what I love about legolas is that he is an unfailingly untragic character. as the elves are fading from middle earth, his vibrant silliness is gradually taken over by ambiant melancholia - and yet never completely taken from him! when the fellowship is facing caradhras, he is untouched by the weight of the snow : ‘I go to find the sun!’ in that moment, they are all trapped by saruman, faced with an impossible choice - but legolas laughs! nothing can touch him. he’s a fae plucked out of mirkwood, borrowed from bilbo’s far gone whimsy. as the journey goes on, the tone of the story slowly switches around him - the trip to lothlorien functioning as an entry into the theme of noble decay that follows the story around. from that point on, legolas befriends gimli. their togetherness is brought along by shared feelings of isolation : ‘you comfort me.’ in the final book, legolas has fully entered the narrative of grief. he sings but it’s now fully elegiac. he’s saying goodbye to the world he felt so in tune with at the beginning of their journey : ‘west, west away, the sun is falling (…) I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me.’ and yet, despite all this and because legolas remains this unfailingly untragic character, he still manages to escapes the doom of his people! he still manages to carve joy in his own tale! no matter what the mournful song says, he won’t be ‘lonely sailing.’ he’ll bring gimli with him in this ridiculous and happy nonsensical twist! because this is legolas and he is joyfully silly to the very end. and all of that happens completely in the background because he is utterly unimportant! unfailingly untragic!
