THE HOBBIT Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
The Battle of Five Armies
The next day, a group of Men and Elves, with Bard and the Elf King leading them, came to the front gates and called to Thorin. “They have come to talk to me because they know my cousin Dain is coming. They are scared!” “Hail, King Under the Mountain! Have you changed your mind about the gold?” It was Bard who called to Thorin.
“My mind does not change so quickly! The Elves are still here, I see. I demanded that they leave. We have nothing to discuss!” “Is there nothing that will change your mind so you will give us our part of the gold?” asked Bard. “Nothing that you or your friends might have!” answered Thorin.
“What about the Arkenstone of Thrain?" asked Bard. There was an old man in dark clothes next to Bard. He opened a box and took out the jewel. He held it above his head so Thorin could see it clearly. Thorin could not believe his own eyes. No one spoke for a long time. Then Thorin said, “That stone was my father’s, and it is mine! I will not buy from you something that is already mine!” Thorin was confused, and then asked, “How did you get the Arkenstone, thief?”
“We are not thieves,” answered Bard. “We will give you the stone if you give us what is ours.” “Tell me how you got the stone!” yelled Thorin in great anger. “I gave it to them!” squeaked Bilbo, who was standing next to Thorin and very afraid of what the Dwarf would do to him. “You! You!” cried Thorin. Thorin turned and grabbed Bilbo with both hands. “You miserable Hobbit! You minature—burglar!” he shouted, not knowing what to say. He shook Bilbo like a rabbit.
“I wish Gandalf had never chosen you for this adventure!” yelled Thorin. “I hope his beard falls off! And you, you miserable Hobbit, I will throw you off this wall and onto the rocks below!” He began to lift Biblo up and over his head! “Be calm, King Under the Mountain!” yelled the old man that was holding the stone. “I am Gandalf! And it appears I have arrived just in time! Please do not damage my Burglar. Put him down.”
“You are all conspiring against me!” cried Thorin. “I will never trust a wizard or his friends.” He looked at Biblo and asked, “What do you have to say for yourself, you descendant of rats?” “‘Descendant of rats’?” complained Bilbo. “Thorin Oakenshield, I have saved you and your people many times on this adventure, and this is how you thank me? You said I could take any treasure I wanted - one-fourteenth of the profits! Assume that the Arkenstone was my portion and I used it the way I wanted!”
“If that is what you prefer,” said Thorin angrily. “Now get out of here before I change my mind!” Thorin looked down at Bard and Gandalf and yelled, “I have been betrayed! I will give you a one-fourteenth portion of the treasure in gold and silver - but no gems! That will be the amount I will give to you, and you can divide it however you want. The Hobbit will not get much from it. Take him away from here, if you want him to live.”
“And the gold?” asked Bard. He did not trust Thorin to pay him. “We will deliver that soon.” “And we will keep the stone until you deliver the gold,” answered Bard. “You are not acting very much like a King, Thorin!” yelled Gandalf. “But that may change soon.” But Thorin was already planning how to use his cousin Dain to recapture the Arkenstone and not pay any gold to anybody!
Bilbo climbed down the wall and walked quickly to stand next to Gandalf. “Good-bye!” he yelled to them. “I hope we meet each other again as friends!” “We will return tomorrow at noon to collect our portion of the gold!” cried Bard. “If you do that with no deception, we will leave, and the Elf King will return to the Forest.”
The sun rose the next day and messengers came to the camp with news. “Lord Bard,” said one of the messengers, “a large army of Dwarves is coming from the north!” Dain had arrived. He came with 500 Dwarves armed with heavy war hammers and shields. Dwarves are shorter than Men, but they are stronger. And the Dwarves from the north are the strongest. Their beards were long and their helmets were made of strong iron.
Because the army of Men and Elves was blocking the path of Dain and his army, Dain could not enter the mountain to help Thorin. The Dwarvish army waited some distance away, preparing for battle. Bard and his men quickly went to the front gates to get the expected gold. When they arrived, there was no gold - only arrows that the Dwarves shot at them from behind the wall.
Bard was not surprised. He had heard many stories about the greed and deceit of Dwarves. And he knew that the Men and Elves outnumbered the Dwarven army. He did not think they would attack. But Bard did not consider the desire for the Arkenstone. It burned very hot inside the mind of Thorin and the Dwarves. And so, with complete surprise and quickness, Dain and his army moved to attack the Men and Elves.
Just as suddenly, a powerful storm of black clouds formed in the sky and came over the waiting armies. Winter thunder sounded on the wind and lightning hit the top of the Mountain. But beneath the black clouds there was another, darker blackness - and it was moving against the wind. It came from the north.
The moving cloud was so dense and full of flying creatures that no light passed through. “Stop!” cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly between the Dwarves and the army of Men and Elves. “Stop!” he called in a voice like thunder. A flash of lighting came from his staff. “Danger has come. It has come sooner than I expected. The goblins are here! Bolg of the North is coming, Dain! You killed his father in Moria. Look! The bats are flying above his army like a sea of terror. The goblins are riding wolves and Wargs are with them!”
The armies were full of confusion. While Gandalf was speaking, the darkness grew. The Dwarves looked at the sky and the Elves cried out with worried voices. “Come, everyone!” Gandalf cried. “There is still time for us to talk. Dain, Bard and the Elvenking must join forces!” And so a battle that no one had expected began. It was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was a terrible battle.
This is how it happened. After Gandalf killed the Great Goblin in the Misty Mountains many months before, the Goblins hated the Dwarves even more. They sent messengers to all their cities and colonies, and their leaders determined to take control of the North - to kill the Dwarves and Men who lived in the region around Lonely Mountain. They began to make weapons and armor. The goblin soldiers marched secretly under the mountains and at night until vast armies formed in the far north under Gundabad, their mountain capital.
They were prepared to come south in surprise. Then they heard news about the death of Smaug, and they were very happy. They marched faster than ever now. And before anyone knew about their plans, they arrived at Lonely Mountain right behind Dain. The birds in the region did not even know they were coming until the goblins began their attack.
Goblins were the enemies of all. So the armies of Men, Elves and Dain the Dwarf joined against their common enemy - they forgot their differences for the moment. There was no time to make a great battle plan or to ask for help. And soon, before they were fully prepared, the bats came in vast clouds. Men, Elves and Dwarves were terrified. And then they could hear the howling! Wolves and Wargs with goblins on their backs came first and attacked!
The battle was terrible. Archers from Laketown were on the side of the mountain shooting arrows into the goblin army. But they were like crawling insects! There were so many of them! It was the most terrifying thing Bilbo had ever seen, but it was the battle that he liked to talk about the most, even though he was not important in it.
As a matter of fact, when the fighting began, he put on his ring and disappeared from sight, but not from all danger! A magic ring like Bilbo’s does not provide total protection against a charge of goblins riding wargs. And it does not protect you from flying arrows or stones, either. But it does prevent your head from being chosen specifically as a target!
It was the army of Dain that prevented complete destruction. They formed a powerful wall of shields and helmets, and pushed the goblins back. But there were too many! The faster goblins riding wargs began to curve around the sides of the Dwarven army. And with them came the bodyguard of Bolg - they were goblins of huge size with scimitars of steel!
And as night approached, the bats came! Massive clouds of bats swirled around the heads of Elf and Man and Dwarf, and bit them like vampires! And then, there was a loud shout from the front gates of the Mountain. They had forgotten Thorin! Out the Dwarves came from the gates and they were wearing bright armor and carrying sharp axes!
Wargs and goblins died like flies in front of them. Thorin was invincible in that moment. “To me! To me! Elves and Men! To me! To me Dwarves of Dain!” he yelled, and his voice was like thunder in the valley! The goblins ran away in fear, but there were too many of them. They returned in greater numbers and many Men and Dwarves fell. And many Elves who should have lived long ages happily in the forest, were killed by the goblins.
Finally, the armies were completely surrounded by the goblins. They were forced into a great ring, facing every direction. And Bilbo saw all of this with great sadness. He was inside the ring of defenders. And Gandalf was there, too. He was sitting on the ground thinking deeply. It appeared like he was preparing some final magic before the end.
“It will not be long now before the goblins destroy us,” Bilbo thought. “After all the adventures I have been on. This is the last one. I think I would have preferred that Smaug keep the treasure, and not these terrible goblins! And all the poor peoples who have died, Elf, Man and Dwarf. All the songs about battle sing that defeat can be glorious. But it seems very uncomfortable to me. I wish I was not part of it.”
The dark storm clouds covered the last light of day. Then suddenly, the clouds opened for a moment, and bright light came through. And in the light Bilbo saw a sight that made his heart jump with joy! There were shapes in the sky. They were small but they were majestic in the final light of the day. It was the Eagles!
“The Eagles! The Eagles!” he shouted. “The Eagles are coming!” Bilbo’s eyes were not wrong very often. The Eagles were coming with the wind from the west. There were so many that he could not count them. “The Eagles! the Eagles!” Bilbo cried, and he danced and jumped and waved his arms.
No one could see him, but they could all hear him. Soon everyone had seen the Eagles and they all cried with Bilbo, “The Eagles are coming!” “The Eagles!” cried Bilbo one more time, but at that moment a stone came down from above and hit him on his helmet. He fell down to the ground, unconscious.
