Gwaihir the immortal

[Ñólendil]

Every once in a while there's a discussion about Gwaihir the Windlord from the Lord of the Rings. I remember people on the Hobbit forum debating whether Gwaihir is the same as the Lord of the Eagles from The Hobbit. What I've never read, though I'm certain it has occured, is discussion of Gwaihir from The Silmarillion.

I believe Gwaihir is in some way a Maia, or at least has Maian blood. And if he is not immortal or indefinitely longeval, he is at least very long lived.

My evidence lies in The Lost Road And Other Writings (History of Middle-earth Vol. V) and Morgoth's Ring (HoMe X).

In that part of the Lost Road covering the Quenta Silmarillion chapters 12-15, Christopher Tolkien is talking about the editorial alterations made to his father's writings in order to produce the text published in The Silmarillion. Concerning the line in Of Beren and Lúthien where those two are rescued by Thorondor and two other Eagles from the steps of Angband, Christopher has these interesting remarks:

with wings swifter than the wind (p. 182). The draft text B has at this point: 'Thorondor led them, and the others were Lhandroval (Wide-wing) and Gwaewar his vassal.' In the following text C, also of 1937, this became: 'Thorondor was their leader; and with him were his mightiest vassals, wide-winged Lhandroval, and Gwaewar lord of the wind.' This was emended (in 1951) to 'Gwaihir the lord of storm', and in this form the passage is found in the QS [Quenta Silmarillion] manuscript. It was omitted in The Silmarillion on account of the passage in The Return of the King (VI. 4): 'There came Gwahir the Windlord, and Landroval his brother ... mightiest of the descendants of old Thorondor, who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the Encircling Mountains when Middle-earth was young.' At the time, I did not understand the nature and dating of the end of QS. It now appears that there was no reason to suppress the names; in fact, it seems that Gwaewar was changed to Gwaihir to bring it into accord with The Lord of the Rings -- however this is to be interpreted.

So we have Gwaihir, the descendant of old Thorondor, alive in the First Age and serving his ancestor. And we have the same Eagle living on to the end of the Third Age and most likely beyond.

Why do I say he's a Maia (or anyway Maian)?

Morgoth's Ring, Myths Transformed, an excerpt from an essay about Orcs:

(4) What of talking beasts and birds with reasoning and speech? These have been rather lightly adopted from less 'serious' mythologies, but play a part which cannot now be excised. They are certainly 'exceptions' and not much used, but sufficiently to show they are a recognized feature of the world. All other creatures accept them as natural if not common.

But true 'rational' creatures, 'speaking peoples', are all of human / 'humanoid' form. Only the Valar and Maiar are intelligences that can assume forms of Arda at will. Huan and Sorontar [Thorondor] could be Maiar -- emissaries of Manwë.[note 4] But unfortunately in The Lord of the Rings Gwaehir and Landroval are said to be descendants of Sorontar.[note 5]

Note 4: See p. 138. -- At the bottom of the page bearing the brief text V (p. 389) my father jotted down the following, entirely unconnected with the matter of the text:
Living things in Aman. As the Valar would robe themselves like the Children, many of the Maiar robed themselves like other lesser living things, as trees, flowers, beasts. (Huan.)

Note 5: 'There came Gwaihir the Windlord, and Landroval his brother, greatest of all the Eagles of the North, mightiest of the descendants of old Thorondor' ('The Field of Cormallen' in The Return of the King).

So Tolkien was at this time thinking about making Thorondor and Huan Maiar. He seemed unsure and noted that it was "unfortunate" Gwaihir had been named Sorontar's descendant. He writes it as though a Maia could not have descendants. Think of Melian, whose line is not yet ended! In any case, as I have shown, he later placed both Gwaihir and Landroval back in the First Age, helping mighty Thorondor rescue Beren and Lúthien, and he did it so as to be in accord with the Lord of the Rings. Also, as shown by Note 4, J. R. R. Tolkien at one point names Huan as a Maia (and Werewolves and Wargs, enemies of Huan, are often described as "demonic").

And if Gwaihir is a Maia that lived through all the first Three Ages of the Sun, then he was undoubtedly the same lord of the eagles seen in The Hobbit.

If Gwaihir was not a Maia, I must believe he had Maian blood through Thorondor, as Elwing or Elrond had it from Melian (through Lúthien grandmother of Elwing).