Eagle Feathers and Bear Claws – a fight to the finish. 

“Climb into the trees!” Gandalf shouted. Everyone scampered up those trees, but poor little Bilbo couldn’t find a low enough branch and barely was pulled up as a warg snapped his teeth at him. More and more goblins and wargs came cursing and throwing burning things at them, mostly targeting Bilbo for he was an easy target and quite close to them. When all hope was lost and the wargs and goblins were shaking down the trees, then clouds separated showing a beam of sunlight which came from above and then came huge eagles, Gwaihir the Windlord of the Great Eagles in the lead, who grabbed a dwarf each (and one a trembling hairy hobbit) and flew off leaving the goblins and wargs in a state of desperate fury. There was no in-flight movie but wonderful scenery, with a lush meadow below followed by strong wall-like mountains with snowy peaks; it was a little hard to see in the darkness but the three moons helped with vision. The flight was very fast and many bugs were hitting your face but it was truly not something you could do in Disneyland.

Although flying with eagles had its downsides too, Fili and Kili both had to go to the bathroom and it didn’t help by staring at huge waterfalls, lakes, ponds and more water. Sadly they had to hold it till the end of the flight. Bilbo was absolutely terrified afraid of being dropped and obliterated into a million pieces (for he was a noob at adventuring) while the others were less terrified, for they had adventured multiple times, and only had concern about their bladders. The eagles themselves were huge birds with white ruffled feathers, black wings and sleek yellow beaks that stretched longer than Bilbo horizontally. They slowly rose higher until they were in the line of clouds, which came straight at your face and ca-ploofed into nothing.  There was a beautiful sunrise with a million different colors surrounding the big, red star. So checking the scoreboard now… and it looks like the eagles are winning thanks to that daring rescue 1-0 (sorry Beorn).

Beorn

We are very close!” shouted Gandalf, the only person who had any energy left in his body, while the rest of the party was trudging behind, whining like a bunch of Zombies on a Monday morning. Finally, when they got to the house and slowly, two by two, came up to Beorn – they were accepted into the wonderful house of Beorn the Bold. “The more, the merrier,” Beorn said in a deep jolly voice (sort of sounding like Santa). This huge log cabin was filled with animals, squirrels, moose, rabbits, bears, birds, you name it, he had it. Cabin itself lacked color – only brown and only one material, wood. The outside however, had a flabbergasting garden simply sparkling in color, with vegetables and fruits looking delicious. Bilbo’s mouth watered, and even though he didn’t like radishes that much, he would still devour them, for he didn’t have any food in his demanding stomach. He soon got ushered to an even better sight: a huge wooden table with wooden chairs and on the table was food and food and food! Animals were standing up on their bushy legs and serving the food, and pouring milk. Bilbo almost cried. He rushed to the table with the other dwarves and immediately began chowing down. But very subtly, a feeling crept into his mouth, then rushed up his tongue to his taste buds and around to the top and back; this feeling was as if your mouth was on fire! The food was very hot! Bilbo’s eyes watered while his tongue was screaming for something cold. Looking around, he saw that everyone was watching him because he was the only one who had eaten immediately. He chugged what felt like a gallon of cold milk and finally calmed his mouth down. Beorn laughed a low and hearty laugh like a volcano rumbling and exploding and soon the others joined him in uproarious guffawing, while Bilbo’s cheeks turned red. After everyone calmed down and ate, they went to sleep with bellies full of food and heads full of dreams. The next day was a quiet day, and Beorn had disappeared. After hours of using his amazing tracking skills, Beorn had came across a scent and followed it for 18 hours, finally coming across a goblin camp. He captured a goblin and a warg, bringing them back to his farm and interrogated them (he was doing good cop/bad cop but without the good cop). “W-w-w-e goblins are v-v-very angry at the dwarves and the w-w-w-izard and so we want to k-k-kill them,” stuttered the goblin. And Beorn showed the Company a goblin head and a warg skin in his garden, proving to his visitors that he was a fierce warrior and that he was on their side. Say what?! That’s right Beorn with the comeback 1-1 on the scoreboard!!

Beorn and the Eagles

Now we have seen both sides of the competition and cheered for them, but one must win and one must lose. May I present Beorn and The Eagles in The Battle of The Five Armies! This is the tie-breaker, ladies and gentlemen!

Then all of a sudden, Beorn the Mighty Bear came trampling up, mowing through goblins and goblins along with his bear friends. One swipe of his paw sent an entire squad of goblins sky high. “The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straws and feathers.” Additionally, Beorn lifted Thorin up who was pierced by many spears and brought him to safety. Then when he came back his rage and wrath redoubled, so that “… nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him.” He even single-handedly took down the leader of the wargs, Bolg, which made the goblins retreat and many people felt like this victory would be told and passed down for centuries.

But before all of this happened there was another savior. The eagles were gathering in great numbers, suspecting that a war was coming. Just in the nick of time Gwaihir the Windlord and the Great Eagles swooped in, breaking the goblin ranks from above and causing them to tumble down to the valley, “casting them over precipices, or driving them down shrieking and bewildered among their foes.” They grabbed 20 goblins at a time with their talons and threw them as far as the eye could see. They were fast and furious, obliterating the evil side’s reinforcements. “It was not long before they had freed the Lonely Mountain, and elves and men on either side of the valley come at last to the help of the battle below.” So the reinforcements for the goblins, bats, wargs, and orcs were thwarted by Gwaihir and his flying companions!

Now in the end, the score board has not changed – I’m waiting for the audiences vote… which is you! If you are lucky enough to do student feedback for me, please please please say who you think should’ve won, and why! Beorn the Mighty Bear or The Great Eagles of High Mountain?