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Originally Posted by BeorningBeserker
("But even with the Eagles they were still outnumbered. In that last hour Beorn himself had appeared......he seemed to have grown almost giant-size in his wrath"..."The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straw and feathers. He fell upon their rear and broke like a clap of thunder thorugh the ring." He also kills Bolg himself ("crushed him") which finally caused the goblins to be dismayed and flee the battle)...
When one considers that Dain, Thorin, and many powerful dwarven individuals and a seasoned dwarven host along with Thrandruil and an elven host, Bard, the great Eagles and Gandalf(a maia) himself were losing and it took a lone individual(Beorn) and the power he posessed turned the tide, he would almost have to be more than a man.
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Well, he was a 'special' man, I think that much we can all agree on. But he does not need to be much more than a very strong, shape-shifting man. I'm not sure we are told fully of how the armies were sationed with regards to each other and the terrain they were on, but it's rather safe to assume that whichever were the weakest units would be at the rear. If so, a really powerful man (let's say Aragorn instead, just to work with a man that does not turn into a bear) could cause quite a bit of mayhem. On top of that, and while I am no war-psychologist, being attacked from the rear seems to cause quite some panic.... and panic by their foes seems to hearten the other band.
What am I trying to say here? perhaps Beorn's effect was more psychological than physical. Granted, he killed quite a few goblins, and Bolg among them, but maybe that was the last straw for the goblin forces, which caused them to dismay and give up.
But to tie in with the main topic, since Beorn's effect did not need to be as important in a military way as it was in a psychological way. He demoralized the enemy to their breaking point. That does not mean he was anything but a shape-shifting human. Granted, shape-shifting humans were rather unusual, but Tolkien says he's human, and I tend to believe him.