Film Theory: Why You SHOULDN'T FLY to Mordor! (The Lord of the Rings) 

“One does not simply fly to Mordor”

"The Theorists delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness there." (A MatPat)

you missed a huge point. The eagles were described as neutral observers for the valar. Gandalf was only allowed to ride them a few times because healed/helped their king

Read the book. Eagles promised the valar not to interact with men. Gandalf was an exeption and he was no human.

The eagle thing isn't even a plot hole. Sauron was obviously keeping tabs on big players like the eagles. They would easily get spotted and get shut down, giving Sauron the ring. This is kinda the point of getting Frodo to carry the ring to Mordor. The hobbits were always overlooked, ignored and never looked at as a serious threat by Sauron, making them ideal to sneakily carry the ring to Mordor.

The theory assumes that ''fly'' means literal flight. In the book, Gandalf uses the word ''fly'' several times to refer to running away or hurrying, not literal flight.

That moment when you realize the reason the ring turns hobbits invisible is because their greatest power lies in stealth. I wonder what kind of powers would be boosted if given to other races.

When watching Gandalf dying the first time I always just took the phrase “fly you fools” to mean run really fast?? I never got the reference to the eagles

My favorite line was always from Legendary Frog's flash animations: "My love for you is like my quiver of arrows: Never ending." - Legolas

4:54 Fly you fools! I always thought he was using fancy medieval language and just meant, "Run you idiots!"

Debunking the theory in one sentence. "The eye will spot them and send the Nazgûl"

When you realize that Gandalf sent three eagles, 2 for Sam and Frodo, and 1 for Gollum.

One does not simply make a LOTR theory without wrecking the most famous LOTR theory in history.

In The Hobbit, the eagles say they don't fly over the lands of men incase they get shot down. Why would they fly over hundreds of miles of men and then over an orc army in full view of everyone. They picked Frodo and Sam up because the orc army had been dispersed and their risk was pretty much gone.

The answer to "Fly, you fools" is pretty simple. It means 'Flee, you fools' and nothing else -- Fly meaning to take flight, ergo to flee.

Love that in an interview with Tolkien he explained that he was asked this by a bunch of drunks in a bar and he told them (and the interviewer) to "shut up"

One does not simply fly into Mordor...

Also, the Nazghul had giant winged beasts of their own, and if you took the one ring into the air, there would be nothing keeping Sauron from seeing it as soon as they appear on the horizon.

Actually, the 3 “gods” you list are angels, in the beginning there is Eru (God) and he creates them, and they participate in creating everything else, also the eagles, unlike dwarves and ents, don’t have free will, and are not Eru’s children (like the Elves and Men) meaning they may have more power, yet they have less importance. Again, the Valar are Higher angels, the Maiar are lower angels, and, also, in the books Gandalf touches the ring once or twice, but only briefly.

When you’re on eagles the chances the eye spots you are extremely high, the only reason they succeeded was because Frodo and Sam was stealthy till the very last moment.

Who would win? One feathery boi Or A giant eye tower

Tolkien's fantasy world does have one God: Eru Ilúvatar. Valar were kinda like his 'children', or offspring (of thought). We could call them high angels, lesser angels are called Maiar - They did have their part in creating the world (Eä) - or more like the universe -, and the planet they live on, their Earth (Arda). Yet the children are actually Elves and Men - called the First and Second children. But they could only create within the framework set by Eru.

The "Gods" you talked about are angels and the God is Eru Ilùvitar

9:44 the ring expands to fit the wearer so it would have fit them

The Theory-Buster! sounds interesting.... I would watch that ^^

It's perfectly simple: The ring cannot be knowingly destroyed. By anyone (with perhaps the exception of Bombadil, but even that's debatable). Gwahir would have not flown to Mt Doom and dunked the ring. It would have corrupted his mind long before that point. If Gwahir had carried a ringbearer, he would have turned against that ringbearer long before that point also. It's sort of the whole point of the books really. It's the same reason Gandalf can't carry it. It was ultimately destroyed by accident and that was always going to be the only way.

I still absolutely love how The Lord of the Rings epitomizes certain aspects of fantasy. Stuff like how the race of men are typically noble and good but are constantly being corrupted when in the presence of power. It’s the kind of thing that isn’t new to fantasy or even other genres but the lord f the rings does it the best.

"The theory buster" that coud be the famous 4th channel.

LOOKS LIKE MEMES BACK ON THE MENU BOYS!

YOU TURNED A MEME INTO A THEORY?

No, the question is "why are there three hobbit movies but the hobbit is the shortest book Edit: Wow I never expected this many likes and replys lol

The problem is that the "Fly you Fools" thing doesn't even work in any language where the word fly can't mean to flee. In German the translation say they need to flee, which leaves no room for interpretation of this sentence

You should do a film theory on Charlie and the Chocolate factory on their products. Ice cream that lasts hours without melting on a hot day? Full course meal chewing gum?

I would watch The Theory Buster.

i think he wasted his time taking 12 minutes to say that Sauron is watching and the Nazgul have fellbeasts

11:31 I love that quote. Tolkien be like why do you think higher beings care? Mortals are like ants to them

*Adjusts Nerd Glasses* ACTUALLY the Eagles didn´t kill the Great Dragon aka. Ancalagon the Black. They only fought smaller flying drakes. Ancalagon was killed by Elronds Dad by sailing a flying ship into him. Also, I dont have a problem with calling the Valar Gods but technically they´re like lesser Gods or Angelic beings. Good Video though.

That moment... When you feel like a huge nerd because you know all this lore going into the video instead of coming out...

Remember when the Hobbit came out in theaters? It was 2012, the theater was crowded, and then people just ended up not talking about it until the second came out.

"I'm Johnny on the clock, you need me to bring you a ride?" [Eagle's Eyrie] [Yevanwe Eagle] "I'll bring it to ya!"

My reasoning all these years was that they could easily get shot down by arrows or the wyvern riding nazgul could intercept them.

Could you do a theory on how many calories the Flash would need? In the Justice League movie (I’m not spoiling the plot I swear) the Flash mentions that due to his super speed he’s like a “snack hole” (black hole of snak food) and needs to eat a bunch to keep it up. Edit: To those of you who have mentioned that they discuss this in the shows and comics, I’m curious if the answers given would be true to real life science Edit 2: I think *Keelan Barron’s* question on if the Justice League Batman is the same as Tim Burton’s would also be interesting *(credit to them)*

I actually researched this too not long ago and I dug up that the reason why is because the eagles didn't want to join this entire war. they save Gandalf because they owe him a life debt (couldn't find why). the eagles are actually neutral creatures, they don't fight for any side just for themselves which is why they join the fight at the end of the third movie, the nazgul were turning around and heading to mt doom where they would've stopped frodo so the eagles stopped them which would bring peace in the world and the eagles could finally rest. that's just what I read, not saying it's true but I like it and if it's close to being true, cool

When Sam carried the ring for a short time, it tried to corrupt him. The ring tempted Sam with visions of him as a great warrior king, but the wildest thing Sam himself could imagine was a huge beautiful garden, with trees, flowers and the best and biggest veggies in Middle Earth. Sam didn't even think about letting others do the gardening, paid or enslaved, he wanted it all for himself, including the work. There's just nothing the ring could work with.

The best way to destroy the ring would have been to start the rumor that you could become immortal by putting the ring on and jumping into the fires of mordor in order to obtain the armoire of immortality...

Don't take MatPat's "love" advice. Just....don't....

I think I found a plot hole in this. He says they can’t risk the Eagles picking up Frodo because of the One Ring and how it may corrupt them. But in The Hobbit, Bilbo was in possession of the ring when the Eagles carried them out of the forest. So if they didn’t get corrupted then, why would you not trust them now. They could have flown Frodo a very far distance and then let him walk significantly shorter. Just an idea, I’m probably wrong😅

I love how the "fly you fools" doesnt even work in German bcs its literally translated "run away you fools"

Don't fly Spirit Eagles airlines fly jetblue

Well, this completely threw HISHE'S How LOTR Should Have Ended right out the window...

this is probably my favorite video in this channel. Mat should do more of these theory busting videos

Manwe was so different in his perception of Middle Earth. It's Canon that he truly doesn't understand the evil Melkor is obsessed with knowing. So it makes sense that his eagles would avoid any corrupting influence as long as they could. They could see the evil but knew it would corrupt them so they avoided it at all costs. Your explanation is perfect.

Everytime some ask "Why don't they just use the Eagles?" I ask them if they would blast music in an avalanche zone.

I would totally watch an entire video of you telling LOTR lore

When everybody is like "Fly, you fools" means to literally fly when Gandalf saw them standing there just watching as he was about to fall to his death and he is actually saying "Run, you fools! You're still in danger!"

Middle Earth has three gods, DIn, Nayru and Farore... Wait a minute, wrong lore.

"MORRRDDORR"

Correction on the lore. I love the theory this has always something I wondered about. The Valar werent the gods. They were like archangels. They were below a larger being who created them and the elves and humans and just basicaly everything else except the things the Valar created.

Pippin has the most important role in the Fellowship because no one can fight with an empty stomach🫠

I wonder if theory busters would be the third theory channel Also the words "Like sneaking into a jamba juice with a fighter jet." Is incredible and possibly the greatest thing said on this channel

Rollin them rrrrrrrr's when you say MooorrrRRRRRrrrrdor

I recently remembered that the matter about the eagles is actually settled inbook, as Gandalf relates his escape from Orthanc at Elrond's Council : '"- How far can you bear me?" I said to Gwaihir [aka Lord of the Wings]. '"- Many leagues," said he, "but not to the ends of the earth. I was sent to bear tidings not burdens."

Tolkien's handwriting is beautiful but after seeing it, I feel less bad about my mediocre legibility. ( Example 5:57 )

1:33 It said in captions *Elrond saying Mordor like a boss*

*Reads title* "Why You SHOULDN'T FLY to Mordor!" *Thinks* _Prob because there's an awful in-flight menu_

No one is gonna point out that the Valar are no gods? Eru Iluvatar is the almighty creator of everything and the Valar are like his angels. He created both men and elves and gave the dwarves a soul.

I love how every time I’m into something, I can depend on matpat to have a theory about it.

Next Film Theory: why Melkor was the good guy all along

If MatPat does end up making a new spinoff channel for debunking theories, maybe he could go back and re-visit some of his old theories and address fan complaints or mistakes with new research. He's never seemed scared to admit he was wrong before (There's no shame in making mistakes), so why not make it fun?

I don't actually think the Eagles would have been too tempted by the Ring themselves, but there's no way they would have been willing to fly over Mordor. The Eagles were just blessed servants of Manwe, not dozens of times more powerful than Illuvatar's own men and elves, just very powerful. And those were the original Eagles; there was only one Eagle alive at that time who could be compared to the might of the original Eagles, and he would have wanted no part of this. Hell, he's the one who told the party of the Hobbit that they avoided flying over the dominions of Men because they were afraid of the men! (the elves preyed on men's livestock, and so the men started attacking/killing the Eagles on sight)

There is no way you cannot watch the extended version it's amazing

There's your fourth channel to complete the circle MatPat. Theory Buster.

"Fly" in Gandalf's sentence was probably just "Run" synonym, lol

Here's how it would have played out : Sauron spots the birbs from 100s of miles away, calls the Nazgul and the Witch King with their Fellbeasts. Then they would most likely lose the aerial battle.

Awesome video, and super smart theories

Love the work you put into this video. Got any more LOTR? Going to search for them now.

Added that in Tolkien-style English, "fly" is what is understood by "flee". As in "fl[ee] you fools!"

So that's what channel number 3 will be: "Theory Busting Theorists"?

I think people forget that Gwahir drops Gandalf in the Gap of Rohan, as per request. This means he simply couldn't mention the idea and Gwahir would never do it anyway

Nobody: Matpat: MMMMMOOOOORRRRRRDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOORRRRRRR

Gandalf could have said, "Fly, you fools" because in the books when characters talk about running they call it flying. So, Gandalf could have meant 'run you blithering fools'

You don’t really have to be either a rockey scientist or a Lord of the Rings fanboy to know that if they flew to Mordor, the eye of Sauron would see them, and 10 000 orks would be standing smiling ready to return Sauron to power...

Actually, halfway through writing LOTR, Tolkien realized the eagles could solve all the problems, so he wrote the Silmarillion just to cover that.

I read somewhere that Fly was used as a term to Run. So what Gandalf really said was, " Run, you fools."

The One Ring can alter his size to fit every possible finger, as testified in the FOTR movie, when the ring shrinks before Isildur's eyes, from the size of Sauron finger to fit his finger. Size-adjusting to the wielder is a common feature of almost all very powerful artifacts. So , yes, an eagle would have easily able to wield the One Ring and become a flying featerish nightmare. On a sidenote, this also explain, apart the ability to numb the mind of its wielder, how the One Ring fell from the finger of Isildur first, and Gollum later... he simply enlarged a bit on its own to slip away

THANK YOU! I'm so tired of people acting like they outsmarted Tolkien with the whole "fly the eagles to Mordor" bit. I'd also point out that even IF they could get the eagles WITH the hobbits and ring past all of Mordor's defenses, that ring is a master of manipulating things to it's benefit. It managed to slip away from Gollum in the caves, it abandoned Isildur to be killed by orcs so it could find a new master, and it influences the minds of people who so much as look at it. I GUARANTEE you that if they managed to fly the ring over Mt. Doom, and even IF Frodo managed to drop it into the volcano despite having no knowledge of aerodynamics, velocity, inertia, etc... the ring would fall all the way down and JUST HAPPEN to land on the very end of that precipice everybody always stands on when someone else tells them to "cast it into the fire". So the whole "fly the ring to Mordor" is a plan that would have failed on just so many levels... and I think Gandalf knew that. Or at the very least, Tolkien did.

Why does everyone hate the hobbit trilogy? I think its really good.

Knowing Gandalf, if he meant for them to fly using the eagles, his 3 words would have been "use the eagles" lol

You forgot the Allfather Eru Iluvatar. He is the Beginning. Those three were just Ainur who became Valar. They are lesser than Melkor before he fell into sin as Morgoth.

Why not fly directly at the all seeing flaming death eye!? They'll never see us coming! It's not like he has DRAGONS or anything!!!

4:48, he was not the worst. he is a "fool of a took" .

Waaaaiiittt... It took you TWELVE minutes just to say that they would just be too easy to spot?

I wish to bring up some corrections, when it comes to the creation of Arda. Manwe, Aule and Yavanna could not create independent life (infuse their constructs with their own soul/consciousness) Eru Ilúvatar is the only one who could do this. Eru is the one who created the Valar and so he is the one who is in the beginning. Aule created the seven fathers of the dwarfs (The oldest of which is Durin the Deathless) because of his impatience for the creation of the elves, but try as he might he could not give them life, they only moved as long as his will was upon them. Eru was angry at Aule, so Aule submitted his creation to the will of his creator. Assuming that his creator wanted them destroyed Aule was about to strike them down with his hammer when Eru decided to give them their own life, basically adopting them as his children. But Eru stood fast on his decision that his elves would be the first to walk on Arda so he sent the 7 Dwarves into deep sleep in mountain caverns, each with a mate except for Durin who was alone. Yavanna, concerned that the Dwarves who would live neath the ground would not understand to value the forests and wild beasts begged Eru to allow her to create guardians for her forests. Eru agreed and so Yavanna created the Ents and Ent-wives and Eru gave them life of their own. Manwe created the Eagles to serve as his spies in Arda to watch over the creations of Eru. I hope I did as best I could to clear these things up.

One does not simply fly to Mordor.

People arguing about if flying there is possible "Laughs in catapult"

Wow that theory felt really logical.But what if a dwarf wore the ring,he would be a same threat as the hobbit.

“MORRRRRRRRRRRRRDOR”

9:14 That was Ancalagon the Black,you put a image of Glaurung the first dragon,and neither of the two was killed by Eagles.

I really love these Film Theory intro. Wish they could come back in the new episodes :(

Well I know the reason they couldn’t fly all the way erebor in There and Back Again is because the men would shoot the eagles in protection of their sheep.