Battle of Five Armies

The Battle of Five Armies stands as the great closing conflict of the adventure chronicled in The Hobbit, the war fought beneath the Lonely Mountain after the Dragon that guarded the dwarf-hoard was destroyed. It was the battle in which Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of kings, was slain, and in which many deeds of renown were done. Yet for all its immediate drama, the battle's true importance to the larger history of Middle-earth lies not in its own carnage but in what happened before it: the seemingly minor 'accident' by which Bilbo Baggins came into possession of a small golden ring in the darkness beneath the Misty Mountains. That chance discovery, made while the company was assailed by Orcs in a high pass on the way to Wilderland, would eventually prove to be the One Ring, the object upon which the fate of the entire Third Age would turn. The Battle of Five Armies thus marks the point where a tale of dwarves and dragons intersects with the far greater story of the War of the Ring, even though the participants in that battle could not have known it.

The Quest and Its Origins

The battle was the culmination of a quest that began, as is told in The Hobbit, when the great Wizard Gandalf the Grey came one day to Bilbo's door, accompanied by thirteen dwarves. Among them was none other than Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of kings, and his twelve companions in exile. With them Bilbo set out, to his own lasting astonishment, on a morning of April in the year 1341 Shire-reckoning, on a quest for great treasure: the dwarf-hoards of the Kings under the Mountain, lying beneath Erebor in Dale, far off in the East. The quest was successful, and the Dragon that guarded the hoard was destroyed. Yet the matter would scarcely have concerned later history, or earned more than a note in the long annals of the Third Age, had it not been for the 'accident' by the way. The party was assailed by Orcs in a high pass of the Misty Mountains as they went towards Wilderland, and in the confusion Bilbo was lost for a while in the black orc-mines deep under the mountains.

The Finding of the Ring

It was in those mines that the course of history was altered. Groping in vain in the dark, Bilbo put his hand on a ring lying on the floor of a tunnel, and put it in his pocket. It seemed then like mere luck. Trying to find his way out, he went on down to the roots of the mountains, until he could go no further. At the bottom of the tunnel lay a cold lake far from the light, and on an island of rock in the water lived Gollum, a loathsome little creature who paddled a small boat with his large flat feet, peering with pale luminous eyes and catching blind fish with his long fingers, and eating them raw. He ate any living thing, even orc, if he could catch it and strangle it without a struggle. Gollum possessed a secret treasure that had come to him long ages ago, when he still lived in the light: a ring of gold that made its wearer invisible. It was the one thing he loved, his 'Precious', and he talked to it, even when it was not with him, for he kept it hidden safe in a hole on his island, except when he was hunting or spying on the orcs of the mines. The ring Bilbo found was that very treasure, and its removal from Gollum's keeping set in motion the chain of events that would culminate in the War of the Ring.

The Battle and Its Aftermath

Before all was won, the Battle of Five Armies was fought beneath the Lonely Mountain. Thorin was slain in the conflict, and many deeds of renown were done by the forces of Dwarves, Elves, and Men who had united against the Orcs and Wargs. The victory was hard-won, and it secured the dwarf-kingdom of Erebor for the survivors of Thorin's company. Yet the battle's legacy reaches far beyond the immediate triumph. The 'accident' of the ring's discovery meant that the quest, which might otherwise have been a footnote in the annals of the Third Age, became the hinge upon which the fate of all Middle-earth would turn. The Battle of Five Armies thus stands as the moment when the small world of hobbits and dwarves first brushed against the vast forces of darkness that would dominate the age to come, and when a chance find in a dark tunnel began its long, slow journey toward the fires of Mount Doom.