Battle of the Five Armies – The Five Armies
The humans, dwarves, elves, goblins and the wargs were the main five armies that are referred to in the Battle of the Five Armies.
Goblins usually referred to the orcs of the Misty Mountains and Moria, however J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t necessarily differentiate goblins and orcs but he just used the term goblin more in the novel The Hobbit.
Wargs
Wargs were a kind of evil family of the wolves that were a separate race from the orcs. The wargs weren’t livestock or pets that the orcs would tame but rather the relationship between orcs and the wargs were equal and the orcs and wargs formed an alliance rather than a master-servant relationship.
Wargs usually lived in the fields of Rhovanion and some of them would live in the Misty Mountains.
Bats
The bats were also one of the minor evil creature races that appeared at the Battle of the Five Armies and the Hobbit. The bats were mentioned during The Hobbit and the stories of Beren and Luthien and they were considered almost equivalent to the vampires.
Except for The Hobbit and Beren and Luthien, bats weren’t mentioned much in the Legendarium. However numerous bats that would even cover the sky also participated in the Battle of the Five Armies but they were annihilated by the Great Eagles.
Ogres
Although there weren’t many modified and specialized ogres or trolls that featured in the movie series, there were brief mentions of the ogre during The Hobbit.
Along with giants, ogres were one of the concepts that J.R.R. Tolkien used to have but both of them were excluded from the stories of the Legendarium where there are only some brief mentions of them.
Ogres possibly may be the synonym for the trolls. The movie The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies would feature various trolls and ogres with specialized weapons though.
Charge of Thorin Oakenshield
Like the movie, even in the novel, Dain Ironfoot and the dwarves of the Iron Hills, Bard with the humans of Lake-Town, and Thranduil and the elves of Mirkwood would first unite and stand against the orcs and wargs.
In the novel, Thorin Oakenshield wasn’t obsessed with treasure but he did participate in the Battle of the Five Armies later than the other commanders of the armies.
In the movie, Thorin Oakenshield was first caught by the fever of treasure and greed, however he snaps out of it and prepares for battle.
While the outnumbered dwarves, elves and humans were being pushed back by the massive numbers of goblins and orcs, Thorin Oakenshield makes up his mind to lead a charge against the forces of orcs and wargs.
In both the novel and the movie, Thorin Oakenshield would open the gates of Erebor and would rally the humans, dwarves and elves on him and led the charge against the orcs and wargs that turned the tides of the Battle of the Five Armies.
Ravenhill
The hill in the movie where Azog would command the armies of orcs, trolls, ogres and wargs was called Ravenhill. Ravenhill was near Erebor and the ravens that befriended the dwarves used to thrive on Ravenhill.
In the movie, Azog would command his legions with signaling flags and the orc armies were organized, however in the novel, Azog was already dead and there weren’t such organized strategic attacks by the orcs of Gundabad and the Misty Mountains.
Also in the novel, Ravenhill wasn’t involved in battle and Bilbo Baggins at first tried to stay out of the Battle of the Five Armies by climbing up and staying at Ravenhill.
Death of Bolg
Tauriel was a movie-developed character thus only was in the movie while Legolas didn’t take any roles in the Battle of Five Armies in the novel. However, in the movie, Tauriel and Legolas would support Thorin Oakenshield by dealing with Bolg and his orcs.
Legolas would kill Bolg in the movie. However, in the novel, it was Beorn that would kill Bolg the supreme commander of the orcs as Beorn transformed into a giant bear and took revenge of Thorin Oakenshield.
Death of Thorin Oakenshield
Fili and Kili were both killed in action during the Battle of the Five Armies among the dwarves that followed Thorin for the Quest for Erebor.
In the novel, Thorin Oakenshield was severely wounded trying kill the giant goblins that were Bolg’s bodyguards to reach Bolg.
Eventually in the novel, Beorn who joined the Battle of the Five Armies later jumped in as he transformed into a giant bear and rescued Thorin from the battlefield. In the novel, Beorn would jump into the battle again and kill Bolg as well.
In the movie, Thorin Oakenshield realizes that the dwarf, elf, and human alliance were at the brink of annihilation and decides to cut off the head of the snake Azog and charges into him with his best warrior dwarves.
Thorin Oakenshield fell into a trap set up by Azog, but by the help of Tauriel and Legolas and the sacrifice of his dwarves, Thorin Oakenshield gets the opportunity to duel with Azog. Thorin Oakenshield eventually dies together with Azog in the movie.
In both the novel and the movie, Thorin Oakenshield had the opportunity to apologize to Bilbo Baggins over the dispute of the Arkenstone and eventually he passes away as he couldn’t recover from his wounds.
Bard would bury the Arkenstone with Thorin Oakenshield while Thranduil would put the sword Orcrist next to Thorin Oakenshield.
Aftermath of the Battle of Five Armies
Bilbo Baggins befriended great heroes such as Elrond, Balin and Thorin Oakenshield etc and he possessed the One Ring without knowing the significance nor the identity of it and headed back to the Shire.
The elf dagger Sting and the mithril armor of Bilbo Baggins and the One Ring would all become Frodo Baggin’s possession. Gandalf was able to successfully stop the alliance of Smaug and Sauron.
Also, Gandalf would have some initial information about the mysterious Smeagol and Gollum and he would later on notice that Bilbo Baggins had a strange possession.
Eventually through the hunt of Gollum with the help of Aragorn, Gandalf would find out the magic ring of Bilbo Baggins was the One Ring that Sauron longed for.
Dain Ironfoot became the new king of Erebor and Bard became the lord of the newly reconstructed Dale.
Dain Ironfoot and Thranduil would settle some of the old grudges between elves and dwarves and the elves of Mirkwood, humans of Dale and the dwarves of Iron Hills and Erebor would cooperate with each other and later on fight together once more during the War of the Rings.
The goblins, orcs of Gundabad, Moria and the Misty Mountains and the wargs reduced sharply and the activities of the dark creatures reduced in the Misty Mountains and Mirkwoods.
In the movie, Thranduil advises his son Legolas to meet Strider, the Northern Ranger, the heir of Isildur Aragorn.
