The elves of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings possess many abilities that seem strange or downright magical, many of which are demonstrated with aplomb by the gallant Legolas Greenleaf, prince of the Greenwood and member of the Fellowship of the Ring. Legolas’ central role in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy (and to a much lesser extent, Jackson’s Hobbit films) makes him one of the most recognizable elves in Middle-earth, and sets him as a benchmark for audiences’ understanding of what Tolkien’s elves are capable of.
Elves, as the chosen of Middle-earth’s deities, the Valar, are often described by others as possessing “magic,” yet it’s nothing like the magic of other fantasy series like Dungeons & Dragons. Tolkien’s elves combine a Valar-made soul (fëa) and a form made from the world (hröa), and it’s their union that lets an elf exist in harmony with natural forces in a way a human or hobbit cannot. That’s how Legolas performs one of the most impressive – and fleeting – feats in The Fellowship of the Ring: he effortlessly walks atop the snow of Caradhras that obstructs the rest of the Fellowship.
The Lord Of The Rings’ Caradhras Scene Shows Off Legolas’ Light-Footedness
Unfortunately It Wasn’t An Ability He Could Share With The Rest Of The Fellowship
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the Fellowship attempt to cross over mighty Caradhras, the tallest and northernmost peak of the southern Misty Mountains, beneath which the abandoned Mines of Moria lie. Its name translates from Sindarin to “red horn,” describing the color that often spilled across its peak at sunset, but the Dwarves that mined its depths often just called it the Cruel for its frequent and dangerous storms. It is one such storm that besets the Fellowship as they attempt to traverse the mountain’s pᴀss in order to reach Rohan, egged on by the conjuring of Saruman.
Thankfully, Legolas’ elven nature allows him to walk atop the snow, even as the other members of the Fellowship are forced to trudge through the drifts as they pile higher around them. That light-footedness allows Legolas to scout ahead of the party, as well as be the first free from the avalanche Saruman sends their way. There is no dialogue in the film about this innate elven ability, and the original text highlights it only in pᴀssing:
In places the snow was breast-high, and often Boromir seemed to be swimming or burrowing with his great arms rather than walking.
Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. “The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grᴀss and leaf, or over snow – an Elf.”
With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow. (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 3, “The Ring Goes South”)
This Isn’t The Only Time The Lord Of The Rings Films Highlight The Elves’ Light-Footed Nature
Legolas Repeatedly Performs Stunts That May Have Stretched Tolkien’s Use Of The Phrase “Running Light”
The Fellowship of the Ring takes a “show, don’t tell” approach to Legolas’ elven dexterity, as does the rest of the film trilogy, particularly in the major setpiece battles. In The Two Towers‘ Battle of Helms Deep, Legolas’ nimbleness lets him use an Uruk-hai shield to skate down the stairs of the Hornburg’s Deeping Wall while firing off enough arrows.
He slices off the supports of the howdah full of armed Haradrim soldiers, defeats the Oliphaunt’s driver, kills the beast by filling its skull with arrows, and effortlessly gliding along its trunk as it collapses as easily as a child goes down a slide.
Legolas’ Tony Hawk impression is overshadowed in The Return of the King, where the elf manages to singlehandedly kill a rampaging Oliphaunt by climbing the arrows embedded in its leg. He slices off the supports of the howdah full of armed Haradrim soldiers, defeats the Oliphaunt’s driver, kills the beast by filling its skull with arrows, and effortlessly gliding along its trunk as it collapses as easily as a child goes down a slide. Of course, as Gimli adamantly points out afterward, that still only counts as one kill in their friendly wager.
How The Lord Of The Rings Movies Captured This Impressive Legolas Ability
While Some Of It Was Questionable CGI, Some Of The Effects Used Were Brilliantly Practical
The special effects used to depict Legolas’ elven stunts in the films were a mixture of straightforward practical effects and complicated CGI. For the Caradhras scene, the snow was mostly a solid mᴀss that actor Orlando Bloom could walk around on freely, while the other actors were down in a trench below him. The Oliphaunt fight was, by contrast, almost entirely CGI, but the shield-surfing was actually a practical effect – Orlando Bloom was suspended on wires and simply floated down the stairs, much like a stunt in a classic wuxia film.
The Lord of the Rings films are beautiful adaptations of an incredible series, yet like all adaptations, some details are changed in the process of shifting media. While Tolkien’s original narration relies heavily on his natural talent for understatement and Frodo’s everyman nature to describe some of the more fantastical aspects of Middle-earth, Peter Jackson’s films had to find ways to turn that understated narration into something exciting and cinematic. While Tolkien himself may not have approved of using Oliphaunts as slides, there’s no denying it was an effective demonstration of just how nimble a Sindar elf can be.
The Lord of the Rings
- Movie(s)
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The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
- Created by
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J.R.R. Tolkien
- First Film
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The Lord of the Rings (1978)
- Cast
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Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt
- TV Show(s)
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
- Character(s)
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Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Sauron, Gollum, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Celeborn, Aragorn, Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Aldor, Wormtongue, Thorin Oakenshield, Balin Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Tauriel, King Thranduil, Smaug, Radagast, Arondir, Nori Brandyfoot, Poppy Proudfellow, Marigold Brandyfoot, Queen Regent Míriel, Sadoc Burrows
