And now for something a little different- a point of divergence that happens just prior to the battle of five armies, which I've been thinking of ever since I've read the book, and was only fueled by the movie. (Honestly, it was one of the best scenes of the movie, very close to what was written by Tolkien about the negotiation and how the other dwarves let Bilbo go, rather than let Thorin hurt him. I also thought the way they treated the gold/dragon-sickness was very well done, Richard Armitage wins my vote for best acting for this movie.)

Put simply: why the heck did no one lie?

Path 6: Alternate Negotiations

"Where's Bilbo?" Bofur was the first to ask, well aware that their hobbit was missing.

"He snuck out, we found the rope on the battlements." Dwalin reported, and all froze as Thorin entered. Thankfully, whatever he thought of Bilbo's disappearance was not mentioned as Bard and Thranduil rode up the path.

The appearance of the Arkenstone was almost impossible, and Thorin declared that it must be a fake. It had to be a fake, unless Bilbo had given it to their enemies, and Thorin could believe that, but a part untouched by the madness insisted that Bilbo would never betray or undermine him.

"Your Halfling didn't think so." Thranduil spoke, stopping Bard, who was clearly not meant to dissemble, from giving their ruse away. "From what we gathered, he realized Smaug had it on his scales along with other valuable jewels. Bard found it when he slayed the wyrm, though he did not know its value, and the Halfling tried to steal it from the camp last night."

"What have you done with Bilbo?" Kili demanded, having been stopped by Balin from using Bilbo's rope to get down and try to attack the two in front of them.

"Given he was responsible for your escape, I thought it would be fair to take him back to Mirkwood." Thraduil said, looking at Thorin with a small hint of a smug smile. "I do not know how long Halflings live, but he will be serving your sentence."

More than one dwarf snarled at that. Thorin, however, might have been made out of stone.

"He said he'd be willing to give his 14th share of the treasure for the stone and your lives. He didn't care too much for his own." Thranduil added the last almost absently. Kili once again tried for the rope, along with Bifur, and it took Balin, Bofur (who wasn't trying very hard), Dori, Gloin and Bombur to stop them. Ori was holding onto Nori, who was playing with one of his hidden knives.

"He said you were stubborn and trying, but that you were also loyal to a fault and he cared for your lives, and would save them if he could." Bard added, slipping the stone away. "Will you honor his bargain? I would let him go free."

Fili glanced at Thorin, who was still as still as stone. "Thorin, Uncle? What do we do? We've got to help Bilbo …"

"What is your answer, Thorin Oakenshield?"

Thorin disappeared into the mountain as Dain's forces arrived. Dwalin went after him.

"We need to rescue our burglar, Thorin, the lad went after the arkenstone for you." Dwalin started, and fell silent as Thorin whirled on him.

"How do we know he planned to return, Dwalin? He might have been planning to run once he was free!" Thorin snapped. "He's not one of us, and I'm not responsible for his fate." He was still trapped in the dragon-sickness, Dwalin realized, and his heart broke to realize it.

"He would have run at the Goblin Kingdom, or while we were trapped by spiders, or imprisoned in Mirkwood, then. He's a member of the company." Dwalin reminded, but it did no good, and when Thorin ordered him to leave, he did. But not without one parting shot. "You were always my King, you used to know that, and Bilbo would have died protecting you from Azog on that cliff."

Thorin looked at the place where the arkenstone was once held, and noticed something resting there. He frowned and reached up, removing a small acorn.

'I'm going to plant it, when I get home … I'll look at it and remember our adventure, the good and the bad …'

Bilbo had carried it from Beorn's, and would not have left it behind. Not unless he planned to come back for it. Thorin's feet carried him as his mind whirled, trying to throw off the gold-sickness.

'Does your word mean nothing?'

'What of mine, I vouched for you?!'

'Willing to give his share for the stone and your lives, he didn't care much about his own.'

'I am not my grandfather.'

'There was one I could follow, one I could call King.'

'You've always been my King, you used to know that.'

'Thorin? Uncle? What do we do?'

A heavy crown was tossed to the side along with a too heavy coat and armor. What had he been thinking? He would not have been able to fight for long in all that. He felt sick as he came back to himself, he had not behaved well, and he could very well remember the fear in Bilbo's face every time they spoke- Bilbo had been scared of him. It hadn't just been Bilbo, whose face he could remember looking at him in fear, but the others as well, though to varying degrees.

Thorin Oakenshield paused for only a minute, to put the acorn in a small crystal container that was made to hang on a necklace, though he used a leather thong instead of a chain, and placing it around his neck before heading back to the battlements. Orcs were attacking, and the alarm was sounding in Dale's ruins where the survivors of Laketown had taken refuge.

"Will you follow me, one last time?"

For Bilbo's part, he woke up rather groggily to a bad taste in his mouth and the sounds of fighting. Someone must have given him a sleeping draught, and he cursed, hoping that he could get back to Thorin and the company to explain himself.

The battle with orcs was not expected, he didn't recognize the dwarf army, but he did recognize the horn and see the Company exit the mountain to join the fray.

"Bilbo!" Gandalf cut down an orc, and Bilbo looked up in annoyance.

"Who drugged me?!"

"You wouldn't listen, Thorin was dangerous in that state, and none of us wanted you to get hurt." Gandalf sighed, because Bilbo was clearly not listening now, either. He hadn't counted on the dwarves rubbing off on Bilbo so much.

On Ravenhill, Kili and Fili did not go scouting, instead helping their uncle and dwalin cut down the charge of orcs that had attacked after Thorin had suggested it. Thorin got separated from the others, who were being pushed towards the frozen lake, and snarled as he went down thanks to a small patch of black ice covered in snow.

"Thorin!" The trio cut down their opponents, hoping to get there before Thorin was killed.

A blur of blue came out of nowhere, slaying the orc and guarding Thorin as he got back up.

"Bilbo!" Kili rushed the hobbit when the last of the rush was killed, grabbing him into a hug. "Are you alright, Thranduil didn't hurt you, did he?"

"You came back." Thorin noted, a bit more relieved than he sounded.

"Of course I did, I would have returned earlier but they drugged me." Bilbo looked annoyed. "They thought you'd hurt me."

Thorin ignored the voice that denied he would ever do such a thing. He knew full well the truth. "I would have, I was not in my right mind." He would have turned on his own kin, and Thorin felt a little sick at that knowledge.

"Right, well, best talk about this later. There is a trap, there's another orc army led by Bolg, and it's coming through here." Bilbo explained.

That's it, dunno who survives or who will die, but it's bothered me that everyone tells the truth to Thorin when he's clearly skipping without a rope- I know honesty is a virtue, but it's not that bad of a lie. Smaug did have the arkenstone, he had it for years; Bilbo did intend to claim it and use it to insure he received his 14th share (Smaug implied that the dwarves would turn on him the instant they didn't need him when they spoke, that's in both the book and movie, and in both cases, the dwarves themselves start acting like it); Bilbo did value the dwarves lives over his own, he took a big risk facing Thranduil and Bard, one who had every reason to put Bilbo in a cell and another to claim his life for setting Smaug on Laketown; and Bilbo did want to return to the dwarves and would not have stayed in that camp willingly. The only lie is that Bard found it on Smaug, but that's kinda a small one.

I also liked the acorn addition, especially since it gives us an absolutely brutal hope spot that Thorin will snap out of it, only to snap right back. (I like it when an addition by a scriptwriter heightens the drama, not drags the watcher through a few unnecessary bits.)