Concerning Legolas

[MatthewM]

After reading a quote on a thread here from "The Book of Lost Tales" and articles on the great site "From pointy ears to Grima's tears: investigations of a Tolkien enthusiast" I came to an interesting conclusion concerning the debatable question of Legolas' hair color. Here's my elaborated conclusion:

For people like me who care about the little details (if you don't stop reading), the color of Legolas' hair has been debated since the dawn of LotR. Tolkien never once mentions the color. We are told in The Hobbit that his father is described as "a woodland king with a crown of leaves on his golden hair." So, one may assume that as the father's traits are mostly dominant, he would have golden hair as well. However, many use this quote in defense of Legolas having dark hair:

"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 behind." -The Great River, The Fellowship of the Ring.

But this quote leaves holes and provides no truth, as it was very dark in the night. Legolas couldn't even see what he was shooting. So what's the verdict? Your always going to have some people who say golden, others dark. We will never know the right answer, we leave it to the imagination. But, this quote from Tolkien about Gollum could sway many people's opinions:

"He is often said to be dark or black. At his first mention [in The Hobbit] he was 'dark as darkness': that of course means no more than he could not be seen with ordinary eyes in the black cavern - except for his own luminous eyes; similarily 'the dark shape' at night [The Lord of The Rings, Books II, Chapter 9]. But that does not apply to the 'black (crawling) shape' [in Book IV, Chapter 1], where he was in moonlight.
Gollum was never naked. He had a pocket in which he kept the Ring. ... His skin was white, no doubt with a pallor increased by dwelling in the dark, and later by hunger." (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Quoted from The Lord of the Rings Companion, The Taming of Smeagol.)

So even though Gollum is described as "dark" and "black" many times in tLotR, Tolkien confirms his skin was white and the darkness comments were only given to describe the dark shape Gollum was, not his actual skin. The same case can be said for the quote on Legolas' head. If this is how Tolkien wrote, why wouldn't the same rules apply for Legolas? Therefore, I'm going to say that Legolas indeed had golden hair. Of course, we'll never be 100% sure, but the insight on Gollum definitely brings us to a fathomable solution.

Just to add on Legolas...I must admit I thought him to be a little "fairy-like" or feminine in a lot of parts in the books. But don't dismiss this Elf as simply that. From my main source "Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals":

"Legolas' grace, his singing, his emotional and poetic language, Tolkien's early conceptions of Elves as fairies, and popular impressions about elves in general have given many readers the impression that he is a bit of a lightweight. Tolkien later had to set the record straight, as his son noted:

Long afterwards my father would write, in a wrathful comment on a 'pretty' or 'ladylike' pictoral rendering of Legolas:

'He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship.'

The Book of Lost Tales 2, p. 333."

Tell your friends that next time they make fun of Legolas and his movie counterpart Orlando Bloom.




Bibliography:

Brundige, Ellen. "Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals". http://www.istad.org/tolkien/legolas.html.