legolas's hair

hi...I was wondering if anyone knows whether Legolas has brown hair or blonde? I think for some reason that he has brown and that Peter Jackson and most concept artists have made a huge mistake. So, yeah, if anyone knows for (like you have a book passage to quote), reply please.

[The Barrow-Wight]

This topic and similiar ones have been discussed many times and have been indexed in our Haudh-en-Ndengin forum. Check out the Huadh-en-Ndengin Index entry for Legolas - Appearance -or- Elves Hair Color

There you will find links to all previous discussions similar to this topic.

Since those topics are all quite old, feel free to continue the discussion here after you've read them thoroughly.

[Bandobras Took]

His hair is most likly blond. most elves had blond hair

[Failivrin]

No; most Elves have dark hair. Only the Vanyar and the Golden House of Finrod have blonde hair (due to his mother, Indis being of the Vanyar).

However, Legolas does have blond hair.

i read the stuff in the Huadh-en-Ndengin Index and i;m pretty sure his hair is blonde now. i guess i missed the thing about Thranduil's hair being golden everytime i read The Hobbit.
thanks....

[Silmiel of Imladris]

In my opinion most Sindar (Which Legolas was half at least) have blond hair. Anyone know what the Silvian Elves looked like for Legolas lived with them?

[Lost One]

I don't think most Sindar are necessarily fair-haired. However, Thranduil and Logolas are conected in some way to the leading family of the Sindar/Teleri who do appear to be fair - silver-haired, if anything (Thingol, Earwen, Celeborn).

[Cibbwin]

There is only one mention of Legolas hair in the books, I don't remember where, but it mentions him having dark hair.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

Originally Posted by Cibbwin

There is only one mention of Legolas hair in the books, I don't remember where, but it mentions him having dark hair.

It said Legolas's head was dark and crowned with stars as he stood on the riverbank. However, it was the middle of the night, and Frodo was looking up at him. Everything was dark, so therefore that is not a reliable quote. The only note we get on the appearance of Legolas is that

"He shielded his bright eyes with a long slender hand"
and
"For Legolas was fair of face beyond the measure of Men, and he sang an Elven-song..."

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Beware pigeonholes and absolute rules!

For example, it's often said (with citations) that ALL Noldor (save Finarfin's descendants) are dark-haired; yet we learn later that Feanor's wife Nerdanel and at least two of her sons were redheads.

We also know that Glorfindel is blonde (his very name means "Golden Hair"), yet he's indisputably a Noldo.

There is also a nameless Elf of Lorien (the one who catches Haldir's rope) who has golden hair.

[jallanite]

Fëanor’s three (not two) red-headed sons (Maedhros, Amrod, and Amras) and their mother’s family may have had darkish red hair, in which case there is no contradiction to Tolkien’s rule that among the Noldor their locks were dark save in the golden house of Finrod.

Glorfindel is more of a problem. One can speculate that Glorfindel had a mother of the Vanyar, possibly sister or other close relative of the Vanyarin Elf Amarië who married Finrod. If so, Glorfindel could be loosely reckoned as belonging to the golden house of Finrod. No pure-bred Vanyar joined the host of the Noldor on their return to Middle-earth, in which case Glorfindel’s closest relatives in Middle-earth would probably be Finrod’s sons.

Most of the folk of Lórien were of Silvan origin. The Silvan Elves of Lórien were mainly of Nandorin descent but also mixed with Avari and Sindar. Presumably this golden-haired elf of Lórien would be of Avari origin from outside the “People of the Great Journey/People of the Stars” about whom Tolkien is writing when he discusses hair colour.

There is also Celegorm the Fair, one of the sons of Finrod.

Considering that Tolkien later decided that the Silmarillion and associated tales were to be understood as somewhat garbled Mannish tradition, perhaps indeed we must understand that the tradition that Tolkien presents about dark-haired Noldor has been over-regularized. The Noldor were only mostly dark-haired.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

"in which case Glorfindel’s closest relatives in Middle-earth would probably be Finrod’s sons."

If that were the case, though, why would he be one of Turgon's folk in Gondolin?

"we must understand that the tradition that Tolkien presents about dark-haired Noldor has been over-regularized. The Noldor were only mostly dark-haired."

Bingo.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Cibbwin, could you find that reference and quote it? That would be an interesting contribution to the discussion!

[Kaiserin]

This thread feels so familiar... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
Only the Vanyar ("fair elves") had blonde hair. Galadriel (Noldor) was light-haired because she was partly Vanyar.
Teleri were dark-haired, except the kin of Elwe, who had Silver hair. The Sindar aer Teleri; Thranduil and Legolas are Teleri. It doesn't necessarily follow that just because his father had golden hair that Legolas was blonde - blonde could be a recessive gene. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 10:38 PM January 21, 2004: Message edited by: Kaiserin ]

[Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1]

Is Cibbwen referring to the bit in the Fellowship where Legolas shot down the winged steed of the Nazgul? Because there it says his head was dark and crowned with stars...but that doesn't specifically say his hair, and anyway it was at night time. So it still could be blonde.

And about that reference to the Hobbit. I have scoured the Hobbit, and the closest thing I could find was there was a crown of leaves etc on his head...but it didn't say his golden head or whatever others have said. Does anyone have a full quote? And has anyone had similar trouble trying to find the reference?

[Cibbwin]

I'm looking, Estelyn, but I'm not 100% sure where it was... something about "he was tall and dark-haired"... I just know that I saw it.

[Leyrana Silumiel]

I'm looking, Estelyn, but I'm not 100% sure where it was... something about "he was tall and dark-haired"... I just know that I saw it.

I know what you're referring to. Fellowship of the Ring, in the chapter called "The Great River":

Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky above.

However, this does not definitively say he is dark-haired; it only says his "head was dark," which could be caused by just it being dark outside.

Hope this helped.

[Lost One]

Kaiserin - I'm not aware of any source for Celeborn being Noldor and part Vanyar, as you suggest. He's Sindarin in LOTR and most writings, and Teleri in a late development, but always a relation of Elwe.

[Imladris]

...and at the head of a long line of feasters sat a woodland king with a crown of leaves upon his golden hair...

Flies and Spiders in The Hobbit

I have the annotated Hobbit and this is what the note says:

The golden hair of the Elvenking is unusual. In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien wrote of the Elves that "they were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finarfin." ... However, the passage cited from Appendix F has a curious history, and when originally written it was meant to refer to the Noldor, not to all of the Elves. Christopher Tolkien has noted that the Vanyar, one of the Three Kindreds of the High Elves, had golden hair, and it was from the Vanya Indis (the mother of Fingolfin and Finarfin) that the golden haired Noldor descended.

I hope this helps. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Kaiserin]

Correction made in the post above, Lost One. Thanks for pointing it out [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I've committed the folly of taking the both of them as a whole.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 11:54 PM January 21, 2004: Message edited by: Kaiserin ]

[Aragrax]

While I am not Sauron, nonetheless, I am going to serve as a Necromancer on this long dead thread (or am I just stealing a cup from a sleeping dragon?) to add one bit in defense of a dun-haired Legolas.

I believe JRRT gave us ringing (ahem) evidence of a brunette son of Thranduil. This evidence of Legolas's brown hair, in spite of Tolkien saying nothing about it, was thus:

Tolkien said nothing about it.

The old boy went to GREAT pains to point out when someone was blonde, silver-locked (Celeborn being named for it) or was black haired (this usually being paired with grey eyes). He was pretty much mum, otherwise. I have always taken this as a big red (or brown?) flag that the person in question had hair "of the usual sort". While Legolas's father was specifically noted for his golden locks, it would tend to follow that his son would be commented upon for having similar hair, yet he was not so noted.

Thus, via his very silence on the matter, JRRT painted L's hairs in earthen tones to match his outfit. Now THAT's some skillful editing!

IMO, anyway.

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Aragrax

Thus, via his very silence on the matter, JRRT painted L's hairs in earthen tones to match his outfit. Now THAT's some skillful editing!

No, that is just an argument from silence.

If you could prove that every time Tolkien did not mention hair-colour than it was the most normal hair-colour for that kind of being, then you would have a point. But you can’t.