The Hobbit Flags

Here are a few flags I made that would appear on the battlefield during The Battle of Five Armies, as depicted in The Hobbit (book). Lots of research needed to be done for this, so let me share a little bit of my decision making process with you.

King Under the Mountain (Erebor) Flag: This dwarven flag would have probably been carried by Thrór, grandfather of Thorin Oakenshield - but found and raised by Thorin after reclaiming The Lonely Mountain. I chose to depict the Arkenstone within a crown, and the crown under The Lonely Mountain. - all of which are under three stars (representing the Line of Durin). Grey for the stone of the mountain and gold for their love of mining.

The Woodland Realm (Mirkwood): This is the flag flown by the elves under the rule of Thranduil. Here I show an ornate leaf, flanked by abstract elven shields. The leaf was chosen to represent elven culture as well as the forest in which they live, and the shields symbolize the elves heightened protection over their realm from frequent attacked from spiders and orcs.

Laketown (Esgaroth): Laketown is a place centered around trade, and I wanted to convey that in their flag. The two arrows over water symbolize the trade of barrels up and down the rivers (as well as a bit of foreshadowing in the story).

Warg Army: This was an interesting flag to make because the concept could not be too complicated. Goblins are creatures of practicality rather than beauty, but they would have still understood the importance of having a symbol on the battlefield. A roughly painted warg head seemed to fit their culture nicely.