Mount Doom and Sauron's tower of Barad-dГ»r in Mordor, as depicted in the Peter Jackson films. Morgoth, also known as 'The Dark Enemy', enemy of the Valar. War of Wrath in the First Age File:Morgoth - the first Dark Lord. They demonstrate that there is little variation or change to the structure of Armies and Hosts through the fictional and literary history of Tolkien's Middle-earth canon. In the subsections that follow, the hierarchy and organization described above is shown and applied to an exemplar war from each of the three ages of Tolkien's fictional legendarium of Middle-earth. High-king, King, High-captain, Herald, Captain ДЄrmies and Hosts through the three ages of Middle-earth Hosts and Armies of Elves, Men and Dwarves NameДў+ Hosts, or Host + Army, or + Auxiliaries High-captain, or Marshal of the Hosts Д¬aptain, or Lieutenant, Balrog captain, Orc-captain Дў+ Great Companies, or numerous Companies Great Host, Great Army, Great ForceДў+ Hosts, or Host + Army or + Auxiliaries Orc-hosts, Orc-armies, Orc-legions, Auxiliaries and Allies He can apply the same attention to detail to the drill of a shield-wall formation as to the intricacies of family relationships of the Sackville-Baggins. Tolkien sometimes adopts just that historian stance going into great detail about tactical movements, weapons and formations as he does in The Battles of the Fords of Isen, or Cirion and Eorl. It is important to consider the context in which these terms appear in the stories since, as a writer of fiction, Tolkien's primary purpose is to engage and entertain the reader while not being tied to a set terminology the way a military historian must be. Orc-armies), is supported textually across the board in the canon, as the selected, but by no means only, references demonstrate.

Great-host) as a number of the Name- armies (e.g. However, it can be said with some certainty that a description of strength using the Names, such as: Name- host (e.g. While estimates of numbers can be often supported textually by simple extension of textually cited numbers, they are only estimates when there is not a specific number stated by Tolkien. More modern military terms such as battalion and regiment see occasional use, but are not widespread. Within the context of most battle, or war, descriptions these terms are generally consistent throughout the canon. At times, army can mean a singular fighting force of no set size, as can company, or host. For example: host can refer to the whole of a people which includes males, females and children, not just the warriors, or 'the war-high', to use Tolkien's own phrase. There are certainly times when some of these words: host, army, company, band are used outside of this context. These terms, with host indicating military forces larger than an army and the others indicating forces smaller than an army, are used with a remarkable general consistency over the time of Tolkien's writings from 1917вЂ“1972, as well as an in-universe consistency over the three ages of Middle-earth. The charts below show the general hierarchical terms used by Tolkien to describe military formations and organization, and how these relate to specific or estimated strengths in battles throughout the history of Middle-earth.

Lotr armies of middle earth