Contents of this entry
From the Woodland Realm to the FellowshipFriendship, memory and the departure westPrimary referencesRelated encyclopedia entries
From the Woodland Realm to the Fellowship
Legolas comes to Rivendell with news that Gollum has escaped the custody of the Wood-elves. At the Council of Elrond, his report becomes part of a wider recognition that seemingly separate troubles belong to the same struggle against Sauron. Chosen among the Nine Walkers, he travels through Moria and Lothlórien, survives the breaking of the company and joins Aragorn and Gimli in pursuing the captured hobbits.
His abilities are not limited to archery. He reads signs of living things, perceives distant movement and brings a distinct understanding of age and landscape into the journey. At Helm’s Deep he fights beside Gimli; at the Paths of the Dead he confronts a kind of fear unlike that experienced by his companions. Hearing gulls awakens a longing for the Sea that changes the meaning of his continued residence in Middle-earth.
Friendship, memory and the departure west
Legolas and Gimli’s friendship develops through experience rather than an abstract agreement between peoples. Their responses to Lothlórien and the Glittering Caves show them learning to value things the other loves. The contrast also gives the reader two different forms of attention to a place: growing life and the beauty of worked or unworked stone.
Appendix A reports a tradition that, after Aragorn’s death, Legolas built a ship and sailed west with Gimli. The wording should retain the status of the account rather than pretending that every detail is narrated directly. His age is not securely specified in The Lord of the Rings, and numerical ages supplied by adaptations should not be imported into a book reference entry.
Primary references
The Lord of the Rings, Book II, “The Council of Elrond” and “The Ring Goes South”; Book III, “Helm’s Deep”; Book V, “The Passing of the Grey Company”; Appendix A, “Durin’s Folk”.
