There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the fate of Thorin Oakenshield in the final chapter of The Hobbit trilogy, screenwriter Phillipa Boyens recently weighed in on the character's storyline in The Battle of Five Armies.

Thorin To Become A 'Mini Sauron' And 'Shut Himself Away In The Mountain'?  

Boyens stated that he would have an "extraordinary trajectory" in the movie. She went on to say that he could go from "this grandeur and stature as a character, but then he disintegrates before your eyes."

Recently Richard Armitage, who plays Thorin, even spoke about his character's fate in a fan interaction conducted by Digital Spy, the actor had some funny observations to make about Thorin's future.

Viggo Mortensen Disses Peter Jackson, Says Hobbit Trilogy Lacks 'Subtlety'? 

"I don't think he would have had a choice, I think it would have possessed him," he said. "I think he would have shut himself away in the mountain and would have become Sauron, but like a mini Sauron."

Earlier this month, fans even signed an online petition requesting Thorin be kept alive betraying his fate in the book.

Here's the official petition:

"Despite the many fans' love to the familiar main characters such as Bilbo and Gandalf, not less we liked Thorin Oakenshield. For many of us, he means more than might be imagined: for each of us, his fans, he represents something different, attractive in his own way, and this is not just a hysterical fan love. We deeply regret that Professor Tolkien killed Thorin in the book, but do not absolutely want and are not going to challenge the correctness of this action. Instead, we decided to turn to you with a request not to kill him at least in the movie."

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies will hit theaters on Dec. 18.

Watch the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: