Which Armies Are In The Hobbit's Battle Of Five Armies?
The Battle Of Five Armies is probably the worst film that Peter Jackson has ever made. As the climax of The Hobbit novel, I don’t think it’s particularly good either. Bilbo bumps his head and Tolkien doesn’t bother to write the details for the culmination of the battle. Battle scenes weren’t really his thing – that’s probably where Tolkien and Jackson differ the most – so it’s probably for the best, but still. It feels like a bit of a cop out.
When you’re asking which armies were in the Battle of Five Armies in The Hobbit though, there are a couple of differences and a little discussion around what is actually quite a clear cut answer. First, we’ll consult Tolkien, and then I’ll go into the nitty gritty details around what often makes people confused.
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“Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves,” writes Tolkien in The Hobbit. So what’s all the confusion about? A lot of it, as is often the case with this sort of thing, comes from the films. Firstly, the nature of the Wild Wolves differs in book and film. In the Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens movies, Wargs and Wild Wolves are nothing more than Orc Horses, as much a character as Brego or Asfaloth. In the books, however, Wild Wolves have a society all of their own. They’re far cleverer, and some even talk. In the books, it’s clear that they are separate from the Goblin force, even though they’re fighting together.
Another point of confusion that stems from the film is that nothing is as explicit on screen. Without an omniscient narrator, why would someone, say, Bilbo, turn to the camera or a Dwarf and say, “And so the Battle of Five Armies
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