncoming danger.​

The eyrie was the original home for the eagles. Landroval and Gwaihir the Windlord came from Thorondor's descent. They stayed at the eyrie. It was located in the eastern part of Hithaeglir in Rhovanion. These creatures helped Istari The Born and Imladris's Eldars to watch the movement of the Orcs. In the film adaptation of Tolkien’s, The Hobbit, eagles have no names. Only the position of the Eagles’ Lord was mentioned in the film.

It was to show the difference of the leader from the ordinary ones. The book readers had an assumption on who was responsible for helping the Mountain King and his allies against the forces of goblins and Wargs. They happen to believe that it was Landroval and Gwaihir the Windlord. They helped them fly over the Great River of Wilderland. They were also present in the war waged in Erebor. In the third installation of the Lord of the Rings, the wizard narrated that Gwaihir himself flew him on two separate occasions. If it were indeed Gwaihir and Landroval, the correct account is three occurrences.

Before the battle against Middle-earth's free folk and Sauron, the Windlord helped rescue Olorin from the Iron Fortress, Angrenost. The Eagles came from Silvertine and Celebdil. They also helped King Aragorn II during the Battle of the Morannon. It was the last and most prominent war in the fight over the power of rings. It took place in Morannon, where Udun's gate was found. It leads to Sauron's realm. The creatures aided to oust the Ringwraiths. The second in the line of the Ringwraiths were also present. He was called Khamul. The Windlord and with his allies helped the Hobbits Samwise and Frodo escape Mordor. It was also where the ring was obliterated.​

In the First Age, the King of the Eagles was Thorondor. Gwaihir, the Windlord, was his son and became the Eagle's Lord in the Third Age. Landroval was Gwaihir's brother. Meneldor stayed at the eyrie.​

Archibald Thorburn's [1] art inspired Tolkien. It was a depiction of a juvenile species of eagles [2], from T. A. Coward. In some of his writings, he said that the eagles were of Maiar descent. If this were proven, it would mean that the chief of the ravens, the birds Thrush and Raven, would also be part of Maia. Beorn, the skin-changer would be one too.​

The Eagles appeared much bigger in the movie trilogy of Peter Jackson, but they were described in the books as much smaller. It was also noted that their height could be as tall as twenty feet. The length of their wings could be as much as seventy-five feet. In the adaptations, they were incapable of speaking. They were assisting Beorn and Radagast into a war against Azog. It was quite similar to the books. The Eagle that aided the wizard was summoned by the wizard himself and not ordered by Radagast.​

In Tolkien's earlier writings, he had a vision of how the eagles would appear to be similar to Maiar's birds. He trashed the idea when he realized that the concept he used was a different one. The Windlord and his brother Landroval were Thorondor's descendants. He finally made up his mind to portray the Eagles that had learned the language from the Vala.​