The Friendship and Rescue of Lord of the Eagles and Gandalf

The Lord of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains and the wizard Gandalf were bound by a friendship founded on a past deed of healing. Gandalf had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound, a kindness that the Eagle-lord remembered and repaid when the Company found itself in mortal danger.

Rescue from the Wargs and Goblins

During the night when the dwarves and Bilbo were trapped in trees by a pack of Wargs, with goblins gathering below to set the forest ablaze, the Lord of the Eagles heard the uproar from his lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountains. He swept up into the air, and his keen eyes—which could see a rabbit moving on the ground a mile below even in the moonlight—made out the commotion among the wolves and the tiny flashes of fire. He also saw the glint of moon on goblin spears and helmets as long lines of the wicked folk crept down the hillsides. Summoning many other eagles, he led them down towards the ring of the wolves. Just as Gandalf prepared to leap from his tree into the midst of the goblins, the Lord of the Eagles swept down, seized the wizard in his talons, and carried him away. The other eagles then swooped down, seizing the dwarves from the tree-tops, while Bilbo caught hold of Dori's legs as Dori was borne off. The eagles carried the entire Company to the safety of a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side, where the Lord of the Eagles spoke with Gandalf, discussing plans to carry the dwarves and Bilbo far away and set them down well on their journey across the plains below.

Parting and Future Alliance

When the eagles set the Company down on the Carrock, the Lord of the Eagles would not take them anywhere near where men lived, for fear of being shot at with bows of yew. Gandalf, knowing the correct reply, answered the eagles' farewell with a formal blessing. The Lord of the Eagles later became in after days the King of All Birds and wore a golden crown, and his fifteen chieftains golden collars made of the gold that the dwarves gave them. Bilbo never saw them again—except high and far off in the Battle of Five Armies, where the eagles, having long had suspicion of the goblins' mustering, gathered in great numbers under the great Eagle of the Misty Mountains and came speeding down the gale in the nick of time, dislodging the goblins from the mountain-slopes and helping to turn the tide of battle. After the victory, Dain crowned their chief with gold and swore friendship with them forever.