son of thranduril

[Majimaune]

You know how Legolas is the son of Thranduril and prince of Mirkwood is he the oldest or youngest or is he the middle child cause i cant think if it says and i was having an arguement at school about itand i didnt have much of a battle

 

[Noldor_returned]

I just have to put something.
I think he was the only child, and was sent as a representative of Mirkwood. I don't think he thought about being a prince, but well, im glad if he didnt.

 

[Thorondor_]

I know of no refference to Legolas's brothers or sisters; the way Thranduil is reffered to in Unfinished Tales, the Sindarin princes of the Silvan elves, hints that he had only one son:

Thranduil father of Legolas of the Nine Walkers was Sindarin

In the Second Age their king, Oropher [the father of Thranduil, father of Legolas], had withdraw northward beyond the Gladden Fields

Moreover:

yet among them also were many lords of Sindarin race. Such were Thranduil and Legolas his son

At the same time Boromir arrives there, and also messengers from Erebor (Gloin and his son Gimli) and from Thranduil of Mirkwood (his son Legolas).

 

[Starflower]

I disagree, it seems unlikely that Legolas would have been an only child. It seems improbable that Thranduil would have agreed to send his only son and heir on such a perilous quest, where the danger of him getting killed there was very real. Although only Legolas is mentioned as Thranduil's sone and no other, it is probably more to do with Legolas' fame as one of the Nine Walkers than there not being any other children.

 

[Thorondor_]

At first, Legolas was sent only as "a messenger from his father, Thranduil"; anyaway, even if the Elven King knew about what was about to happen, I still think he would have sent his son; should the quest have failed, all the elves would have been doomed.

 

[Majimaune]

well if you think about it the danger that is between mirkwood and rivendell is quite great and so thats why i asked cause who would send their only son and heir

 

[Noldor_returned]

I thought of another reason why legolas was sent. He was sent to Rivendell to inform them that Gollum had escaped, but others from Mirkwood were also sent. But out of them, Legolas was the only elf to be in the Fellowship, yet he was also the only prince among them. There may also have been others who travelled with him to Imladris with more experience in battle, or more skilled fighters. Even anyone equal to him should have gone, in case Thranduil died while he was away and Legolas was needed to rule the Woodland Realm.
If Legolas had returned to Mirkwood after the Council of Elrond, and another elf had gone with the Fellowship, I doubt whether this thread would exist.

 

[Alcuin]

I know of no refference to Legolas's brothers or sisters...

Majimaune, Thorondor_’s memory is good here: there is no reference in Tolkien’s published work to any siblings of Legolas. Other people have looked for that information, too, but so far no one has found that Tolkien wrote about it. There is a theory that Legolas was a younger child of Thranduil, and the folks who have presented it over the years have made some pretty good arguments in support of it, and of course there are other folks who disagree; but I believe that as far as anyone can tell, there is nothing in the published material that would definitely tell us one way or the other.