The Hobbit: Is Beorn Really The Last Of His Kind?

gamerant.com:

To this day, one of the most intriguing characters in The Hobbit films and book is Beorn. Very little is known about him and his ability to shape-shift, other than the fact that his people were some of the first to live in the mountains before the goblins came down and took over. He is left deliberately mysterious as a character, in order to keep the audience tantalized. But beneath his gruff exterior, there is a pain and a tragedy that is hinted at, and it makes him a much more sympathetic character.

When the company of dwarves, with Gandalf and Bilbo in tow, enter, two at a time, into the abode of the bear man, the reader is given the impression of a very powerful, and not too friendly man who lives in solitude and keeps himself out of the affairs of the rest of the world, choosing only to attack goblins when they leave their caves and cause trouble on the borders of his land. His only friendship is with his animals, whom he would defend with his life, and he seems to dislike many other species, including dwarves. He is distrustful and harsh, but he does offer the companions food and sanctuary despite this, which is the first hint that he might not be so bad. However, when the audience are invited to learn about the tragedy of his family, it all begins to click into place as to why he is the way he is.

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He reveals to the dwarves that they share the same hatred goblins, because “Azog the defiler killed most of my family. But some he enslaved; not for work you understand, but for sport. Caging skin changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him.” and when Bilbo asks what happened to the others like him, Beorn replies “Once there were many. Now there is only