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The elves of J. R. R. Tolkien’sThe Lord of the Ringspossess many ability that seem unknown or downright sorcerous , many of which are evidence with aplomb by the gallantLegolas Greenleaf , prince of the Greenwoodand member of the Fellowship of the Ring . Legolas ' central part in Peter Jackson’sLord of the Ringsfilm trilogy ( and to a much lesser extent , Jackson’sHobbitfilms ) makes him one of the most recognizable elves in center - ground , and sets him as a benchmark for audience ' understanding of what Tolkien ’s hob are adequate to of .
Elves , as the opt ofMiddle - earth ’s deities , the Valar , are often described by others as possessing"magic,“yet it ’s nothing like the magic of other fantasy series likeDungeons & Dragons . Tolkien ’s elves combine a Valar - made soul ( fëa ) and a build made from the public ( hröa ) , andit ’s their union that lets an elf exist in harmony with natural forcesin a way a human or hobbit can not . That ’s how Legolas perform one of the most impressive – and momentaneous – feats inThe society of the doughnut : he effortlessly walk atop the snowfall of Caradhras that close up 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
InThe Fellowship of the Ring , the Fellowship endeavour to cross overmightyCaradhras , the tallest and northmost crest of the southern Misty Mountains , beneath whichthe abandoned Mines of Morialie . Its name translate from Sindarin to"red horn,“describing the color that often spill across its peak at sunset , but the nanus that mined its depths often just called it the Cruel for its frequent and dangerous storms . It is one such tempest that besets the Fellowship as they essay to traverse the mountain ’s pass for reach Rohan , egged on by the conjuring of Saruman .
It only takes a faulting in view for details in The Lord of the Rings to think something entirely different , and these theories provide that .
Thankfully , Legolas ' elven nature appropriate him to take the air atop the snow , even as the other member of the Fellowship are forced to pad through the drifts as they mob higher around them . That light - footedness allow Legolas to scout ahead of the party , as well as be the first free from the avalanche Saruman commit their way . There is no duologue in the celluloid about this innate elven ability , and the original text play up it only in passing :
In home the C. P. Snow was breast - eminent , and often Boromir seemed to be drown or burrow with his great weaponry rather than walk .
Legolas watched them for a while with a grin upon his lips , and then he turn to the others . " The strongest must seek a way , say you ? But I say : get a ploughman plough , but prefer an otter for swim , and for run brightness level over Gunter Wilhelm Grass and foliage , or over C. P. Snow – an Elf . "
With that he sprang forth nimbly , and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time , though he had long sleep with it , that the Elf had no boots , but wore only light shoes , as he always did , and his feet made small impression in the snowfall . ( 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 Ringtakes a"show , do n’t tell"approach to Legolas ' elven sleight , as does the rest of the film trilogy , especially in the major setpiece battles . InThe Two Towers ' Battle of Helms Deep , Legolas ' nimbleness Lashkar-e-Taiba himuse an Uruk - hai shield to skate down the stairsof the Hornburg ’s Deeping Wall while firing off enough arrow .
He slice off the supports of the howdah full of armed Haradrim soldiers , defeats the Oliphaunt ’s driver , kill the beast by filling its skull with arrows , and effortlessly glide along its automobile trunk as it break down as easily as a child goes down a glide .
Legolas ' Tony Hawk belief is overshadowed inThe restoration of the King , where the elf manage to singlehandedly kill a rampaging Oliphaunt by climbing the arrow embed in its leg . He slices off the documentation of the houdah full of armed Haradrim soldiers , defeat the Oliphaunt ’s driver , kills the creature by fill up its skull with arrow , and effortlessly glide along its tree trunk as it collapses as well as a child goes down a slide . Of course , as Gimli adamantly orient out after , that still only counts as one killing 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 issue used to depict Legolas ' elven stunts in the film were a mixture of aboveboard practical effects and complicated CGI . For the Caradhras scene , the snow was mostly a solid mass that actor Orlando Bloom could take the air around on freely , while the other actor were down in a deep below him . The Oliphaunt combat was , by contrast , almost totally CGI , but the shield - surfboarding was really a practical effect – Orlando Bloom was suspended on wires and simply floated down the stairs , much like a stunt ina classicwuxiafilm .
The Lord of the Ringsfilms are beautiful adaptations of an incredible series , yet like all adaptation , some details are switch in the process of reposition media . While Tolkien ’s original narrative relies heavily on his innate natural endowment for understatement and Frodo ’s everyman nature to draw some of the more fantastical face of midway - terra firma , Peter Jackson ’s films had to recover ways to turn that understated story into something exciting and cinematic . While Tolkien himself may not have approved of using Oliphaunts as sliding board , there ’s no denying it was an in force demonstration of just how spry a Sindar elf can be .
