Tolkien in General

Garek the Guard wrote:Hi Chris- had a few complaints about your pet. Perhaps not so wise to attach that to his back.

Thanks.

-Garek

He said that now "the arrival of a Tolkien blockbuster no longer fills me with the trepidation it once did. I won't be getting another sideswipe from the juggernaut".

I thought Orlando Bloom did a great job as Legolas in the motion picture trilogy, but I have to say that I prefer Tolkien’s version of the character. Tolkien never specifically gives Legolas’ age, but it seems just from his behavior and some of the comments he makes that Legolas is likely relatively young for an elf. I certainly don’t think he’s over 2,000 years old. He always came across to me as a little bit sheltered and experiencing larger Middle-Earth and its dangers for the first time.

In the first book he’s full of plenty of courage but also a large portion of merry naivete. Over the course of the trilogies, he seemed to gradually become a bit more worldly and serious as the burdens of an Age fell upon his shoulders, one battle came right after another, and unlikely friendships were formed along the way as the young elf came to terms with his own limitations. Eventually, he hears the call of the Sea, as Galadriel had warned him he might. When he first hears Galadriel’s prophecy he assumes it foretells his death (a heavy prospect for an immortal creature), and, really, the sea-longing is practically death for a Sindar or Silvan elf. The adventure of the Nine Walkers is really a coming-of-age story for Legolas, though he’s rightly not even close to the main focus of the tale.

One of the first moments that you see Legolas reacting with dread to the many and unforeseen dangers of Middle-Earth is the appearance of the balrog. Legolas is the first to recognize the beast (except perhaps for Gandalf), and shows real terror in that moment. Part of this, I think, is that had Gandalf failed to stop the balrog, Legolas would have been the natural choice for the second string, covering the Fellowship with his considerable archery skills and his little white knife. No wonder he looks so scared. But the cool thing is that despite his relative innocence Legolas never turned back towards Mirkwood. In fact, he ends the series forging his own kingdom and his own path as the friend of men and dwarves and hobbits alike. Very impressive, I think.

halfwise wrote:There was only one weak point in the original PoTC, it's the scene where the ship crewed by Captain Jack's hirees is in a storm, and Orli's character starts giving commands (as if he would know more about the subject than sea men) and they actually follow his orders. On a human level it's simply unbelievable and about the only flaw in an otherwise perfect movie.