: No one was invited to the Council of Elrond. It was composed strictly of people who happened to be in Rivendell a few days after Frodo arrived there.

: : 2. If you want to get rid of the ring (and I know that this
: : kill the story as we know it) why dont you just put Frodo on
: : the back of an eagle and fly him into Mordor, with a ground
: : distraction of people from Gondor or Lorien and the stealth and
: : speed of the eagles, your only problem would be Frodo, failing
: : to destroy the ring ...

: For one thing, coordinating such a "distraction" would have been a monstrous affair. The way Tolkien set things up, Gondor and Rohan were the only countries capable of fielding armies and both were under attack.

: For another thing, such a trip would probably have been beyond the powers of any Eagle. That they could assemble an army and fly to the Morannon says much about them, but they would need to eat and rest along the way. Who could have protected Frodo when the Eagle was resting? The Eagles could not be used very much in the story if they were to be accepted by the readers. By the time the Eagles were on their way to the Morannon, much of the road had been cleared for them, in that the Orc armies of the north were either engaged in battle or already defeated.

Broadly agree, but the eagles were able to fly en masse to the lonely mountain with goblin and warg armies everywhere. Admittedly the eagle approach would not work well as story, but I have wondered myself about how much easier it would have been to have a couple handy so as to avoid Cirith Ungol, perhaps if Gandalf had continued with Frodo and Sam, this would have been his approach?