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The Battle of the Green Fields, or Battle of Greenfields, was a battle that took place at the Green Fields district in the Northfarthing of the Shire during the latter half of the Third Age. It was the only time that the Shire was ever attacked by the Orcs of Mount Gram.[1]

History[]

In TA 2740, multiple bands of Orcs from the Misty Mountains invaded various parts of Eriador.[2]

By TA 2747, many of the Orc-bands were pushed back by the Rangers of the North,[2] but the very last[3] band of Orcs, one from Mount Gram which was led by Golfimbul, managed to avoid the Rangers and invade the Northfarthing of the Shire. The hobbits were prepared and crossed the Norbourn with a force to meet them in the Green Fields district. Bandobras Took, known as the Bullroarer, led[4] the charge on horseback and armed with a wooden club.[1] He knocked Golfimbul's head clean off at the helm of the Orc-band, sending it sailing a hundred yards through the air and down a rabbit-hole, thus winning the battle and simultaneously inventing the game of Golf.[1] The other Orcs fled after Golfimbul's death,[4] causing a decline in their attacks in Eriador until they stopped completely.[3]

No other battle occurred within the borders of the Shire until the Battle of Bywater[5][6] at the end of the Great War of the Ring on November 1, 3019, over two-hundred years later.[2]

Development[]

In the very first draft of The Hobbit, Tolkien called this event "’the Battle of the’ followed by a cancelled, illegible word of four or five letters that ended in -ll (possibly ‘Bull-’?)".[7] This was immediately changed to the battle of the Green Fields of Fellin,[8] before swiftly changing Fellin to Fao which in turn was changed, likely at once, to Merria before the word was fully written.[7] John D. Rateliff notes that while these names never appear again, Merria bears a resemblance to the Merrill, a stream in Rivendell[9].[7] While Rateliff stated that he could not decipher the meanings of the names nor figure out what languages they are from, he noted that his friend, Taum Santoski, had suggested in a linguistic note that Fellin may be connected with the Ñoldorin word fela ("cave") and that Merria may be connected with the Quenya word merka ("wild").[7] Rateliff concluded that regardless of the names had actually meant, he is certain that they were not direct translations of "Green Field".[7] Tolkien also wrote that chess, in addition to golf, was invented because the battle was won due to a "checkmate",[8] though it is possible that the chess reference was removed due to an obscure philologist's joke on how the word "checkmate" comes from Persian shah mat, "the King is Dead".[10]

The name was then soon changed to the published form as well as the reference to chess.[11]

In early versions of the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave the date of the battle as 1137,[12] before changing it to SR 1347 and then SR 1147.[12] It was changed to the published form in an early version of the Appendices.[13]

In adaptations[]

The Hobbit video game[]

In the 2003 video game, A hobbit outside Bag-End makes accusations that young hobbits know nothing about the Battle of the Green Fields and history in general.[14]

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II[]

It is revealed in the "Evil Campaign" of the game that the Goblins have not forgotten their defeat and thus they lay siege and conquer the Shire in revenge.[15]

The Lord of the Rings Online[]

In the Hobbit prologue quests[16] in The Lord of the Rings Online, a group of Goblins led by Lubach,[17] were convinced by Éogan[18] to invade the Shire by claiming that Lubach was the heir of Golfimbul.[19]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey[]

In the first film of The Hobbit film trilogy, the Battle of the Green Fields is recounted by Gandalf during the Unexpected Party at Bag-End, though the tone implies that some embellishment is at work.

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Slag van Groen velde
Albanian Beteja e Fushave të Gjelbërta
Amharic የግሪን ሜዳዎች ውጊያ
Arabic معركة الحقول الخضراء
Armenian Ճակատամարտը կանաչ դաշտերը
Assamese সেউজীয়া পথাৰবোৰৰ যুদ্ধ
Azerbaijani Yaşıl Sahələri döyüş
Basque Berde eremuakeko gudua
Belarusian Cyrillic Бітва зялёных палёў
Bengali সবুজ ক্ষেত্র যুদ্ধ
Bosnian Bitka zelenih polja
Bulgarian Cyrillic Битката на зелените поля
Burmese စိမ်းလန်းသောလယ်ကွင်းတိုက်ပွဲ
Cambodian សមរភូមិវាលស្មៅបៃតង
Catalan Batalla dels Camps Verds
Chinese (Hong Kong) 綠原之戰
Corsican Battagghia di Verde campi
Croatian Bitka Zelena polja
Czech Bitva na Zeleném poli
Danish Slaget ved Grønnemark
Dutch Slag van Groene velden
Esperanto Batalo de Verda kampoj
Estonian Lahing rohelised väljad
Faroese Kriggið um Grønu fløttar
Filipino Labanan ng berdeng mga patlang
Finnish Viherkenttien taistelu
French Bataille des Champs Verts
Frisian Slach oan de Griene Fjilden (Western)
Galician Batalla de Campos verdes
Georgian ბრძოლა მწვანე სფეროებში
German Schlacht von Grünfeld
Greek Μάχη της Πράσινης πεδία
Gujarati લીલા ખેતરોની લડાઈ
Haitian Creole Batay nan jaden yo vèt
Hebrew קרב השדות הירוקים
Hindi ग्रीन फील्ड की लड़ाई
Hungarian Csata zöld mezők
Icelandic Orrustan um Grænumakra
Indonesian Pertempuran ladang hijau
Irish Gaelic Cath de pháirceanna glasa
Italian Battaglia di Terreverdi
Japanese グリーン フィールズの戦い
Kannada ಗ್ರೀನ್ ಫೀಲ್ಡ್ಸ್ ಯುದ್ಧ
Kazakh Жасыл өрістер шайқас (Cyrillic) Jasıl örister şayqas (Latin)
Konkani पाचव्या शेतांचें झूज
Korean 그린 필즈 전투
Kurdish Parastina Zeviyên Kesk (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Жашыл талаалар согуш
Laotian ຮົບຂອງທົ່ງນາສີຂຽວ
Latin Proelium virides agros
Latvian Kaujas zaļiem laukie
Lithuanian Mūšis žali laukai
Luxembourgish Schluecht vu Grénge felder
Macedonian Cyrillic Битката за зелени полиња
Malagasy Ady amin'ny saha maitso
Malaysian Pertempuran padang hijau
Maltese Battalja ta Oqsma ħodor
Marathi हिरव्या शेतांची लढाई
Mongolian Cyrillic ногоон талбайд тулаан
Nepalese हरियो क्षेत्रहरू युद्ध
Norwegian Grønneng-slaget
Pashto د شنو برخو کې جګړه
Persian نبرد از گرین‌فیلدز
Portuguese Batalha de campos verdes
Punjabi ਹਰੇ ਖੇਤਾਂ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ
Romanian Luptă de câmpuri verzi
Russian Битва на Зелёных Полях
Sanskrit हरितक्षेत्राणां युद्धम्
Scottish Gaelic Blàr de achaidhean uaine
Sicilian Battaglia di li Campi Virdi
Sindhi سائي ميدان جي جنگ
Serbian Битка од Зеленим пољима (Cyrillic) Bitka od Zelenim poljima (Latin)
Sinhalese හරිත ක්ෂේත්රවල සටන
Slovak Bitka o Zelených polí
Slovenian Bitka za Zelene polja
Somali Dagaalka ee Beeraha cagaaran
Spanish Batalla de los Campos Verdes
Sundanese Perang tina widang Héjo
Swahili Vita ya mashamba ya Kijani
Swedish Slaget vid Gröna fält
Tajik Cyrillic Ҷанги майдонҳои сабз
Tamil பசுமை வயல்களின் போர்
Tatar Яшел кырлар сугышы
Telugu గ్రీన్ ఫీల్డ్స్ యుద్ధం
Thai การต่อสู้ของเขตสีเขียว
Turkish Yeşil Alanları savaşı
Turkmen Ýaşyl Meýdan söweşi
Ukrainian Cyrillic Битва зелених філдс
Urdu گرین فیلڈز جنگ
Uzbek Яшил майдонларда жанг (Cyrillic) Yashil maydonlarda jang (Latin)
Vietnamese Trận Những cánh đồng xanh
Welsh Brwydr y Meysydd Gwyrdd
Xhosa Imfazwe yeendawo eziluhlaza
Yiddish שלאַכט פון גרינע פעלדער‎
Yoruba Ogun ti alawọ ewe aaye

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Hobbit, Chapter I: "An Unexpected Party"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age", "The Third Age"
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, "Unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings", pg. 24
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Prologue", pg. 14
  5. The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter VIII: "The Scouring of the Shire", pg. 1329
  6. The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings, "The Battle of Bywater"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, "The First Phase", I(a). "The Pryftan Fragment", pg. 12 (note 7)
  8. 8.0 8.1 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, "The First Phase", I(a). "The Pryftan Fragment", pgs. 8-9
  9. The History of Middle-earth, The Return of the Shadow, "The First Phase", XI. "From Weathertop to the Ford", pg. 205
  10. "Checkmate" at the Online Etymology Dictionary
  11. The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, "The Second Phase", "The Bladorthin Typescript"
  12. 12.0 12.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part One: "The Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings", I. "The Prologue", pgs. 8-11, 15
  13. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part One: "The Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings", VII: "The Heirs of Elendil", pgs. 211, 236
  14. The Hobbit (2003 video game), "Hobbiton"
  15. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, Evil Campaign Stage 3: "The Shire"
  16. Shire Epic Prologue Quests in The Lord of the Rings Online
  17. Lubach in The Lord of the Rings Online
  18. Éogan in The Lord of the Rings Online
  19. Quest:Prologue: Beneath the Greenfields in The Lord of the Rings Online
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