Lord of the Rings: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Legolas

Legolas remains one of the most beloved characters in both Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, as well as the fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien on which they were based. Many liberties were taken with the Prince of Mirkwood because Tolkien didn’t explain certain parts of his backstory and didn’t do much to describe his physical appearance.

Given how much about his narrative was fabricated, from his blue eyes to his gravity-defying combat skills, it’s surprising that there are so many inconsistencies with his character. The aspects that don’t make sense would undermine the popularity of a lesser character, but Legolas continues to endure with few gripes from fans.

10 HIS INCLUSION IN THE HOBBIT TRILOGY

While Legolas was technically alive during the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, he was never mentioned in the book, which focused solely on Bilbo Baggins’ quest to help the dwarves of Erebor reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug. Therefore, including Legolas in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy — an already bloated series of films — felt superfluous.

Unlike in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he frequently proved invaluable to the Fellowship in its quest to destroy the One Ring, Legolas had no real purpose in The Hobbit, other than to connect the two film series — which Gandalf and Bilbo already do.

9 HIS CHANGE OF PERSONALITY

Even ignoring the fact that Legolas was never in The Hobbit book and focusing solely on his depiction from Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy to The Lord of the Rings, Legolas seems to have had a personality transplant. In The Hobbit films he’s cold, arrogant, and detached, which works to some extent because he reflects his father’s personality.

However, by the time The Fellowship of the Ring takes place, which is only 60 years later, Legolas’ demeanor is innocent, youthful, and compassionate. While that sort of behavioral shift makes sense for a human with a limited life span, Legolas is (according to the official movie guide for The Lord of the Rings films) nearly 3,000 years old by the time of the War of the Ring, and wouldn’t have changed to such a great extent.

8 HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH TAURIEL

Tolkien purists condone Tauriel’s inclusion in The Hobbit films, but she’s a large part of their plotlines, especially where Legolas is concerned. His interactions with her were particularly confusing, especially given his romantic inclinations. It’s implied that Legolas has feelings for Tauriel, even going so far as to defy his father when he wishes to kill her.

The only reason she doesn’t seem to reciprocate his feelings is that she’s a lowly Silvan Elf, and doesn’t feel herself worthy of his love, not simply because she’s fallen in love with a dwarf. The bond between Legolas and Tauriel isn’t explored, the actors have little chemistry, and therefore it seems hollow when Legolas’ heart breaks over Tauriel’s banishment and love for Fili.

7 HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH STRIDER/ARAGORN

The Hobbit shoehorned in a moment when Thranduil tells his son to seek out Strider in the North and develop a relationship with the ranger, hinting at the bond that was would develop between Legolas and Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Even in the trilogy, the bond between Legolas and Aragorn isn’t firmly established, and anyone who hadn’t read the books would assume they had first met at the Council of Elrond. Fans like to speculate on if the two had met prior, maybe as children through their parents, or possibly when Aragorn was known as Estel… but it’s not confirmed with certainty. Aragorn seems to know a lot about Legolas, especially in regards to his “Elven senses,” and Legolas defends Aragorn’s rightful claim to the Throne of Gondor, but their relationship is much deeper in Tolkien’s novels.

6 HIS LIMITLESS ARROWS

When Legolas fires his arrows, he seems to be able to shoot from a limitless supply. With each arrow he lets fly, another seems to reappear in his quiver. Fans attribute this to Elven magic which, while not far off the mark, is never mentioned in any of the films.

The closest way to describe how the arrows reappear is that they’re teleported from another Elven domain (some fans point to Valinor). While this makes a certain amount of sense given Tolkien’s capacity for worldbuilding, it doesn’t quite carry weight because when he tries to save Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, he reaches for an arrow and finds his quiver empty.

5 HIS SUPERHUMAN ABILITIES

Elves are known for having superior senses when compared to other races in Middle-earth; Legolas’ are highlighted throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His “lightness of foot” is conveyed when he walks on top of the snow at the Pass of Caradhras in The Fellowship of the Ring, and his keen eyesight is showcased when scouting the wargs in The Two Towers.

However, it defies credibility when he surfs down a flight of stairs at the Battle of the Hornburg, and when he does the same down an oliphaunt’s trunk in The Return of the King.

4 HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH FRODO

Of all the members of the Fellowship, Legolas has the most peculiar relationship with Frodo Baggins. He is willing to risk his life to protect him and ensure he reaches Mount Doom safely, but they rarely interact despite appearing in three films together.

Granted, Frodo and Legolas are separated for much of the films, but when they’re reunited and Frodo is recuperating in Rivendell, Legolas doesn’t have any scenes exchanging words with him. In fact, when Frodo greets everyone, he seems to have no recollection who Legolas is.

3 HIS CHANGING EYE COLOR

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Legolas’ eyes change color from brown to blue, then back to brown again. Supposedly this was due to the fact that Orlando Bloom couldn’t wear the blue contacts for very long without irritating his eyes.

By the time The Hobbit trilogy was released, Legolas’ eye color could be digitally altered to blue. Why was this method used at all when Tolkien never specifically mentioned what color the Elven archer’s eyes were to begin with? Typically most elves were “dark haired and grey-eyed” but not all, and that was a general descriptor.

2 HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FATHER

In extended scenes from The Hobbit trilogy, it’s revealed that a rift grew between Legolas and his father ever since his mother was killed. His father blamed the dwarves and placed higher importance on the recovery of a necklace than his son.

Given that there relationship is strained, it’s surprising that Thranduil would send Legolas to the Council of Elrond, since his son left Mirkwood and had nothing to do with it after the Battle of the Five Armies. Furthermore, it was never specified if Legolas was to inherit the throne, especially since he sailed to the Undying Lands never having occupied it.

1 HIS GRAVITY-DEFYING MOVES

Despite having seen Legolas gore an oliphaunt and a cave troll in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there’s no excuse for his gravity-defying maneuvers in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies when he fights Bolg.

After not only managing to fight him on an ever-collapsing bridge of his own design, when the bridge eventually does collapse, Legolas vaults up the falling stones as they tumble into the chasm, like some hero out of a video game.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1342 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

More From Kayleena Pierce-Bohen