
#Lord of rings legolas movie#
Since it was made into an epic movie trilogy in the early 2000s, it's only become more solidly enmeshed in pop culture. Tolkien is one of the greatest fantasy sagas of the 20th century. The two remain fast friends to the end of their days.The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.

The best part? It doesn't end after The Lord of the Rings story, either. Over time, though, as they go through the war together and help each other through numerous dangers, the distance breaks down and is replaced with a jovial, joined-at-the-hip mentality. The pair begin their adventures with a cold "arm's length" respect for one another. Realistically, few dwarves manage to actively maintain relationships with elves throughout all of Tolkien's writings - with the one, beautifully odd exception of Legolas and Gimli. While their races have occasionally gotten along with each other at times - like when they joined together out of necessity during the Battle of Five Armies - there are many instances across the ages when they've fought, deceived, and backstabbed one another and generally been at each other's throats. Historically, Gimli and Legolas shouldn't be friends at all. Legolas' eventual affinity for Gimli is a powerful testimony to the ability of friendship to overcome even the deepest-seated hatred, animosity, and racism. The whole thing is messy, to say the least. And a journey to link up with Strider the Ranger? While it could theoretically fit into the timeline, the connection isn't necessary, nor does it make sense that a centuries-old elf would need to hunt down a mortal man to help in his apparently delayed adolescence. Okay - except, what? First of all, his mother is never mentioned anywhere in the original source material, and when it comes to The Hobbit, neither is Legolas.

In the process, the audience finds out about his dead mother and witnesses a strange scene in which Thranduil sends him off in search of Aragorn. His overtly beefed-up role balloons from there as he repeatedly gets involved in the quest. Not surprisingly, we find the elf gallivanting around Mirkwood, hunting spiders, hating dwarves, and generally helping his father rule the kingdom. Nevertheless, it does give us, at the least, what amounts to a glorified fan-fiction version of what Legolas might've been up to before the War of the Ring.

Needless to say, while still strong, Thranduil's kingdom can hardly be said to be thriving at this point. Eventually, dwarves - who are infamously unfriendly with elves - show up at the Lonely Mountain to the east, followed by Smaug the dragon, who turns the area into a desolate wasteland.

This is partly due to the fact that the Necromancer and his minions have set up shop in the southern portion of the woods and are spreading out quickly. Over the course of the Third Age that follows, Thranduil finds himself leading an ever-shrinking kingdom. When Oropher falls in battle, his son, Lee Pace - er, Thranduil (sorry about that) - takes over the reins and becomes the new king. In fact, many of their dead corpses, along with others who died in the fighting, are the ones that end up haunting the Dead Marshes that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum cross in The Two Towers. However, two-thirds of the Silvan army is destroyed in the fighting, and their king loses his life, to boot. The elves are successful in the war, and Sauron is temporarily vanquished.
