Legolas of Mirkwood

Template:Royalty infobox Legolas Greenleaf was an Elf, a Sinda prince who became a member of the Fellowship of the Ring. With his superior Elven eyesight and hearing, together with excellent skill at arms, particularly archery, Legolas was a valuable resource to the other eight members of the Fellowship. In Unfinished Tales, however, Tolkien states that in comparison to the rest, Legolas accomplished the least of the nine members of the Fellowship.

Legolas served as a link to the earlier story, The Hobbit, because he (like Gimli the Dwarf) was the son of a character from the previous tale.

History

Legolas was the son of King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood, who appeared as the "Elvenking" in The Hobbit; his father ruled over the Silvan Elves who dwelt there. Although he lived among them, was exposed to their culture, and inferred that he considered himself one of them, Legolas was strictly not one of the Silvan Elves (Wood-elves). His father Thranduil had originally come from Doriath; he and his son were actually Sindar (singular Sinda — "Sindarin" is their language). A small minority of Sindar ruled the predominantly Silvan Woodland Realm, a minority which Thranduil headed. The Sindarin minority in that realm, who should have been more noble and wise than the Silvan Elves, can be seen as having "gone native" at the end of the First Age: after Morgoth was defeated and all of the grand Elf-kingdoms of Beleriand were destroyed, they can be seen as going back to "a simpler time" in their culture. The realm of Lothlórien is similar to the Woodland Realm in that a community of Silvan Elves is ruled by non-Silvan ones, i.e. Galadriel and Celeborn.

Before the War of the Ring

Though his father and his kingdom appeared in The Hobbit, he did not appear himself. Of course, his character had not been created yet (though his name had; see below). However, some have theorized that he may well have fought in the Battle of Five Armies. The events in The Hobbit take place less than one hundred years before the Quest of Mount Doom. Unlike Men, the Eldar (which included the Sindar) reached adulthood on or before they reached a hundred years of age.

"Not until the fiftieth year did the Eldar attain the stature and shape in which their lives would afterwards endure, and for some a hundred years would pass before they were full-grown."

― Morgoth's Ring, "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar"

Legolas is older than Aragorn and Gimli, who are, according to their birthdates in the Appendices, 87 and 139 respectively at the time of the War of the Ring; he even calls them "children" (see Age discussion below). Thus, he must have been alive during the events of The Hobbit. Logically, as a retcon he could quite conceivably have been present in his father's halls at the time, and may have even fought at the Battle of Five Armies.

The War of the Ring

Legolas by John Howe

He is introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring at the Council of Elrond at Rivendell, where he came as a messenger from his father to discuss the escape of Gollum from their guard. Tolkien describes him as "a strange Elf, clad in green and brown". Legolas volunteered or was chosen to become one of the members of the Fellowship that set out to destroy the One Ring. He accompanied the others in their travels from Rivendell to Amon Hen.

When the Fellowship was snowed down while crossing Caradhras, he scouted ahead to find the Sun, while Aragorn and Boromir drove a path through the snow. Unlike them, he was little affected by the blowing winds and snow; he did not even wear boots, only light shoes, and his feet scarcely made imprints on the snow.

After their attempt to cross Caradhras was foiled, their leader Gandalf took them on an underground journey through Moria, an ancient Dwarf-kingdom, though some (including Legolas) did not wish to go there. Before they reached Moria, however, Legolas helped fend off an attack of Sauron's wolves in Hollin. Once in Moria, he helped fight off the Orcs whom they encounter there, and recognized Durin's Bane as a Balrog of Morgoth.

After Gandalf was lost while facing the Balrog, Aragorn took charge of the Fellowship and led them to the Elven realm of Lothlórien, the Golden Wood. Legolas served as the initial spokesperson for the company, speaking with the inhabitants, the Galadhrim, whom he considered close kin.

Within the Fellowship, there was friction between Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli, because of the ancient quarrel between Elves and Dwarves after the destruction of Doriath in the First Age, and also because his father, Thranduil, once threw Gimli's father, Glóin, in prison (as described in The Hobbit). Legolas and Gimli became friends, however, when Gimli greeted the Lady of the Golden Wood with gentle words.

They then took leave of Lothlórien, but not before receiving several gifts. There, he received a new longbow from the Galadhrim, along with the other gifts that Galadriel and Celeborn gave him and the rest of the Fellowship, such as special cloaks and lembas. While the Fellowship was travelling over the Anduin River, he shot down a nearby Fell beast with a single arrow.

After Boromir was killed and Merry and Pippin were captured by Orcs in The Two Towers, he, Aragorn and Gimli set forth in pursuit of the two (Frodo the Ring-bearer and Sam had gone ahead on the road to Mordor). They met the revived Gandalf and the Rohirrim, fought in the Battle of the Hornburg, and witnessed Saruman's (partial) downfall at Isengard, where they were reunited with the two abducted hobbits. In the Battle of the Hornburg, he and Gimli engaged in an Orc-slaying contest (Gimli won by a single Orc, killing 42 to Legolas's 41, but the real result was stronger mutual respect).

In The Return of the King, he and Gimli accompanied Aragorn on the Paths of the Dead, along with the Grey Company. After Aragorn summoned the Dead Men of Dunharrow to fight for him, he watched them scare away the Corsairs of Umbar from their ships at Pelargir. He fought in the Battle of the Pelennor and the Morannon, and watched as Sauron was defeated and Barad-dûr collapsed.

After the War of the Ring

After the destruction of the One Ring, he lingered in Minas Tirith for some time, as Aragorn was crowned King of the Reunited Kingdom as King Elessar and married his love Arwen. Later, Legolas and Gimli went off travelling together through Fangorn Forest. Eventually, Legolas came to Ithilien with some of his people, with his father's leave, to live out his remaining time in Middle-earth helping to restore the devastated forests of that war-ravaged land.

It is told in the Red Book (first written by Bilbo Baggins, continued by Frodo Baggins and supposedly finished by Samwise Gamgee) that after the death of King Aragorn Elessar, Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and left Middle-earth to go over the Sea to Valinor, the Blessed Realm, and Gimli the Dwarf went with him.

Portrayal in Adaptations

File:Ralph Bakshi's Legolas.jpg

Legolas as portrayed in Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings

File:Legolas at Amon Hen.jpg

Orlando Bloom as Legolas in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings

Legolas was voiced by Anthony Daniels (who had played the droid C-3PO of Star Wars fame) in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings. In the film, he takes Glorfindel's place in the Flight to the Ford sequence; he meets Strider and the hobbits on their way to Rivendell, and sets Frodo on his horse before he is chased by the Nazgûl to the ford of Bruinen (In Peter Jackson's version, Arwen takes Glorfindel's place and rides to the Ford herself with Frodo). Here, he is apparently from Rivendell, because he answers to Elrond; he is not identified as a Wood-elf.

Legolas was voiced by David Collings in the 1981 BBC Radio 4 adaptation.

In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogym Legolas was portrayed by Orlando Bloom.

In the "official movie guide" for The Lord of the Rings, a birthdate for Legolas is set to 87 of the Third Age. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring. This date for Legolas' birth was made up by the movie writers, as in the books there are no known dates concerning Legolas before Third Age 3018. Curiously, the year 2931 was the year Aragorn was born; the writers may have picked the number at random from the Tale of Years in the Appendices.

He is presented as an unstoppable fighter, arguably to the point of stealing the show; he performs show-stopping yet implausible stunts in battle scenes. For example, in the Battle of the Hornburg, he slides down a staircase using a shield, shooting arrows all the while, and in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, he takes down an Oliphaunt all by himself. However, in the books Legolas's exploits in battle are not presented in great detail. Aside from shooting the fell beast, he undertakes no major actions other than to make peace with Gimli, overcoming their longstanding mutual racial animosity — he and Gimli are followers, rather than leaders. The film-makers later stated that the entire scene of Legolas killing the Oliphaunt and its entire crew was filmed during pick-ups (months after original filming) to insert a major action scene showcasing him, because at that point they realized that he simply doesn't get to do much in the third part of the trilogy.

He wears green and grey clothes and uses boots, in contrast to Tolkien's green and "brown" clothes and "light shoes". It is notable that in the extended DVD edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, a scene in Lothlorien is included in which Legolas is wearing a different costume than his normal. This was in fact his original costume, which was later changed due to the filmmaker's dissatisfaction with it. Fans have come up with several explanations for this seeming inconsistency. Two possibilities stand above the rest as the most likely: (1) Legolas brought an extra tunic and jerkin from Mirkwood and decided to wear it at this moment, (2) The Elves of Lothlorien, under the leadership of Haldir, gave Legolas a new tunic of their own make (or one they had traded with other Elves) for him to wear. The most common explanation for why he would change his tunic is that his other one was dirty from the long trek up to that point and he wanted to have it washed in the clean waters of the Nimrodel.

Legolas bears two long knives, while in the book he bears only one. Another, more trivial change, was the number of Orcs he and Gimli kill at Helm's Deep: 42 and 43, respectively. This brings up an interesting possibility that could further illuminate the playful antagonism between the two characters. Legolas might give his count as "42" but secretly tells an untruth and really has only killed 41 Uruk-hai, but wants to make sure he has more than Gimli. Gimli, who has only killed 42 gives his answer as "43", to make sure he bests the Elf. It is not clear, however, whether this was an intentional change on the part of the filmmakers, though it seems likely that it was, since the original numbers were so clear in Tolkien's own text.

Due to technical mishaps involving Orlando Bloom's contact lenses, in the films Legolas' eye colour sometimes changes between brown, purple, and blue. This was justified by the notion that Elves' eyes change colour with their mood. This idea subsequently spread to fanfiction; however, it is pure fanon, and is nowhere to be found in Tolkien's writings, and is often simply meant as a joke; in any case, his eye color was probably grey; see here for more details. Another common explanation for Legolas' changing eye color is the obvious fact that light reflects off objects differently in different conditions and that, therefore, the Elf's eyes "seem" to change color in different lighting environments.

Playing Legolas in the trilogy was Orlando Bloom's breakout route to superstardom. His handsome features and Legolas' "coolness", so to speak, as depicted in the film, have led to the character becoming a unprecedented fan favorite with both fangirls and fanboys, not to mention other Tolkien fans. Although the disproportionate popular reaction to Legolas met with mixed reactions from fans, many debaters on the Internet during earlier stages of production were worried, that a film portrayal of Legolas might render him as far too effeminate for popular consumption, but later many felt that Bloom was able to avoid this entirely. Christopher Tolkien recounts that his father wrote the following "wrathful" comment protesting against a "pretty" or "ladylike" depiction of Legolas:

"He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship."

― The Book of Lost Tales Part 2

Despite Bloom's popularity, many viewers have found his performance wooden, in agreement with his status as a "Wood"-elf.

Legolas is absent from the 1980 animated version of The Return of the King.

Disputed Issues

Age

While Legolas' age is never given in Tolkien's writings, some Tolkien scholars have estimated he is at the most 800 – 900 years old by the time of the War of the Ring, and at least 500, though probably more; however, many others disagree on the maximum figure. Without any direct mention to the contrary, he could also have been born as early as the First Age. At the very least, we know he is over 139 years old, because he is older than Gimli (see below).

The figure of 500 years minimum was derived from the following — at one point in The Two Towers, he says that the leaves have fallen in Mirkwood 500 times since Meduseld was built, and he appears to be describing it as if he actually experienced this:

"Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right," said Aragorn. "Many long lives of men it is since the golden hall was built."

"Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then," said Legolas, "and but a little while does that seem to us."

"But to the Riders of the Mark it seems so long ago," said Aragorn, "that the raising of this house is but a memory of song, and the years before are lost in the mist of time."

― The Two Towers, "The White Rider"

To see their reasoning for an age of 800 – 900 years, see the articles referred to below.

In Laws and Customs Among the Eldar, Tolkien states that the mental development of Elf-children is much quicker than those of human children. By their first year, Elf-children can already walk, speak, and even dance.

"The Eldar grew in bodily form slower than Men, but in mind more swiftly. They learned to speak before they were one year old; and in the same time they learned to walk and to dance, for their wills came soon to the mastery of their bodies. Nonetheless there was less difference between the two Kindreds, Elves and Men, in early youth; and a man who watched elf-children at play might well have believed that they were the children of Men, of some fair and happy people."

― Morgoth's Ring, "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar"

If we are to infer that Elves can have concrete memories at a younger age than humans do, Legolas could conceivably have remembered the last 500 autumns that have passed, starting when he was very young.

However, he could be merely commenting on the contrasting viewpoints of Men and Elves on time ("and but a little while does that seem to us"); more importantly, 500 years is here clearly "the time elapsed since Meduseld was built". At face value, his statement says nothing about his age — to go further would only be speculation.

It is certainly possible that he was older than what many fans imagine him to be, at least (probably due to the influence of Bloom and his portrayal). In The Two Towers, he calls Aragorn (born Third Age 2931, 87 years old in 3018, 88 at the end of the War some months later) and Gimli (born 2879, 139 years old in 3018) "children" while in Fangorn Forest, and says that he does not feel young:

"It [the forest] is old, very old," said the Elf. "So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace."

― The Two Towers, "The White Rider"

Also, he speaks of watching oaks grow from acorns to "ruinous age", suggesting that he is in fact old, though possibly young for Elves (some kinds of oak can live for a very long time):

"These are the strangest trees that I ever saw," [Legolas] said; "and I have seen many an oak grow from acorn to ruinous age. I wish that there were leisure now to walk among them: they have voices, and in time I might come to understand their thought."

― ibid

However, even the minimum figure of 500 can still apply here, since Tolkien could have had the English oak in mind, and it can live up to about 500 years.

Also, some readers point out that his birthdate is not recorded in the Appendices. For them, this might be a sign that he was born in the First Age, since the Appendices only record dates from the Second Age onwards.

Hair color

An earlier Legolas by Jenny Dolfen, modelled after Orlando Bloom.

His father Thranduil was blond, so many assume that Legolas must have been blond also (Indeed, both Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson make him blond). However, Tolkien describes his head as "dark" when he shoots down a Ringwraith's Fell beast in The Fellowship of the Ring in the following quote, suggesting the contrary to some:

"Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind."

― The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Great River"

According to this camp, his hair must be either dark brown or black, as was the norm for the Sindar. (Blond hair was mostly exclusive to the Vanyar.) However, the "blond" camp points out that the above quote takes place at night, and opines that his head may have appeared "dark" due to shadows, rather than his actual hair color.

Birth order

Some assume that he is an only child; however, he could be only one of Thranduil's children. Thranduil did let him leave Mirkwood to find a new elf-community in Ithilien, suggesting to some that he was not his heir; but then others opine that given the longevity of Elves and the relative safety of Middle-earth after Sauron's downfall, Thranduil could go on ruling the Woodland Realm as long as he liked or until he felt the sea-longing. No definitive evidence is given, either way.

Name

The name Legolas is a Silvan dialect form of pure Sindarin Laegolas, which means Greenleaf. This shows that Greenleaf is not his surname, as is sometimes erroneously believed; nor is it an epithet (like Oakenshield), but a translation of his name. It consists of the Sindarin words laeg, green; and golas, a collection of leaves, foliage (being a prefixed collective form of las(s), "leaf"). The Quenya form (mentioned in the Book of Lost Tales in the context of another character of that name) is Laiqualassë.

There might, however, be a certain meaning to his name: laeg is a very rare, archaic word for green, which is normally replaced by calen (cf. Calenhad, mutated Parth Galen and plural Pinnath Gelin) and is otherwise almost only preserved in Laegrim, Laegel(d)rim (Sindarin form of Quenya Laiquendi), the Green Elves of the First Age. It may be that Thranduil named his son Legolas to at least in part refer to this people, who were remote kin and ancestors of the later Silvan Elves, the people Thranduil ruled and to whom—very likely—Thranduil's wife belonged.

Apparently, only Hobbits (and the Men of Bree) used surnames (like Baggins or Gamgee), as recorded in the Red Book. Men and Elves alike used the patronymic (son of) formula. In English, therefore, a fuller name would be "Legolas son of Thranduil" or "Legolas Thranduil's son". In Sindarin, that would be Legolas Thranduilion, -ion meaning "scion of".

Legolas of Gondolin

The name Legolas Greenleaf first appeared in The Fall of Gondolin, one of the Lost Tales, circa 1917. The character is mentioned only once and is unrelated to the character discussed above. As the Lost Tales were the first embodiment of Tolkien's mythology, and by the time The Lord of the Rings was written much had changed, this in all likelihood is not the same Elf, and he was not included in the published Silmarillion.

"But the others, led by one Legolas Greenleaf of the house of the Tree, who knew all that plain by day or by dark, and was night-sighted, made much speed over the vale for all their weariness, and halted only after a great march."

― The Book of Lost Tales Part 2, "The Fall of Gondolin"

The Legolas of Gondolin, who Tolkien would likely have renamed, has a different etymology. His name (Laiqalassë in its pure form) comes from the primitive Quenya (Qenya) words laica ("green") and lassë ("leaf"). The names are very similar, but the characters were different: Legolas of Gondolin was possibly a Noldor in exile, of the House (kindred) of the Tree. However, the published Silmarillion, in describing Turgon's founding of Gondolin, states that Turgon took with him up to a third of the people under Fingolfin, but an even larger number of the Sindar. Thus, whether Legolas of Gondolin was of Noldorin or Sindarin descent is debatable.

See Also

• Images of Legolas

Sources

• Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals - An Essay by Ellen Brundige
• "Speaking of Legolas..." by Michael Martinez, Suite101.com, 2004
• Discussion on Legolas' age, from the theonering.com messageboards

External Links

• Legolas Greenleaf at the Encyclopedia of Arda
• Legolas at The Thain's Book