Talk:Legolas/Archive 1

Oblivion character
I created a Legolas character and I have issues with which skills to use. I have Marksmen, Blade, Sneak, Security, Light Armor, and Restoration, what should be the 7th skill (alchemy maybe)? What should the class name be? (I put alchemy in and I called the class Elvin Prince, kinda lame.)
 * If you're being true to the character ask yourself, does he use Magic? Does he wear armour? Alchemy I would go for as the elves have a cordial that gives strength and nourishment and it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine Legolas has the skill to make it. Carl Sixsmith (talk) 09:45, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Additions and sources
An anonymous user today added a great deal of information about Legolas' appearance and weaponry. I think that the information added came from a number of sources, including the films and possibly trading cards or games or some such. (I'm fairly certain that Tolkien never specified the draw weight of Legolas' bow, for instance.) If there were a Tolkien Wikiproject, it could establish a standard of how to handle questions like this. Since there isn't, I guess we've got to hash it out here on a case-by-case basis.

So here's my perspective on how to handle matters of canon: I think it's fine to include material from the films, role-playing games, trading cards or whatever, as long as the source is clearly stated. The default for Tolkien-related articles should be material from the legendarium itself; other information can be included, with appropriate sourcing. It should be clearly stated what comes from Tolkien himself (in the novel or the Letters or other writings), what comes from the films, and what comes from other sources such as the games. Does that seem like a good working standard to people? —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 22:02, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Italics of "grey"?
Is the word "grey" supposed to be italicaized throughout the article? It looks strange to me, but perhaps there is a reason I don't know about? Waqcku 22:09, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I can't think of a reason for it, so I'm going to be bold and remove the italics. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 22:37, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Legolas' birth date
The boxed summary of basic information on Legolas states that he was born after the end of the Third Age. This is not known for certain. Indeed, if Legolas were born in the First Age, that would explain the absence of his birthdate from the LotR Tale of Years, which covers only the Second and Third Ages (and the beginning of the Fourth). I suspect that many Tolkien fans simply don't want to think of Legolas as being that old. Gildir, 13 January 2006

Being relatively new to the question of Legolas' birth date, but by now having already read quite a lot of arguments which hint to younger or older age of that elf, I wonder whether anybody figured out something about his anchestors' (father's or grand father's) birth dates, to get at least an absolute reliable maximum age.

I couldn't find anything interesting neither on Thranduil's nor on Oropher's sites...

Dirk Stegemann 22:25, 12 December 2006 (UTC)


 * There's no explicit dates for Thranduil, so we'll have to look at circumstantial evidence. Thranduil's earliest mention is in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings, "he was among the Sindar who travelled eastward from Lindon 'before the building of the Barad-dûr'". Sauron started with Barad-dûr in about II 1000, so Thranduil must predate this. Also bearing in mind that Elven rulers could have a bunch of children and grand-children and still rule (unlike Men and Dwarves, who died), for all we know Thranduil could've gotten married, had Legolas and gotten his hair dyed (j/k) even before his father went and performed mass-suicide (Elves marry and have kids early on as their "fleshly desires" wanes with time.) Hackeru (talk) 21:20, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

surname
In the article, it says 'greenleaf' is a translation of legolas's name.. not a surname. But in the beginning, it has it as 'legolas greenleaf', like a surname. (ChildOfMorella 18:01, 27 February 2006 (UTC))


 * All true... it is just that the use of the two names together like that is not meant to indicate a surname in this case. His father was not 'Thranduil Greenleaf'. It's just his name in both Sindarin and English. --CBDunkerson 19:30, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

odd question
This is gonna sound really odd...(I'm NOT obcessed) but does any1 speak Elvish? (ChildOfMorella 18:04, 27 February 2006 (UTC))


 * Yes and no. There are plenty of people who are familiar with Tolkien's elvish languages (primarily Sindarin and Quenya), but nobody really speaks them as living languages because Tolkien didn't develop them fully in that way... he concentrated more on vocabulary than grammar. --CBDunkerson 19:30, 27 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Any1? Seriously, two more letters. Gaah. Anyway, as CB said: neither language is fully developed (Quenya is more so than Sindarin) so you can't "speak" it like we do English or French. You can however learn all there is to know and hope that someday soon, Chris Tolkien finds some dusty old book where his ol' man wrote everything down:) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hackeru (talk • contribs) 21:12, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Original research
Put here for reference.



On Bloom's changing eye color:

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.



On Legolas killing 43 at the Hornburg in the film, not 42 as in the book:

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.

202.57.97.8 09:59, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

He did NOT kill 43 in the movie, but announced his final count as 42, and upon hearing that Gimli's was 43, he shot an orc that was already dead. In the book when he found out that Gimli had passed his count by one, he said, "I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your feet." In the movie Legolas is being a sore loser for humor purposes. It is only an extended scene and probably taken out of the theater edition for that reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.222.237.191 (talk) 18:53, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

"Wooden actor playing a Wood-elf"
This was here some months ago, but was deleted. If we could find a source, does it merit inclusion? Or is it too POV? ;-) Uthanc 10:15, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Elves?
The race is elves? Shouldn't it be 'elven'? It's like mistaking 'humans' for 'human', or 'dragons' for 'draconian'. --201.230.159.83 16:05, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Legolas of Gondolin
Current text is: 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.

I would suggest that there's no debate at all. At the time of the Lost Tales, the population of Gondolin was entirely of the Noldoli: nor can one dodge by observing that Turgon's army retreating from the battle may have picked up some Ilkorin stragglers, since Tinwelint permitted no Elves of Artanor to take part. By the time, many years later, Tolkien decided to include a Sindarin component among the Gondolindrim, the first-age Legolas was surely gone, or at least (theoretically) renamed.--96.228.25.5 (talk) 14:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation
I am changing the IPA pronunciation indication to the (to the best of my knowledge) correct Sindarin ['lɛgɔlas]. Shouldn't this be the standard for all such articles? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.84.170.52 (talk) 20:30, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Drinking Contest with Gimli
I seem to recall from the movie, Legolas wins his drinking contest with Gimli by slowly drinking his one drink while Gimli downs a ton very quickly (therefore, Legolas technically wins since Gimli passes out first). I added that clarification but it was removed. Surely it is misleading to say Legolas won without explaining the unusual method of doing so. Or am I remembering the scene incorrectly? Excise (talk) 01:26, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I think your recollection is incorrect. Also it's such a trivial point it doesn't belong in this article anyway. Carl Sixsmith (talk) 09:29, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Additions and sources - comment
Seems fine to me. I would say that the draw weight of Legolas' bow comes from a reference book I have on the Films, written in a "LOTR is real" perspective. The book is "The Lord of The Rings, Weapons and Warfare" by Chris Smith, with a foreword by Christopher Lee. It contains such info as the fact that the effective distance of one of Legolas' Lorien arrows (a gift from Galadriel) would have been 400 yards, compared to a Gondorian arrow @ 200yards or a crossbow bolt @300yards. I don't know which parts were added, but here is a quote from my book: " There was some quality to the mallorn wood that kept its draw at around 150 pounds, similar to the mirkwood bow despite its greater length and range." When not carried in the hand, the bow could be stored in a leather holster that was tied to the quiver suspension system with rawhide points. The arrows were about 40 inches long and slightly thinner than the mirkwood arrows in order to keep the weight down..." (the author is talking about the gift (bow) from Galdriel}. questions n stuff email me>>> silvarbullet1@yahoo.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Silvarbullet1 (talk) 00:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

pure especulation
this encyclopedic entry is 90% especulation.
 * No, it's all from books. Uthanc 09:23, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Ridiculous. It's heavily informed by the Peter Jackson character, a "superhero" type figure who is far, far removed from the novel's original. The "characteristics" section is particularly inaccurate save as a summary (poorly written) of Jackson's character. Tolkien himself, when discussing Elvish characteristics in general during the Third Age, refers to Legolas as probably "accomplishing the least" of the Nine Companions except for the bowshot which killed the Nazgul's steed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.252.4.21 (talk) 04:59, 18 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Uthanc is largely correct: most of this is from the book. It would help if you could identify specific characteristics you're objecting to. -- Elphion (talk) 04:17, 18 December 2014 (UTC)