Legolas

[Askmiddlearth]

We've finally met Legolas! Which means everyone should start discussing him now, because he's awesome (and awfully mysterious, to be honest.)

[Agnès]

I have an archery kink a mile wide. Sorry not sorry.

[Hika86]

He didn't spoke a lot at the Council, so I don't have many things to say as for now (and I won't write any spoiler), but it's amazing how Tolkien introduces some of the main characters as if they are like many others with few importance. It happened with Merry and Pippin in the First Book: you don't imagine they would go through all the story, they're just friends who know nothing about the Ring and Frodo's situation. He did the same with Legolas (and Gimpli too, who didn't even speak during the Council). There are many elves who spoke a lot more than he did, but we won't read about them later.

[Hika86]

Sooo, what do you guys think of his change towards Gimli in Lorien?

[Castillon02]

I think that Legolas's change toward Gimli may have begun in Moria, when he had to drag Gimli away from the tomb in the record room, despite the danger all around, because Gimli's grief was so strong. It seems like it'd be hard to avoid empathizing with someone who was feeling so strongly! There was a bit of a backslide/opposite reaction with the "stiff-necked dwarf" comment, but I think that Galadriel's gracious welcome of Gimli may have made Legolas feel like he had permission--and even encouragement--to do what he had possibly been considering in the back of his mind for a while as he grew to know Gimli as a part of the Fellowship instead of as just another dwarf. In Lorien Legolas seems to have felt free to break against the anti-dwarf traditions that he was raised with!

The fact that he didn't act as strongly toward Gimli before he had Galadriel's blessing is interesting from a characterization standpoint. It has made me see Legolas as someone who looks up to the opinion of authority figures (first his father, Thranduil, who is anti-dwarf, and then Galadriel, who in a way gives him permission to buck his father's viewpoint). At the same time, though, his active interest in befriending Gimli also speaks of an independent mind and willingness to broaden his viewpoints.

What do you think about the impact that Legolas's friendship with Gimli has on his characterization?

[Castillon02]

Legolas is such a little sass-master. From his "ooh, did the hobbits grow WINGS?" comment to Aragorn, to his one-up-manship in the Helm's Deep battle with Gimli, I found that I was always smiling whenever he was on the page.

Anyone else a fan of Legolas's habitual snark?

[Kathleen]

Castillon02 wrote: "Legolas is such a little sass-master. From his "ooh, did the hobbits grow WINGS?" comment to Aragorn, to his one-up-manship in the Helm's Deep battle with Gimli, I found that I was always smiling w..."

Yes, he is SO snarky and I love it. Tolkien has this way of sneaking humor into these serious, grave scenes. When Gimli is drooling over the caves at Helm's Deep, and says that dwarves would pay gold for just a glance, and Legolas says "And I would give gold to be excused, and double to be let out, if I strayed in!"

So sassy.