'The Rings of Power' appears to solve a much-debated plot hole. Showrunners explain how it was unintentional.

• A common question asked of "Lord of the Rings" experts is why the eagles didn't carry the ring.
• Though this age-old debate has long been settled, the new Amazon TV series seemed to address it.

In the opening minutes of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," Galadriel's voiceover details a great war between the elves and Morgoth and we see a fellbeast (a winged, dragon-like creature) take down a giant eagle in the middle of a battle.

The moment was certainly epic, but for "Lord of the Rings" superfans, it felt like Amazon's new TV series was giving a rather final answer to a question people have been asking for decades: Why didn't the eagles just fly Frodo and the One Ring to Mordor?

When speaking with showrunners and executive producers JD Payne, Lindsey Weber, and Patrick McKay, Insider asked if that shot of an eagle dying was an intentional reference to this question. They all broke into laughter.

"I wish we were that smart," Payne said while laughing.

"Great, great great great question," Weber added.

"I love that, and I don't want to say anything that disagrees with it. But — [laughing]," McKay said.

"It was absolutely intentional from moment one!" Payne interrupted.

"But yeah, no, that's a battle set in the First Age, and the incredible battles of that earlier era are more mythic and strange," McKay said. "And I think we wanted something that made you feel that this is a battle between gods."

Lindsey said the scene was showing the audience "the wildness of Middle Earth" in the First Age. Then "Rings of Power" jumps us ahead to the Second Age, when Galadriel and others are fighting the looming evil of Sauron.

Though many Tolkien experts have already explained the in-universe reasons why the eagles couldn't simply carry the One Ring to Mordor, the show inadvertently gave us more concrete evidence that this isn't a "plot hole" the way some people claim.

The fellbeast that attacks the eagle in the opening minutes of "Rings of Power" is the exact same creature that the Nazgul ride in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies. Since the Nazgul were hunting for the Ring, it follows that the eagles would have been just as susceptible to fatal attack in the main "Lord of the Rings" story as they clearly are here in the Second Age battles.

For more small details like this that you might have missed if you're a "Lord of the Rings" fan, read our breakdown of the best details in the Peter Jackson movie trilogy here.

"The Rings of Power" is airing new episodes each Friday on Amazon Prime Video.