Great Eagles of the Misty Mountains
The Great Eagles of the Misty Mountains are a race of ancient, noble birds who serve as both rescuers and allies to the protagonists, intervening at critical moments to save the company from destruction and later participating in the Battle of Five Armies. Proud, strong, and noble-hearted, they are the greatest of all birds, dwelling on lonely pinnacles of rock high in the mountains, and they hold a deep enmity toward goblins, whom they drive shrieking back to their caves whenever they take notice of them. Their Lord, the King of the Eagles, becomes a key figure in the story, first rescuing the company from the Wargs and goblins, and later leading his host to turn the tide of the final battle.
Nature and Character
The Eagles are not kindly birds in general; some are cowardly and cruel, but the ancient race of the northern mountains are proud, strong, and noble-hearted. They do not love goblins nor fear them, and when they take any notice of them at all—which is seldom, for they do not eat such creatures—they swoop on them and drive them shrieking back to their caves, stopping whatever wickedness they are doing. The Lord of the Eagles has eyes that can look at the sun unblinking and can see a rabbit moving on the ground a mile below even in the moonlight. He is described as sitting, black in the moonlight, on the top of a lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountains, and he is filled with curiosity to know what is afoot when he hears the uproar of the Wargs and goblins in the forest below.
Rescue from the Wargs and Goblins
The Eagles' first major intervention occurs when the company is trapped in trees by a ring of Wargs, with goblins gathering below and setting fire to the forest. The Lord of the Eagles, hearing the commotion from his pinnacle, sweeps up into the air with two of his guards and circles down to investigate. Seeing the tiny flashes of fire and hearing the howling and yelping, he summons many other eagles, and they fly down from the mountains, circling ever round and round until they reach the ring of wolves. At the critical moment, just as Gandalf is about to leap down among the goblins' spears, the Lord of the Eagles seizes him in his talons and carries him away. The other eagles swoop down, seizing the dwarves and carrying them to safety, while Bilbo barely manages to catch hold of Dori's legs as Dori is borne off last. The eagles carry the company to the Great Shelf, a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side, where they set them down and later provide food—dry boughs for fuel, rabbits, hares, and a small sheep—before departing with the polite farewell, "Farewell! wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey's end!"
Relationship with Gandalf
The Lord of the Eagles and Gandalf appear to know one another slightly and even to be on friendly terms. As a matter of fact, Gandalf, who had often been in the mountains, had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound. This prior kindness establishes a bond of gratitude that leads the Eagles to rescue the company from the goblins and Wargs. Gandalf knows the correct reply to the Eagles' farewell, answering, "May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks." The Eagles, however, will not take the company anywhere near where men live, for fear of being shot at with great bows of yew, as men would think they were after their sheep. They are glad to cheat the goblins of their sport and glad to repay their thanks to Gandalf, but they will not risk themselves for dwarves in the southward plains.
Role in the Battle of Five Armies
The Eagles' most decisive intervention comes at the climax of the Battle of Five Armies. As the goblins, led by Bolg, are overwhelming the combined forces of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, and the defenders are being slowly beaten down, Bilbo looks up and sees a sight that makes his heart leap: dark shapes, small yet majestic against the distant glow of a red sunset slashing the West. "The Eagles! The Eagles!" he shouts, and the cry is taken up across the valley. The eagles are coming down the wind, line after line, in such a host as must have gathered from all the eyries of the North. They dislodge the goblins from the mountain-slopes, casting them over precipices or driving them down shrieking and bewildered among their foes, and soon free the Lonely Mountain, allowing elves and men on either side of the valley to come at last to the help of the battle below. Even with the Eagles, however, the defenders are still outnumbered until Beorn himself appears in bear's shape and turns the tide.
Aftermath and Legacy
After the battle, most of the Eagles return to their eyries, departing with the first light of morning. Dain, the new King under the Mountain, crowns their chief with gold and swears friendship with them forever. The Lord of the Eagles later becomes the King of All Birds and wears a golden crown, and his fifteen chieftains wear golden collars made of the gold that the dwarves gave them. Bilbo never sees them again—except high and far off in the battle of Five Armies—but their intervention ensures the victory and the peace that follows, as the goblins are crushed and the northern world is made safer for many a long day.
