In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the great eagle who rescues Gandalf from Orthanc is Gwaihir.
Gwaihir is the Lord of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains. He rescues Gandalf from the pinnacle of Orthanc after Saruman imprisons him there. Gwaihir later carries Gandalf after the wizard’s battle with the Balrog and helps transport members of the Fellowship near the end of the War of the Ring.
Gwaihir is sometimes confused with Thorondor, the greatest eagle of the First Age, or with Landroval and Meneldor, other eagles named in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s eagles are intelligent allies rather than ordinary birds, but their interventions do not simply solve every problem: they are not available for the Fellowship’s entire journey and cannot safely fly the Ring into Mordor.