{"id":77699,"date":"2013-08-29T09:11:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T14:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=77699"},"modified":"2013-08-29T06:12:46","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T11:12:46","slug":"how-many-fought-at-the-battle-of-the-five-armies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2013\/08\/29\/77699-how-many-fought-at-the-battle-of-the-five-armies\/","title":{"rendered":"How many fought at the Battle of the Five Armies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Beorn At the beginning of this month, the TORn messageboard Reading Room<\/a> (home on our boards to all things Tolkien and scholarly) held an amateur symposium, with a number of folks submitting papers for discussion.<\/p>\n

Among them them was this interesting piece by Arandir analysing the Battle of the Five Armies. We felt it was deserving of a wider audience and are delighted to — with Arandir’s permission — reproduce it for you as a TORn Library piece.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

How many fought at the Battle of the Five Armies?<\/h3>\n

by TORn staffer Arandir<\/b><\/p>\n

It is well known that in his stories, especially concerning battles, Tolkien does not give his readers much information about the size of the armies involved. This is the case with the Battle of Five Armies, as described in The Hobbit<\/em>. This article shall lay out all findings regarding the battle -\u2013 focusing on the statistics, quoting passages from the text and providing speculative remarks.<\/p>\n

There is no question that from its name, we can make out that the five armies involved are: elves, dwarves, men, goblins and wargs (but also including eagles \u2013 to which I refer later on). In The Hobbit<\/em> the battle is described in the chapter \u2018The Clouds Burst\u2019 but in the previous chapters leading to it (and the one that follows after) contain some hints and information about all armies involved.<\/p>\n

Before the battle<\/h4>\n

\"Laketown\" Taking into consideration the fourteenth chapter from the book, \u2018Fire and Water\u2019, during Smaug\u2019s attack on Lake-town, we are presented with the following quotes:<\/p>\n

\u201c… every warrior was armed, every arrow and dart was ready.\u201d
\n\u201c… a hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales and jewels …\u201d
\n\u201c… cheering on the archers\u201d \u2013 Bard
\n\u201c… there was still a company of archers.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no doubt that Lake-town had some form of army as words like warrior<\/em>, archers<\/em> and company<\/em> are clear references to such a military structure. Regarding numbers, we are not told at this point but one can only guess that since during the town\u2019s destruction many had died or fled (but some remained to fight the Battle of the Five Armies alongside the Elves) a few hundred would have certainly been present.<\/p>\n

After the death of Smaug, in the same chapter, we are told about the Wood Elves\u2019 army coming to the men\u2019s rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [the Elvenking] had not boats or rafts enough for his host, and they were forced to go the slower way by foot.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The word host here implies quite a large number of infantry. In fact, if one looks it up in the dictionary, it is described as: \u201ca great multitude, a muster\u201d \u2013 just like the mustering of Rohan at the time of the War of the Ring. It can only be assumed that in order to help the men of Lake-town, and carry the large supplies we are told of in the book, the Elvenking would have needed as many elves as he could gather.<\/p>\n

\u201c… all the men of arms who were still able, and the most of the Elvenking\u2019s array, got ready to march …\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So now we know that the remaining men who had survived the attack on Lake-town and the majority of the Elf army headed towards the Mountain. Once again array<\/em> is used to describe the Elven force.<\/p>\n

Proceeding towards the next chapter, ‘The Gathering of the Clouds\u2019, the events set in motion by the death of Smaug start to unfold and the strategies of each army will slowly be laid out as the narrative continues. At this point, Thorin and the Company are hiding on top of Ravenhill, but soon receive word of the dragon’s demise by Ro\u00e4c — along with the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201c… many are gathering hither beside the birds \u2026 Already a host of the elves is on the way …\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Smaug
Smaug Destroys Lake Town – John Howe<\/figcaption><\/figure> Host<\/em> is once again mentioned, alongside the word many<\/em>. Obviously, it is impossible to find out what Tolkien had actually meant by many<\/em>. It was always my belief that, this being a children\u2019s book, it would not have implied a vast force comparable to say, the ones at Helm\u2019s Deep or the Pelennor Fields in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> (the latter being the decisive and greatest battle of the Third Age).<\/p>\n

With the progression of the chapter, the dwarves find themselves captives inside Erebor as the Mountain is besieged. Yet again, we find further ambiguous references to the size of the armies:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere came a night when suddenly there were many lights as of fires and torches away south in Dale before them […] \u2018They have come!\u2019 said Balin. \u2018And their camp is very great.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

The next chapter, \u2018A Thief in the Night\u2019, contains only one relevant quote -\u2013 it is, ironically, one out of two in all The Hobbit<\/em> that gives any reference to the size of the armies. Thorin soon receives information that a dwarf host has been dispatch to aid in his struggle:<\/p>\n

\u201c… D\u00e1in and more than five hundred dwarves, hurrying from the Iron Hills …\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The idea that five hundred dwarves participated in the Battle of Five Armies is something that almost every reader of the book is aware of. <\/p>\n

But this is still unclear since it cleverly uses the words more than<\/em>. How much more than that figure they could have been is impossible to state, but what is definitive is that by including Thorin, his company, D\u00e1in and possibly dwarf scouts and other military workforce, between 525 and 550 might have been present that day of the battle.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Battle of the Five Armies<\/h4>\n

\"Beorn \u2019The Clouds Burst\u2019 is the chapter where the main battle takes place \u2013 it is also the one in which we are given the second reference to army numbers. For the moment, let us focus on the Wargs and Goblins. As they approach, Gandalf bursts out shouting:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Behold! The bats are above this army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It cannot be argued that at the Battle, both Goblins and Wargs far outnumbered the other three armies. The various descriptions that are associated with them give us approximate clues to their numbers. We are no longer talking about the few hundreds of Lake-town men or Dwarves under D\u00e1in. Here, these two evil armies almost definitely would have numbered in their thousands.<\/p>\n

\u201c… in all the mountains there was a forging and an arming … a vast host was assembled.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The word host<\/em> is mentioned again, but with a slightly different meaning to that associated with the Elven army. Here, we are given an extra detail, another word to describe to us the army\u2019s size — vast<\/em>. Once again, it is made clear that thousands would have gathered on the day of the battle and as it is about to commence, we read: \u201c… the Mountain\u2019s feet black with a hurrying multitude.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Tolkien wanted to reach the climax of The Hobbit<\/em> by using the idea of an epic battle fought against two extreme sides and with two distinct purposes. One of them as a way to bring forth the theme of greed, and on the other, present to us the theme of friendship and alliance — fighting together for a common good. Further on, Tolkien delves into the strategic and tactical movements of the armies and amongst the words, we come to the second reference to army numbers (albeit a small one).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, they [Elves] sent against it a shower of arrows … a thousand of their spearmen leapt down and charged.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what is certain is that over five hundred Dwarves and one thousand Elves took part in the Battle of Five Armies. To understand the true meaning of the above quote, one has the re-read it carefully and with attention. \u201ca thousand of their spearmen\u201d<\/em>, paraphrased differently would literally mean: \u201ca portion of the army\u2019s spearmen\u201d. In my opinion, that implies that the Elven army, at the very least, was divided into two: archers and spearmen. The archers were positioned to weaken the attack of the goblins whilst the spearmen would defend or attack. Going back to the phrase: \u201ca thousand of their spearmen\u201d<\/em>, it seems to mean that out of a couple of thousand elves, one thousand of these where the first to engage in the fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201c… a host of Wargs came ravening …\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Returning back to the evil armies, it is made clear to us that not only the goblins were in large numbers, but also their allies, the Wargs. Furthermore, out of such a \u201cterrible battle\u201d it would be impossible not to have casualties.<\/p>\n

\u201c… among the goblin dead lay many men and many dwarves, and many a fair elf …\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Battle This quote states that both sides lost large portions of their armies -\u2013 especially the goblins. We have already discussed the idea of a vastly superior force by part of the goblins during the battle, and this is soon confirmed in the following quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cSongs have said that three parts of the goblin warriors of the North perished on the day.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the surviving armies go back to their homelands we are told:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elf-host was on the march … sadly lessened.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although losing much of its strength the Elven army is still being referred to as a host<\/em> -\u2013 it would make sense then to think that before the battle it had been quite a large force (thousands) and having lost many after the battle, it still remained fairly big.<\/p>\n

The eagles and the aftermath of the battle<\/h4>\n

Although not part of the \u2018five\u2019 armies, the eagles play an important role in the battle. It seems, at first, that even these creatures came with quite a large force:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eagles were coming down the wind, line after line, in such a host as must have gathered from all the eyries of the North.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Line after line, host, all the eyries<\/em> all describe the coming of a strong force but we might be getting the wrong impression that there were many eagles. One may find a very important quote in The History of the Hobbit<\/em> (Volume 1) \u2013- specifically, Chapter VI: \u2018Wargs and Eagles\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that Tolkien\u2019s continued interest in the eagles, it is odd that in the Battle of the Five Armies the wargs and goblins each count as a \u2018people\u2019 for purposes of the tally yet the eagles do not. Perhaps there are simply too few eagles present to be described as an \u2018army\u2019 (as seems to be the case with Beorn) …\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So the fact that the Eagles aren\u2019t considered as one of the armies would imply that the force wasn\u2019t as big as one is made to believe -\u2013 and this may easily apply to all the other \u2018established\u2019 armies.<\/p>\n

How many fought at the battle? And how many fell?<\/h4>\n

\"TN-Bilbo_and_the_Eagles\" Turning back to the matter of the size of the goblins (excluding the wargs, for it seems certain that for each goblin to participate in the battle, there would have been an equivalent warg for travelling purposes), I think it would be good if we were to go back in time a couple of years before the battle itself. <\/p>\n

I am assuming that the orcs present at the Battle of Five Armies came from the various colonies in the Misty Mountains (as told in The Hobbit<\/em>) and the North, including Mount Gundabad and Moria. If we are able to understand from past histories what happened after the Battle of Azanulbizar, we might be able to perceive whether orcs were able to multiply in huge numbers over a short period of time. Though it is important to note that here we aren\u2019t given any army numbers (which is the whole purpose of this discussion), but at the very least, we can make out how large the goblin army was at the Battle.<\/p>\n

From various quotes in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, we can deduce that the orcs were almost completely destroyed at the Battle of Azanulbizar, leaving the Misty Mountains free from their evil. But just after 142 years, the orcs renewed their forces and launched the attack on the Lonely Mountain. Here, as is described in The Hobbit<\/em>, three-parts of the orcs of the North, were destroyed that day. Once again, the North became free of their evil for many years. Within 48 years after the Five Armies battle, Balin returned to Moria and was lost (2989 TA). By that time the orc numbers grew and, as we are told in The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em>, the Company of the Ring was attacked by them.<\/p>\n

This points towards one conclusion: that the goblins could have easily multiple within a few years and attacked in a strong force during the Quest for Erebor. With that, this article concludes all the analysis by giving out estimate figures of the size of the armies present at the Battle. (Please note, numbers are approximations only, based purely on speculation for the above quotes).<\/p>\n

Battle of the Five Armies by the numbers<\/h5>\n

Size of forces before the battle<\/b><\/p>\n

Elves 2,000
\nMen 300
\nDwarves 550
\nEagles 50<\/p>\n

Goblins and wargs 25,000<\/p>\n

Size of forces after the battle<\/b><\/p>\n

Elves 900
\nMen 100
\nDwarves 350
\nEagles 20<\/p>\n

Goblins and wargs 0<\/p>\n

References:<\/b>
\nThe Hobbit
\nThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
\nThe History of Middle Earth (Volumes 1 and 2)
\nThe Atlas of Middle Earth<\/p>\n

TORn staffer Arandir loves reading books, writing (no books yet \u2013 though I hope, one day<\/i>) and watching films (who doesn\u2019t, really?<\/i>). He has a very cool blog called A Tolkienist’s Perspective<\/a> where he regularly analyses and discusses Tolkien’s works. The views presented in this article are his own and don’t necessarily represent TheOneRing.net or other staff.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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