Gwaihir leads the Eagles who rescue Gandalf from Orthanc in Tolkien’s narrative.
Gwaihir the Windlord is the greatest of the Great Eagles who appear in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In The Lord of the Rings, he carries Gandalf away from the pinnacle of Orthanc after Saruman imprisons him there. Gwaihir later helps rescue Gandalf after his battle with the Balrog and carries him from the mountain.
Gwaihir belongs to a lineage of giant, intelligent Eagles associated with the mountains of northern Middle-earth. His name comes from Tolkien’s invented Sindarin language and is commonly translated as “Windlord.” The Eagles are independent allies rather than ordinary trained birds, and they intervene only at particular moments.
Landroval is another Great Eagle and Gwaihir’s brother. Thorondor is an earlier and more powerful Eagle from the First Age, so these names are sometimes mixed up when readers recall Tolkien’s wider mythology.