Ready to say goodbye to Middle Earth for good? December 17th’s release of Thorin Oakenshield *ahem* ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ puts a cap on ‘The Hobbit’ series of movies, a trilogy based on a book that was shorter than any of the three ‘Lord of the Rings’ novels which were each translated into one movie apiece. But the filmmakers managed to concoct enough new material to pad the movies out into three installments.

But at least the film series is going out with a bang, with what could be the most epic battle in film history. It is called ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’, after all, and the newest trailer highlights the action factor. According to reports, the mammoth battle will take up 45 minutes of the movie, which– should patterns hold up– will be at least two hours long.

The new trailer heavily focuses on Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the leader of the Dwarf gang that supports Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) on his mission. The clip also features, among others, Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, Orlando Bloom as elf warrior Legolas and Evangeline Lily as Tauriel, an elven character made up exclusively for ‘The Hobbit’ films. The titular ‘Hobbit’ Bilbo only appears for like two seconds at the very end of the video.

The book ‘The Hobbit’ was intended for children and had a much lighter tone than the three ‘Lord of the Rings’ books, but director Peter Jackson has stated that this final movie will bridge the two trilogies and will therefore have a darker feel to it, making it more like the ‘LOTR’ films.

Check out the full trailer below:

Are you excited to see this action-packed film? Or are you sad to see this franchise go? Sound off below in the comments section with your thoughts?