Legolas

""The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead and the dead keep it. The way is shut.""

- ~Legolas

Legolas is an elvish princeling who is skilfully good at archery and one of the many heroes in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and in Peter Jackson's films of the same name respectively. He joins the fellowship in the quest to destroy the one ring and fought in many battles during the war such as Moria, Helm's Deep and the Black Gate. He is the son of King Thranduil of Mirkwood and an elf of the woodland realm. He is a very close friend of Aragorn and when Aragorn was in trouble, Legolas would always try to save him. He often competed with Gimli during battle, seeing who could kill the most. The two never liked each other but grew to as they traveled more. His main weapon is a bow and arrow but often uses swords or pikes and spears. In the films, he is portrayed by Orlando Bloom.

The Fellowship of the Ring (film)
Legolas was one of the many assembled at Elrond's council to discuss the fate of the ring. When Boromir condescends Aragorn about the matter, Legolas defends him and says that Aragorn is the next king of Gondor and that Boromir should owe him his allegiance. Aragorn tells Legolas to sit back down in Elvish. When Elrond tells the council that the ring must be taken back to Mordor to be destroyed, Boromir explains the horrors of Mordor and the whole quest is foolish. Legolas grew tired of Boromir's negativity and insisted that the quest must be fulfilled. Gimli quickly interrupts saying Legolas and all elves are not trustworthy of the task and an argument ensues. When Frodo volunteers to take it, Legolas, along with Gimli, Aragorn and Boromir join as well and swore to protect him.

When the Fellowship take the path of Caradhras, his weight was light to walk over the snow while the others try to push through it. He first hears Saruman's voice chanting and Gandalf realizes who it was. When they go to Moria, they find several dead dwarves near the entrance and Legolas discovers goblin arrows everywhere. When they reached Balin's crypt, they become surrounded and Legolas and Aragorn were ready to fire when the orcs come through. The fellowship fought well and when the cave troll came in, Legolas climbed on top of him and tried to shoot him in the head but failed. After the troll stabbed Frodo, in a rage, Merry and Pippin jumped on the troll and when they stabbed him in the head, Legolas shot him in the jugular, killing him. When Gandalf sacrificed himself to save them from the Balrog, the fellowship made it out of Moria and traveled to the woods of Lothlorien. When they were attacked by elf archers, Legolas pointed his bow at one of them, ready to protect the fellowship than his own people. The captain of the guard, Haldir, welcomed Aragorn and Legolas as they were well known. When they met Lady Galadriel, Legolas tells of Gandalf's sacrifice and learns the elves have prepared a lament for the wizard.

When they departed from Lothlorien, Galadriel presents them all with gifts including cloaks that would shield them and loads of lembas bread. Galadriel gives Legolas a bow of the Galadhrim, a stouter version of a Mirkwood bow. He asks Gimli what he received and he asked for a lock of Galadriel's hair and she gave him three. Through the river, they reached Amon Hen and Legolas was sensing orcs nearby. They became ambushed by Saruman's Uruk-Hai and engaged in battle. Aragorn slayed many on his own until Legolas and Gimli arrived and slewed many themselves. Legolas hears Boromir's horn in the distance and Aragorn rushes to help him. When Legolas and Gimli arrived to help, it was too late as Boromir had died peacefully and Aragorn saved him from a terrible fate. When the three buried their fallen comrade via the river, Legolas wanted to hurry and catch up with Frodo and Sam but Aragorn chose not to go. Aragorn needed to rescue Merry and Pippin and Legolas and Gimli gladly join him and the three set off.

The Two Towers (film)
For three days, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have been trying to catch up to a band of Uruk-Hai who have captured Merry and Pippin. The Uruk-Hai do not stop running and even Aragorn and Legolas' speeds were not fast enough to gain on them closer. The three run into riders of Rohan and become surrounded by them. Their leader, Eomer, nephew of King Theoden threatens Gimli and Legolas was ready to strike him down but Aragorn stops him. Eomer tells him that they slayed the uruks and may have accidnetly killed the hobbits as well. He apologizes and gives them two horses to make travelling easier. They approach the battlefield and Aragorn discovers that the two escaped the battle and ran for cover in Fangorn Forest. Legolas senses a wizard close, thinking it was Saruman and gets ready to strike. He fires an arrow but the wizard blocks it with his staff. The wizard reveals himself to be Gandalf, having survived Moria and reincarnated. Legolas kneeled before him and begged for forgiveness.

Gandalf tells him that Merry and Pippin are safe with the ents and they must get to Edoras and rescue Theoden from the mind control of Saruman. When they arrived, they were forced to surrender their weapons save for Gandalf's staff. Grima Wormtongue has several guards seize Gandalf but Legolas and the others fight them off so Gandalf could free Theoden and he does. When Theoden returned to normal, he has a funeral of his son and Legolas and the others attend it. Legolas helps protect the women and children on the journey to Helm's Deep. When Saruman sends out Warg riders, Legolas finds a scout and kills him. Theoden leads a charge against the wargs and Legolas shoots many of them. When Aragorn falls off a cliff during a fight with one of them, Sharku, their leader lays dying. Legolas forces the orc to tell what happened and when he did, he thought he was lying. He wasn't as Sharku was holding the jewel that Arwen gave to Aragorn and would never take it off. Theoden tells his guards to leave the dead and Legolas was hurt by it as he wanted to search for him. When Aragorn returned, Legolas embraced him and gave him back the jewel.

After learning that 10,000 Uruk-Hai are coming to attack Helm's Deep, Legolas begins to lose hope as Rohan only has 300 to fight and half are not soldiers. He assures Aragorn that they will not win and will die but Aragorn became furious and said he will gladly die as one of them. While preparing for battle, Legolas apologizes for doubting him and the two rekindle their friendship. Then, Haldir appeared with an army of Elves sent to protect the fortress. Aragorn and Legolas lead the elves into battle. Legolas leads the archers on the wall and Aragorn and Haldir leads the swordsmen. Legolas and Gimli compete for most kills but by the time Gimli kills two, Legolas had already killed 17. During the fight, few uruks sneak in explosive devices underneath the wall and a berserker charges at it with the fuse. Aragorn spots him and orders Legolas to shoot him down. Legolas shoots a few arrows and all hit the uruk but he still goes on and sacrifices himself to blow up the wall. The uruks succeed in breaching the wall and many elves and rohirrim are killed. Legolas and the others were forced to retreat and the trio and a few Rohirrim are the only survivors. They barricade themselves in Theoden's throne room but Theoden organizes a last stand cavalry charge and Legolas joins the charge and tramples several Uruk-Hai. They trample their way out of the castle and join Gandalf and the 2000 rohirrim in another charge and scare the surviving uruks away.

After the battle, Legolas and Gimli tally up their kills. Legolas had 42 but Gimli had 43. Legolas shoots an uruk that Gimli was sitting on and makes it 43 but gimli said he was already dead. The uruk was twitching but only because Gimli had his axe wedged in him. Legolas then joins Gandalf and the others on the journey to Isengard to confront Saruman.

The Return of the King (film)
The journey continues as Legolas, the remainder of the fellowship and Theoden, king of Rohan travel to Isengard to confront Saruman and cleanse him out completely. When they arive at the tower, Saruman tells him that despite losing at Helm's Deep, Sauron is planning an even greater assault at an unknown place and time. He then taunts Aragorn and Gandalf for sending Frodo on this quest, to which Gimli asks Legolas to shoot down Saruman and kill him. Legolas prepares to gladly but is stopped by Gandalf. When Saruman agrees to explain what he knows, he is stabbed in the back by Grima Wormtongue who had just beaten by the wizard. Legolas, with his perfect aim, shoots an arrow at Wormtongue, piercing his heart and killing him. The knife was left in Saruman's back and he falls to his death.

The group return to Edoras for a victory banquet and Legolas and Gimli compete in a drinking contest. Legolas starts to feel the drunkenness and Gimli starts cheering, thinking he had won but passes out, making Legolas the victor. Later that night, Aragorn finds Legolas outside looking beyond towards Mordor and senses the eye of Sauron moving. Pippin looks into Saruman's palantir and the dark lord appears trying to possess the hobbit. Legolas senses Sauron presence and wakes everyone to rescue Pippin and Gandalf does. Gandalf tells Theoden and the others that Sauron will be marching on Gondor and launch an assault on Minas Tirith. Gandalf takes Pippin to Minas Tirith and have the fellowship remain at Edoras on standby until they receive the signal from the beacons.

In a few days, Rohan receives the signal and they all travel to Dunharrow to rendezvous with every Rohirrim soldier called upon to fight. When they reach Dunharrow, they make camp at a mountain with a road which leads to Dimholt. Gimli asks where the road leads to and Legolas says it leads to an entrance to a cave deep in the mountains. Eomer says that those who have traveled on the road were never seen again and that something evil and powerful lives in those mountains. Later that night, Elrond arrives and gives Aragorn a mission: journey to Dimholt and have the ancient evil join him to fight in the battle. He gives him the sword of Isildur and convinces him to follow the path of the king. Aragorn agrees and tries to go off alone but Legolas and Gimli stop him and would not let him pass unless they go too. The three travel off onto the road into the darkness and many Rohirrim become worried that they are abandoning them but Theoden tells them not to worry.

Getting closer to the door, Gimli asks how an army could be living in the mountain and Legolas explains the story. 3,000 years ago, the Dimholt army were chosen to fight alongside Gondor and the elves in the great battle against Sauron but when they were called to fight, they refused and hid in the mountains. After Sauron was defeated and Isildur became king, he put a curse on the army: walk the earth for eternity, until they agree to fight for Gondor in battle and they could journey to the afterlife and be in peace. Aragorn must fulfill the mission and get the army to fight or Sauron will surely win the war. The three arrive at the door and Legolas reads the wiriting saying the army is now dead and now walk in spirit form, cursed and suffering. Their horses sense the army close and run away but the three were not afraid and walk in. When they reached the heart of the cave, the King of the Dead appears and Aragorn challenges him, to which he calls his army and they quickly surround him. The king prepares to strike and Legolas shoots an arrow to stop him but it goes through him. Aragorn wins the challenge and pleads for the army's service, promising to have their oath fulfilled if they fight. The king laughs and the army disappears and the mountain begins to collapse. The three make it out and see armies of Sauron below destroying villages and Aragorn falls down and weeps, thinking he has failed. Legolas comforts him and the king appears before them saying he will fight.

As the corsairs sail by, they spot the three who threaten to attack them if they do not surrender. The corsairs laugh and Aragorn tells Legolas to fire a warning shot at one of them. Gimli purposely taps Legolas' bow to mess up the aim but the arrow hits a corsair and accidently kills him. Gimli warns them again and the dead appear and kill the corsairs. They arrive towards the end of the battle at the southern gate. Many orcs await for the corsair ships and the three jump out, ready to fight. Gimli, determined to fight has Legolas compete with him for number of kills again. With the dead joining the battle, the tide turns completely and the trio cut down many orcs with ease. An oliphaunt marches towards them and Aragorn has Legolas take it down. Legolas succeeds in climbing up the creature, shooting and throwing down many Haradrim archers. He cuts several rope holding the towers on the Mumakil's back and tower and all the archers fall off and Legolas runs over to the top of the head. He shoots three arrows in the oliphaunt's head and the giant pachyderm falls face first and Legolas slides down the trunk and the oliphaunt dies behind him. Gimli looks at him in jealousy and disgust saying all those kills don't count and the oliphaunt makes up one. They cut down more orcs and the dead kill the rest and are victorious.

A short time later, the fellowship meet in the throne room to discuss about what to do with Sauron and Frodo. Gandalf senses Frodo in Mordor and Aragorn devises a plan to draw out Sauron's armies for last battle with the dark lord. Legolas sees it as a diversion and agrees with it and the next morning, the fellowship lead several Gondorians and Rohirrim in a last effort to win the war. The fellowship ride towards the black gate and meet the mouth of Sauron or black lieutenant. When the lieutenant taunts them about Frodo, Legolas clearly wants to strike him but Aragorn does so himself by chopping off his head. As the orcs surround the fellowship and their army, Gimli finally accepts Legolas' friendship and the battle begins. During the battle, Aragorn duels with a troll and keeps getting knocked down and is almost slain. The troll slowly walks over to slay Aragorn and Legolas knocks down many orcs in his path to try and save Aragorn. He does not reach to Aragorn in time but the troll runs away when Sauron begins to die. As Frodo was successful, Sauron is destroyed and so is Mordor itself as well as its inhabitants.

Legolas is present at Aragorn's crowning ceremony and Aragorn embraces his old friend, thanking him for everything. In the film, he is last seen at the ceremony, but in the book, he travels the world with Gimli restoring all that was lost during the war. About 100 years later, when Aragorn dies, Legolas journeys to the Grey Havens and has Gimli join him.