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Legolas
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Legolas is an important character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. He is an Elf from Mirkwood, one of nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring and prince of the Woodland Realm.
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Legolas [LÉG-oh-lahs] is the son of King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood, who appears as "the Elvenking" in The Hobbit; his father rules over the Silvan Elves who dwell there. Although he lived among them, was exposed to their customs, and it is 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 ("Grey Elves", 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 Melkor 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.
Though his father and his kingdom appear in The Hobbit, Legolas does not appear himself. Of course, his character had not been made yet (though his name had; see below). However, some have theorized that he may well have fought in the Battle of the Five Armies at Erebor. The events in The Hobbit take place less than a century before the Quest of Mount Doom. Unlike Men, the Eldar (which included the Sindar) reached adulthood on or before they reached a century 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. — from the essay Laws and Customs Among the Eldar, found in Morgoth's Ring, part of The History of Middle-earth.
Legolas is older than Aragorn and Gimli, who are, according to their birth-dates 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 thus may have even fought at Erebor.
He is introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond of Rivendell, where he comes 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 is chosen or volunteers to be one of the members of the Fellowship that sets out to destroy the One Ring. He accompanies the others in their travels from Rivendell to Amon Hen.
When the Fellowship is snowed down while crossing Caradhras, he scouts ahead to find the Sun, while Aragorn and Boromir drive a path through the snow. Unlike them, he is little affected by the blowing winds and snow; he does not even wear boots, only light shoes, and his feet scarcely make imprints on the snow.
After their attempt to cross Caradhras is foiled, their leader Gandalf takes them on an underground journey through Moria, an ancient Dwarf-kingdom, though some (including Legolas) do not wish to go there. Before they reach Moria, however, Legolas helps fend off an attack of Sauron's wolves in Hollin. Once in Moria, he helps fight off the Orcs whom they encounter there, and recognizes Durin's Bane as a Balrog of Morgoth.
After Gandalf is lost while facing the Balrog, Aragorn takes charge of the Fellowship and leads them to the Elven realm of Lothlórien, the Golden Wood. Legolas serves as the initial spokesperson for the company, speaking with the inhabitants, the Galadhrim, whom he considers close kin.
Within the Fellowship, there is 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 become friends, however, when Gimli greets the Elven queen Galadriel with gentle words.
They take leave of Lothlórien, but not before receiving several gifts. There, he receives a new longbow from the Galadhrim, along with the other gifts that Galadriel and Celeborn give him and the rest of the Fellowship, such as special cloaks and lembas. Legolas later receives a warning from Galadriel (through Gandalf, who returns from death), which he interprets as a sign of his impending death:
- "Legolas Greenleaf long under tree
- In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!
- If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
- Thy heart shall rest in the forest no more."
While the Fellowship is travelling over the River Anduin, he shoots down a nearby fell beast with one shot.
After Boromir is killed and Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took are captured by Orcs in The Two Towers, he, Aragorn and Gimli set forth in pursuit of the two (Frodo Baggins, the Ring-bearer, and his friend Samwise Gamgee had gone ahead on the road to Mordor). They meet the revived Gandalf and the Rohirrim, fight in the Battle of the Hornburg, and witness Saruman's downfall at Isengard, where they are reunited with the two abducted hobbits. In the Battle of the Hornburg, he and Gimli engage in an Orc-slaying contest (Gimli wins by one, killing forty-two to Legolas's forty-one, but the real result is stronger mutual respect).
In The Return of the King, he and Gimli accompany Aragorn on the Paths of the Dead, along with the Grey Company. After Aragorn summons the Dead Men of Dunharrow to fight for him, he watches them scare away the Corsairs of Umbar from their ships at Pelargir. Galadriel's prophecy comes true; as Legolas hears the cries of seagulls, he begins to experience the Sea-longing — the desire to sail west to Valinor, the Blessed Realm, which was latent among the Eldar. He fights in the Battles of the Pelennor Fields and the Morannon, and watches as Sauron is defeated and Barad-dûr collapses.
After the destruction of the One Ring, he stays in Minas Tirith for some time, as Aragorn is crowned King of the Reunited Kingdom as King Elessar and marries his love Arwen. Later, Legolas and Gimli go off travelling together through Fangorn Forest. Eventually, Legolas comes to Ithilien with some of his people, with his father's leave, to spend his remaining time in Middle-earth helping to restore the devastated forests of that war-ravaged land. He founds an Elf-colony in the fair forest of Ithilien in Gondor and becomes its lord.
It is told in the Red Book of Westmarch (first written by Bilbo Baggins, continued by Frodo Baggins and supposedly finished by Samwise Gamgee) that after Aragorn's death in Fourth Age one hundred and twenty, Legolas builds a grey ship in Ithilien, and leaves Middle-earth to go over the Sea to Valinor and Gimli the Dwarf goes with him.
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 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 trilogy (2001–2003), Legolas was portrayed by Orlando Bloom.
He is presented as an unstoppable fighter, presumably from eons of practice; he performs jaw-dropping stunts in battle scenes in all three movies. For example, in the Uruk-hai attack on Amon Hen, he stabs one Uruk in the eye with an arrow, then shoots one other with the same arrow. In the Battle of the Hornburg, he slides down a staircase on a shield, shooting arrows all the while, and as he reaches the bottom of the staircase he shoots the shield out from under him into an Uruk's neck, drives his arrow into another Uruk, pulls it out and shoots it at another. In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, he takes down an Oliphaunt all by himself (to Gimli's surprise and displeasure). However, in the books Legolas' 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 long-standing 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 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, and also because of some positive response to the shield-staircase scene.
Due to technical mishaps involving Bloom's contact lenses, in the films Legolas' eye colour sometimes changes between brown, purple, and blue.
Legolas as portrayed by Bloom is a fan favourite and is also a popular unit to use among players of the Battle for Middle-earth real-time strategy game series.
Legolas is shown as a great hero in the 1980 animated version of The Return of the King.
While Legolas' age is never given in Tolkien's writings, some have estimated he is at the most eight to nine centuries old by the time of the War of the Ring, and at least five centuries old, though probably more; however, 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, he is over one hundred and thirty-nine years old, because he is older than Gimli (see below).
Their figure of five hundred years minimum was derived from the following — at one point in The Two Towers, he says that the leaves have fallen in Mirkwood five hundred 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 eight to nine centuries, 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. (Laws and Customs among the Eldar)
If one is to infer that Elves can have concrete memories at a younger age than humans do, Legolas could conceivably have remembered the last five hundred 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, "five hundred years" refers to the time elapsed since Meduseld was built. Taking the statement 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 many fans imagine him to be, at least (probably due to the influence of Bloom and his portrayal in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings). In The Two Towers, he calls Aragorn (born 2931 T.A., eightty-seven years old in 3018 T.A., 88 at the end of the War some months later) and Gimli (born 2879 T.A., 139 years old in 3018 T.A) "children" while in Fangorn Forest, and says that he does not feel young (For the Eldar, biological youth ends at their fiftieth to one hundredth year, when their bodies reach maturity, as mentioned in the quote from Laws and Customs above):
"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." (The Two Towers, "The White Rider")
However, even the minimum figure of 500 can still apply here (if one accepts it at all), 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, and indeed there is nothing that says he was not.
Merchandise related to the live-action film trilogy includes two non-canonical figures for the character's age. In one of the "official movie guides" for these films, 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 T.A. 3018. The figure of T.A. 2931, however, appears in the book as the year Aragorn was born; the writers may have picked the number at random from the Tale of Years (the timeline) in the Appendices. On the other hand, Top Trumps, a brand of playing cards, released a set of cards for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with the card for Legolas stating his age at 7000. This would make him older than Elrond, who is approximately 6520 when he leaves Middle-earth; however, this figure is also invented.
Also of note is that, when in Moria, Legolas recognized Durin's Bane as a Balrog, being the only member of the Fellowship to do so besides Gandalf, which only existed in any abundance during the First Age.
In The Hobbit his father Thranduil was described as having "golden" hair, so many assume that Legolas must have been blond also (Indeed, both Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson make him blond in their respective film adaptations). 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 or the darkness itself, rather than his actual hair colour.
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 found 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.
The name Legolas is a Silvan dialect form of pure Sindarin Laegolas, which means Greenleaf (thus, 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 Book of Lost Tales, which mentions a different character of the same name, gives the early Quenya equivalent as \Laiqualassë. However, since Quenya underwent much development since Tolkien first conceived the language, it might have well turned out different by the time of the publication of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien does not give a "developed Quenya" version of the name.
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 "son of." The latter is used in the extended edition of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring; Haldir addresses Legolas as such when the Fellowship enters Lothlórien, seeking refuge.
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 Volume 2, "The Fall of Gondolin")
The Legolas of Gondolin, whom 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 Noldorin 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.
- Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals - An Essay by Ellen Brundige
- Discussion on Legolas' age, from the theonering.com messageboards
- Legolas Greenleaf at the Encyclopedia of Arda
- Legolas at The Thain's Book
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