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Still from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Character · by Priya Nair

Legolas in The Lord of the Rings: Who He Is and Who Plays Him

Legolas of The Lord of the Rings is an Elf of the Fellowship, played by Orlando Bloom in all three Lord of the Rings films and in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. He first appears in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), directed by Peter Jackson, as one of the nine companions who set out to destroy the One Ring.

Image: TMDB

Who Plays Legolas?

Who Is Legolas in The Lord of the Rings?

Legolas is an Elf and one of the nine members of the Fellowship, alongside the four hobbits, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir and the dwarf Gimli. Orlando Bloom plays him in every film where he appears, and the credits list him simply as Legolas, so there is no second name to track down.

What is so special about Legolas? He is the only Elf among the nine, in a group otherwise made up of men, hobbits, a wizard and a dwarf.

Where did Legolas come from? The Desolation of Smaug places him in Mirkwood, where he leads Wood-elves alongside Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, and the elves take Thorin's dwarves to King Thranduil, played by Lee Pace.

He appears in five films: the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 to 2003) and the second and third Hobbit films (2013 and 2014). For the full cast across the saga, see the Lord of the Rings cast page, and for the other members of the Fellowship, browse the Lord of the Rings characters.

Legolas Films

Legolas Across the Films: From Rivendell to MirkwoodSpoilers

Legolas begins his story as a companion, not a leader. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the council at Rivendell decides that the Ring is too dangerous to keep or to use, Frodo volunteers to carry it to Mount Doom, and the Fellowship forms with Legolas as the Elf among the nine. The group passes through the mines of Moria, where Gandalf falls fighting a Balrog, and rests in Lothlorien, where Galadriel warns Frodo that the Ring will test them. When Boromir tries to seize the Ring and then dies defending Merry and Pippin from Saruman's Uruk-hai, Frodo goes on toward Mordor with Sam, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli set off to rescue the captured hobbits.

In The Two Towers, the three friends follow the Orc trail into Rohan and meet Gandalf, who has returned from death as Gandalf the White. Together they go to Edoras, where King Théoden is under the spell of his adviser Gríma and of Saruman, and Gandalf frees him. The film builds toward the siege of Helm's Deep, where a huge Uruk-hai army attacks and a force of elves helps the defenders, and where Gandalf arrives at dawn with Éomer and the Rohirrim to break the siege.

In The Return of the King, Legolas is billed thirteenth in the cast, and the story moves toward Frodo and Sam's climb to Mount Doom and the war for Minas Tirith. Aragorn leads the western armies to the Black Gate as a diversion, the Ring is destroyed, and Sauron is defeated.

How does Legolas in The Lord of the Rings compare with Legolas in The Hobbit? The Hobbit films are set earlier in the story, and Bloom plays him in both eras. In The Desolation of Smaug, he and Tauriel lead the Wood-elves who kill the giant spiders in Mirkwood and take the dwarves to King Thranduil, and the elves later chase the dwarves' barrels down the river. In Lake-town, Tauriel and Legolas defeat Bolg's orcs, although Bolg escapes. In The Battle of the Five Armies, the elves, men and dwarves gather at the Lonely Mountain, and Legolas kills Bolg during the fighting.

Legolas and His Allies: Aragorn, Gimli and the Wood-elves

Legolas's closest ties on screen are with Aragorn and Gimli. The three form the trio that chases the Uruk-hai at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring and rides into Rohan in The Two Towers, so they share most of the middle film's journey. Aragorn is played by Viggo Mortensen, and Gimli by John Rhys-Davies, who also voices Treebeard.

His other Fellowship ties are lighter. He travels with Gandalf through Moria, and he is present when Galadriel warns the company in Lothlorien. Boromir later tries to seize the Ring and dies defending Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-hai. The Ring-bearer, Frodo Baggins, leaves the group before the pursuit begins.

In the Hobbit films the relationships change. Thranduil is the king of the Wood-elves, and Legolas serves under him in Mirkwood, with Tauriel leading the Wood-elves alongside him. When the elves take Thorin's company prisoner, Legolas meets Thorin Oakenshield and Bilbo, though the two groups begin on opposite sides.

What Happens to Legolas in the End?Spoilers

Legolas survives both trilogies, and no film shows him dying. He lives through the war against Sauron in the Lord of the Rings films, and in the Hobbit story he comes through the Battle of the Five Armies, where he kills Bolg. That film closes with Thorin's death, Dain's crowning and Bilbo's return to the Shire, and Gandalf's visit on Bilbo's 111th birthday links it to the earlier trilogy.

What happened to Legolas after Aragorn died? The films never show Aragorn's death, so the screen story gives no answer. The Return of the King ends with Aragorn crowned King of Gondor and united with Arwen, and with Frodo leaving Middle-earth by ship with Gandalf, Bilbo and the elves.

Does Legolas ever marry? Not in any film. The weddings on screen are Aragorn and Arwen, and Sam and Rosie.

For what comes next in Middle-earth, Warner Bros. and New Line have dated The Hunt for Gollum for December 17, 2027, and the latest on that film sits on the page for the Hunt for Gollum.

Best Legolas Moments, Ranked by Taste

In my opinion, the strongest Legolas scene is the council at Rivendell, because the Fellowship forms there and he becomes the Elf among the nine companions, alongside men, a dwarf and hobbits. It could be argued that the rest of the trilogy follows from that moment, since every journey that comes after depends on who agrees to walk it.

My second pick is the Mirkwood sequence in The Desolation of Smaug. The Wood-elves led by Tauriel and Legolas kill the spiders that have caught the dwarves, and the scene shows him as a fighter leading his own people, not a guest in someone else's quest. Perhaps that is why the Hobbit films matter for his character: they show him in action before the Fellowship forms.

Third, I would choose his fight with Bolg in The Battle of the Five Armies. It closes a thread that began in Lake-town, where Bolg escapes the elves, so the payoff comes a whole film later. The pursuit across Rohan in The Two Towers is a close fourth, because it gives him and Gimli a shared quest while the main story moves elsewhere. If you want to follow his whole arc in order, the Lord of the Rings movies in order guide covers the release and chronological orders.

Facts

FAQs

What is so special about Legolas?

Legolas is the only Elf among the nine members of the Fellowship. He appears in five films, and in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies he kills the orc Bolg.

What happened to Legolas after Aragorn died?

The films do not show Aragorn's death or anything of Legolas's life afterward. The Return of the King ends with Aragorn crowned King of Gondor and married to Arwen, while Frodo sails from Middle-earth with Gandalf, Bilbo and the elves.

Is Legolas an Elf or half Elf?

Legolas is an Elf. The films present him as one, and the plot outlines mention no other ancestry.

Does Legolas ever marry?

No. No marriage for Legolas appears in any of the films. The weddings shown are Aragorn and Arwen in The Return of the King, and Sam and Rosie.

Was Legolas in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings?

Yes. Orlando Bloom plays him in all three Lord of the Rings films, and in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The Hobbit films are set earlier in the story than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Where did Legolas come from?

The Desolation of Smaug shows him in Mirkwood, leading Wood-elves with Tauriel as they take Thorin's company to King Thranduil. The plot outlines do not state a birthplace for him.