Age 13

Legolas the Elf is one of the free people of Middle Earth who took the chance to be in the Fellowship of the ring with Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Gandalf the Grey (and White in the book III onwards), Aragorn the II, Boromir (the son of the Steward of Gondor), and Gimli (son of Gloin). In this Fellowship he made friends with Gimli the Dwarf, an unusual friend for an Elf, but as the road got harder their friendship got stronger.

Prince Legolas, which means Green-leaf in the tongue of Sindarin, is the son of King Thranduil of Greenwood (later known as Mirkwood). Legolas’ grandfather was Lord Oropher who fell at the battle of the last Alliance of Men and Elves and was a kinsman of the great King Thingol. Thingol (meaning grey-cloak in the tongue of Sindarin) was the founder of the race of Elves called the Silivn, known as Wood Elves, or Grey Elves in the common tongue of Middle-earth.

Legolas is of the Elven kind, and like all Elves is immortal, that is, immune to the passing of years but not to the stab of a sword. Elves were always skilled warriors, having those ages to perfect their art in swordselfship, archery and riding. But even though they were the best fighters, they were not a warlike race. They liked beauty over brutality. If you look at the house of Elrond Half-Elven you will see a house full of natural beauty, as nature is one of the Elves’ greatest passions. This house also has a library full of the lore and wisdom of the ages as befits the Elven love of history music and above all peace and prosperity.

Legolas’ life may have started around the mid-2nd age (near the year 1,720), meaning that he lived in Middle Earth for possibly as long as 4,862 years and maybe for about 3,880 he lived in Mirkwood with his father, Thranduil. In his time in Mirkwood he would have become a great huntsman and fighter. Mirkwood late in the 3rd age became a wild place, as the fortress of Dol-Guldur threatened their lives for many a long year.

If he was so old, in the Battle of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves he would have seen the enemies of the free people of Middle-earth that he would face in years to come. In this battle, the Silvan Elves came back with greatly depleted numbers. Legolas would have lost many friends and his grandfather Oropher in this battle.

Then in the Thrid age, for around 2,500 years, peace was found, and the evil in Middle-earth was less powerful then than ever before until the time of The Hobbit when Bilbo found the ring of power. This is when the dwarves and Bilbo tried to walk though Mirkwood they were caught by the Silvan Elves. One of Bilbo’s captors could have been Legolas and he may have also been in the hunt that the dwarves heard after Bombur fell into the river and was put into an enchanted sleep.

So when the mountain was taken from the dragon Smaug (the Golden), Legolas’ father King Thranduil led a great host of Elves to Erebor (The Lonely Mountain) to get a share of the spoils. But once they were there their first thought was to help the men of the lake, for Smaug killed many and destroyed the town. After a few days King Thranduil and the Men of the lake talked to the dwarves. Then the Goblins came in the thousands to get the dwarves, that’s when the Battle of the Five Armies began, Legolas was most likely to have taken his stand on Raven Hill along with the Elven Archers. Bilbo Baggins also stood there unseen and saw that the battle was going well up to the point that the goblins swarmed over the mountain. Then the only hope was with the Eagles with whose help the battle was won.

Then Legolas was called to the Council of Elrond where he played his part in the creation of the Fellowship of the ring. Elrond’s Council was guided by Gandalf the Grey’s words

"Even if you choose for us an Elf-lord such as Glorfindel he could not storm the Dark Tower nor open the road to the fire", and so Legolas left with the Fellowship and with his going he became friend’s with Gimli.

On their journey to fight Sauron they come to the land of Rohan and Legolas joined in the battle of Helms Deep where he and Gimli did battle side by side against ten thousand of the Uruk-hai. After the victory of Helm’s Deep, the two moved on to help Gondor fight the hordes of Sauron in the battle of Pelennor Fields and victory was again shouted. When they drove into the land of Mordor Legolas and Gimli fought together, one always killing an orc that was threatening the pair or just one of them, they may have played their counting game (how many orcs can you kill in one battle)

Gimli: "I’ve killed two all ready."

Legolas: "Seventeen."

Gimli: "There’s no way I’m going to lose to an Elf."

After Sauron was destroyed, Legolas and Gimli’s friendship was so strong that it is most likely that it lasted for the rest of their lives. At the end of the War of the Ring, Legolas rode back to Mirkwood and led his folk to the lands of Ithilien in Gondor with the blessing of the King Aragorn the 2^nd, and there lived for 120 years.

After the death of Aragorn in the 120^th year of the Fourth Age, he and Gimli left Middle-earth for the Undying Land together with the ring-bearers (Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo, and Bilbo.) There they lived till the end of the world. Gimli as I look at the map, would have found the Mountains there so rich that he may have asked for some of his own kin to come over to the Undying Lands. After he arrived Legolas must have found the sea so beautiful that he may have talked long to Cirdan the Shipwright, of his journeys on the seas of Middle Earth. But even after 5,000 years the friendship between Legolas and Gimli would still have been as strong as when they had arrived and Legolas may have lived happily ever after or maybe not, we may never know.