LOTR mythology explained in one short video

Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Anyone who wants to see Peter Jackson's final Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies but reckons they'll give it a miss because it's all just too confusing - think again.

A handy new video explaining the mythology of Middle Earth in simple terms has dropped on YouTube thanks to educational channel CGP Grey.

Tolkien fans will likely have read The Silmarillion, in which the fantasy writer extensively describes the universe of Ea within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.

But for most of us who have not got round to tackling the novels, let alone the history, the YouTube clip can fill films fan in on the basics in under five minutes.

Ian McKellen plays Gandalf the Grey, who seems to be a wizard, but where did he come from? Why is Sauron so evil and what does he have to do with the ring? And what on earth is with those horrible Orcs?

Jackson confirmed recently that he does not plan to return to Tolkien for the big screen as legal reasons would prevent him from doing so.

"It would be hard to see another filmmaker go into this world because I certainly have an emotional ownership of it," he told Variety before the London premiere of The Battle of the Five Armies.

- Independent