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In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Legolas Greenleaf is a Sindarin Elf who becomes a part of the Fellowship of the Ring. With his keen eyesight, sensitive hearing, and excellent bowmanship, Legolas is a valuable resource to the other eight members of the Fellowship.
Although Tolkien elves are a diverse group, fantasy and gaming enthusiasts tend to cite Legolas as the archetypical basis for the majority of modern elf sterotypes, in particular archery.
Legolas is Prince of Mirkwood, the son of King Thranduil, descendants from the royal line of Sindarin elves. The age of Legolas is not known, and while he appears to be young by Elven standards he is at least a few centuries old. He is first introduced in the first part of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, at the council of Elrond. He comes as a messenger from his father to discuss the escape of Gollum. Elrond picks him to become one of the members of the Fellowship that sets out to destroy the One Ring.
Within the Fellowship, Legolas and the dwarf, Gimli, clash because of the ancient quarrel between Elves and Dwarves after the destruction of Doriath, and also because Legolas's father Thranduil once imprisoned Gimli's father Glóin (as described in The Hobbit). They become friends, however, when they enter Lothlórien and Gimli greets the Lady of the Golden Wood with gentle words. In the Battle of the Hornburg, he and Gimli engage in Orc-slaying contests (Gimli wins by one, but the real result is mutual respect).
After the destruction of the One Ring and of Sauron, the two go off traveling together through Fangorn forest. Eventually, Legolas comes to Ithilien with some of his people, with his father's leave, to live out his remaining time in Middle-earth. After the death of King Elessar, Legolas leaves Middle-earth to go over the Sea, and Gimli's love for his friend, and the desire to see Galadriel once again, prompts him to go with Legolas— the first and only Dwarf to do so.
The name Legolas is a Silvan dialect form of Sindarin Laegolassë, Greenleaf. It comes from the Sindarin linguistic elements laeg, green; go- or gwa-, together; and lass or las, leaf. Together these would make the phrase Laeg go-lass, meaning green (collection of) leaves, and simplified to Legolas, the English translation of which would be the familiar Greenleaf.
Legolas has been determined to be around 800-900 years old by Tolkien scholars. To see their reasoning, see the articles referred to below.
Legolas of Gondolin
The name Legolas Greenleaf first appeared in The Fall of Gondolin, one of the "Lost Tales". The character is mentioned only once and is unrelated to the character discussed above.
The Legolas of Gondolin, who Tolkien would have likely renamed, has a different etymology. His name comes from the Quenya words laica, green, and lassë, leaf. The names are very similar, but the characters' native languages were different.
Legolas on film
Legolas is played in the film versions by Orlando Bloom.
In the movie, Legolas's birthdate is set to 87 of the Third Age, so that would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring. However, this date was made up by the movie writers, as in the books there are no known dates concerning Legolas before T.A. 3018.
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