Legolas

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Legolas is an Elf from Mirkwood. He is sent by his father King Thranduil to the Council of Elrond, after which he joins the Fellowship of the Ring. more...

Biography

Legolas is the son of King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood, who appears as "the Elvenking" in The Hobbit; his father rules over the Silvan Elves who dwell there. Although he lived among them, was exposed to their culture, and inferred that he considered himself one of them, Legolas was strictly not one of the Silvan Elves (Wood-elves). His father Thranduil had originally come from Doriath; he and his son were actually Sindar (singular Sinda - "Sindarin" is their language). A small minority of Sindar ruled the predominantly Silvan Woodland Realm, a minority which Thranduil headed. The Sindarin minority in that realm, who should have been more noble and wise than the Silvan Elves, can be seen as having "gone native" at the end of the First Age: after Morgoth was defeated and all of the grand Elf-kingdoms of Beleriand were destroyed, they can be seen as going back to "a simpler time" in their culture. The realm of Lothlórien is similar to the Woodland Realm in that a community of Silvan Elves is ruled by non-Silvan ones, i.e. Galadriel and Celeborn.

Though his father and his kingdom appear in The Hobbit, he does not appear himself. Of course, his character had not been created yet (though his name had; see below). However, some have theorized that he may well have fought in the Battle of the Five Armies. The events in The Hobbit take place less than one hundred years before the Quest of Mount Doom. Unlike Men, the Eldar (which included the Sindar) reached adulthood on or before they reached a hundred years of age.

Read more at Wikipedia.org