You’ve probably seen the Peter Jackson movies and thought you had a handle on things. Giant bats, CGI trolls, and a weirdly long chase scene. But if you actually go back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 text, the identity of who were the five armies in the hobbit is something people get wrong all the time. It’s not just a matter of counting heads.
The chaos at the foot of the Lonely Mountain wasn't just a random brawl; it was a geopolitical disaster.
Think about it. Thorin Oakenshield and his company of dwarves finally reclaim their ancestral home, Erebor. Smaug the Dragon is dead, thanks to Bard the Bowman. Suddenly, every single faction in Middle-earth realizes there’s a massive pile of gold sitting unguarded in a mountain. It’s basically the gold rush, but with more axes and ancient grudges. People usually assume the "Five Armies" include the Eagles or Beorn the skin-changer, but that’s not what Tolkien wrote.
The Real Roster of the Five Armies
The book is actually very specific, even if the movies muddy the water. According to the text, the "Five Armies" refers to a specific set of combatants that arrived on the field.
On one side, you had the alliance of the Elves, the Men, and the Dwarves. On the other side? The Goblins (Orcs) and the Wild Wolves (Wargs).
That’s it. Those are the five.
It’s kinda funny how often the Eagles get credited as an "army." Honestly, they’re more like the airborne cavalry that shows up to save everyone’s skin at the last second. They aren't part of the official tally. Neither is Bilbo. Neither is Gandalf. The titular battle is defined by these five distinct groups who converged on the Lonely Mountain with very different motivations.
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The Elves of Mirkwood
Thranduil, the Elvenking, didn't just show up for fun. He heard the dragon was dead and figured he was owed something. His people, the Wood-elves, were the first major force to arrive at the ruins of Dale. They brought supplies to the starving people of Laketown, which was a nice move, but Thranduil was also eyeing those white gems—the Starlight Jewels—supposedly buried in the mountain. They fought with bows and spears, and in the book, they are described as being incredibly fast and deadly in the valley’s narrow passes.
The Men of Laketown (Esgaroth)
These guys were basically refugees. Led by Bard, they had lost everything when Smaug decided to turn their town into a bonfire. They weren't professional soldiers. Most were just survivors who wanted enough gold to rebuild their lives. Bard is the voice of reason here, trying to negotiate with a gold-mad Thorin before the Goblins show up and ruin everyone’s day.
The Dwarves of the Iron Hills
When we talk about who were the five armies in the hobbit, we aren't just talking about Thorin’s group of thirteen. We’re talking about Dáin Ironfoot. He arrived with five hundred heavily armed dwarves from the Iron Hills. These weren't your average miners. Tolkien describes them as grim warriors carrying heavy two-handed mattocks and short swords. They were ready to go to war against the Elves and Men until the literal ground started shaking with the arrival of the actual enemy.
The Dark Side: Goblins and Wargs
It’s easy to forget that the bad guys had a structured military plan. Bolg, the son of Azog (who was already dead in the book, unlike the movie version), led a massive host of Goblins from Mount Gundabad.
The Goblins didn't care about the gold as much as they cared about revenge and strategic positioning. They wanted the North. They wanted to crush the resistance that had killed the Great Goblin earlier in the story.
Then you have the Wargs.
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In Middle-earth lore, Wargs aren't just oversized dogs. They are intelligent, evil, and capable of speech. They formed their own "army" in the tactical sense. They moved faster than the Goblins, acting as scouts and shock troops. When the Goblins and Wargs arrived, the "Three Armies" of Men, Elves, and Dwarves had to stop bickering and form a desperate alliance.
Why the Eagles and Beorn Don't Count
This is where the debate usually gets heated. If the Eagles saved the day, why aren't they part of the Five?
Tolkien was a bit of a stickler for the "Five Armies" designation being about the initial participants of the conflict. The Eagles are a deus ex machina. They arrive when the battle is almost lost. Beorn, the guy who turns into a massive bear, shows up even later. He’s a one-man army, sure, but he doesn't fit the categorical "army" label used by the narrator.
If you count the Eagles, you have to count the bats. And nobody wants to count the bats.
The bats were there to cloud the sun so the Goblins could fight more effectively, but they weren't organized into a formal military branch in the same way the Wargs were. So, the count stays at five: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Goblins, Wargs.
The Strategy That Nearly Failed
The Battle of Five Armies took place in the valley between the spurs of the Lonely Mountain. It was a tactical nightmare.
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Initially, the Elves and Men took the high ground on the surrounding ridges. The plan was to draw the Goblins into the valley and then crush them from both sides. It worked—for a while. But Goblins are climbers. They started scaling the mountain from the back, getting above the Elves and Men.
Thorin finally broke out of the mountain.
He didn't just sit there. He and his twelve companions, plus Dáin's dwarves, charged out in a frenzy of gold-lust and rediscovered honor. They pierced through the Goblin lines, aiming for Bolg’s bodyguard. But they were too few. They got surrounded. This is where the tragedy happens—where Fili and Kili fall.
Without the Eagles and Beorn, the "Five Armies" would have ended with the total annihilation of the heroes. Beorn eventually broke through the ranks, tossed Goblins aside like toys, and crushed Bolg himself. That was the turning point.
What This Means for the Lore
Understanding who were the five armies in the hobbit changes how you view the scale of the story. The Hobbit is often called a children’s book, but the ending is a grim meditation on how greed almost destroyed the world of Men and Elves before the real war against Sauron even started.
If the Dwarves, Men, and Elves hadn't found a way to unite, the North would have fallen to the Goblins. When the War of the Ring happened decades later, there would have been no Laketown, no Erebor, and no Mirkwood to hold the line against the shadows from the East.
Key Takeaways for Fans
- The Movie is Different: The films add Azog (who was dead) and leave out the Wargs as a distinct army, often lumping them in with the Orcs.
- The Count is Final: Tolkien explicitly lists them in Chapter 17, "The Clouds Burst."
- The Motivation Matters: Each army had a claim. The Men wanted survival; the Elves wanted treasure; the Dwarves wanted their home; the Goblins wanted blood.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the tactical layout of the battle, your best bet is to look at the "Atlas of Middle-earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. She maps out the troop movements in a way that makes the chaotic prose of the book much easier to follow. Also, keep an eye out for the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit. Despite its age, it actually stays surprisingly true to the "five armies" count compared to the modern trilogy.
To truly master the lore, re-read the chapter "The Clouds Burst" with a focus on the arrival of the Wargs. It’s the most overlooked part of the sequence. Once you see the Wargs as their own political and military entity, the structure of the battle makes a lot more sense. Take a look at the geography of the Lonely Mountain on a map; it explains exactly why the Elves and Men were so easily trapped once the Goblins took the heights. Understanding the terrain is the only way to understand why the victory was such a narrow miracle.