# Great Winged Beasts



## Durin's Bane (Jul 26, 2006)

What exactly are the Nazgul Steeds (the winged ones)? What we know is thet Sauron captured some great winged beasts, bred them in some dark place and fed them with foul meat until they become what they are. But what were they before that?
My guess is eagles, cause they are the only beasts that we know of that are big enough to carry tha Nazguls. The darkness, the foul meat and Sauron's knowledge transformed them, their feathers were lost, their wings became bat-like and their skin blackenned. But that's only a guess... What dou you think on the matter?


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## Thorondor_ (Jul 26, 2006)

Its description suggests it belongs to a race of its own - separate from Eagles:


Battle of Pellenor Fields said:


> A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil


Even before the coming of the elves there already were creatures "old and strong"; and the depths of Moria housed creatures that are older than Sauron - whatever that means.


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## YayGollum (Jul 26, 2006)

I have never had a problem believing that they were corrupted giant eagles, mostly since they were always especially annoying to the evil types and messing with them sounded like an especially cool thing to be able to do. The older world spoken of in that quote could just equal that they were normal giant eagles in an Age already past. It seems to me to be that all of the giant eagles who patrolled the large chunk of Middle Earth that got cut off had to relocate to Valinor's mountains. Those giant eagles in the Misty Mountains seemed to me to be a different breed anyways. I would guess that another type of giant eagle, always large fans of keeping watches on the more popularly seen as evil types, relocated to Mordor's mountains, where they were captured and messed with.


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