# Orcs and Bats



## reem (Feb 9, 2003)

alrighty then, here goes another Hobbit question...uhm uhm:
in the Battle of the Five Armies, did the Orcs take the swarm of bats with them in order to shelter them from the sunlight?
...stupid? perhaps. but it's a question i would like answered nevertheless!
because WHY would a fierce army of Wargs and Orcs be followed by a huge swarm of bats? their defanitely not taking their pets for an outing!! and i don't think they understood much on spychological warfare!! and since orcs don't like the sun i just assumed that it was to block it for a while until they got the job done (i.e. flattening the dwarves,elves, and men).
and another thing. where did the storm come from!! it sure was a big coincidence for it to just show up at that time! 
...if you're wondering what i'm talking about this is all on page 258.
please check for me and see if you can enlighten me in any way
reem


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## olorin the maia (Feb 16, 2003)

the storm was probably fortuitous coincidence (for the Orcs and Wargs). Remember, it was nigh upon winter, and the Sun would not remain long in the sky. Especially if a storm was brewing. The Orcs could withstand sunlight, certainly, although they preferred darkness. The bats were thick enough to partially block out the winter Sun, and the Orcs would take advantage of that, too.


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## Wolfshead (Feb 17, 2003)

Yes, the bats followed to form a shield against the sunlight because as it says earlier, as Bilbo escapes from the mountains that sunlight makes Orcs legs shake. They don't like it and operate better in darkness.

The storm was probably just coincidence, I can't remember that bit well, so I couldn't expand on it.


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## reem (Feb 19, 2003)

hmm i thought so. bringing the bats along otherwise wouldn't have made any sense.
reem


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## Glomund (Feb 20, 2003)

I think the bats were supposed to be like the crows following the Elves, hoping for battle to enjoy the feast of dead and dying. The bats do flutter about the men, elves and dwarves, but also fastening "vampire like" upon the necks of the stricken. I think since the elves come from forests, they get crows, and the Orcs come from caves, so they get bats. As for the storm, it was a convinient plot device to; 1, allow darkness to come early so the orcs would not be dizzy, and 2,since this was a childrens story, to frighten the kiddies a little bit


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## elf boy (Mar 20, 2003)

I always kinda wondered what all the bats were for, I just figured they wanted to scare people, but the whole blocking out the sun makes perfect sense.


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## FrankSinatra (Mar 25, 2003)

*Yes*

But think about it this way, there is no way that bats would come out in sunlight!

They are nocturnal creatures.


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## reem (Mar 25, 2003)

well you mustn't forget the very timely and fortunate (for the orcs, that is) storm that pretty much took care of most of the light. and i think that something as big as the battle would have disturbed any serene wildlife no matter how nocternal!
reem


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## jallan (Mar 26, 2003)

Well, I have seen tamed bats fluttering about indoors in the daytime at exhibitions of wild animals and such.

I would suppose that bats could be trained by Orcs to be diurnal when necessary.

See Bat Bomb: World War II’s Other Secret Weapon for a summary of a book about an attempt to train bats as war weapons.


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## reem (Mar 29, 2003)

hehehe!! now that's what i call creative!! stupid, but creative nonetheless! though i doubt the orcs had anything similar in mind!!
reem


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## FrankSinatra (Mar 31, 2003)

*Dont know*

Somehow i cannot imagine an orc bat rescue centre.


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