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Legolas Greenleaf

Legolas Greenleaf - Sindarin Elven Prince of the Wood Elves in Northern Mirkwood.

Legolas (who's name meant "green leaf") was the son of Thranduil, the Sindar King of Northern Mirkwood. The date of Legolas’ birth is never given by Tolkien. Many Tolkien ‘scholars’ speculate that his birth was likely around the same time as Arwen’s (who was born 241 Third Age), which would possibly make Legolas approximately 2778 years old during the War of the Ring.

While Legolas refers to himself as a silvan elf in LOTR, he is indeed one of the Sindar in orgin.

Tolkien describes Legolas:
“He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgul, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship." (from The Book of Lost Tales, II)

Legolas journeyed to Rivendell in 3018 of the Third Age for the Council of Elrond. He was sent by his father, Thranduil, to carry the ill tidings that Gollum – whom the Mirkwood elves had held prisoner – had escaped.

Chosen by Elrond as one of the Nine Walkers of the Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas set out from Rivendell with the Company of the Ring. During the journey, he became close friends with Gimli the dwarf, a friendship that would last all his days.

After Boromir's death, and the breaking of the Fellowship, he journeyed with Aragorn and Gimli through the southern lands of Middle Earth in search of the captured hobbits, Merry and Pippin. They then went onward to fight at the Battle of the Hornburg (Helms Deep), then travelled the Paths of the Dead , where Aragorn freed the Oathbreakers. From there the group, accompanied by the Dead of Dunharrow, traveled south to Pelargir and fought a battle that won them control of the Corsair ship fleet. They then sailed to Minas Tirith, where Legolas fought with his companions in the Battle of the Pelennor fields. He then went as representative of the Elves with the Captains of the West to the Battle of the Morannon.

Once the War of the Ring ended and Sauron was finally defeated, Legolas held his friend Gimli to a bargain they had made at Helms Deep: he accompanied the dwarf to the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, and Gimli traveled with him into Fangorn forest. Eventually, Legolas led a group of elves to dwell into Ithilien, where they made that land fair once more.

“'And I,' said Legolas, 'shall walk in the woods of this fair land (Ithilien), which is rest enough. In days to come, if my Elven-lord allows, some of our folk shall remove hither; and when we come it shall be blessed, for a while.'

After the death of King Aragorn, Legolas built a ship and eventually passed over the Sea in 120 of the Fourth Age, taking with him Gimli the dwarf. The departure of Legolas and Gimli brought an end to the Fellowship in Middle Earth.

Orlando Bloom plays Legolas in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.