The Appearance of 🧝Legolas in Gondolin

Recently I have been reading the lost tales, and I must say, in The Lost Tales vol. 2, The Fall of Gondolin may be the greatest battle I have ever had the pleasure of reading, with the descriptions and mighty deeds of the captains of Gondolin, of the battle between Ecthelion (possibly the greatest of the elves) and Gothmog, of Duilin's fall at the gates, and of Glorfindel's epic duel, but that is a topic for another day.

I have a question and have been told there are many relaible sources of info on this forum.

In The Fall of Gondolin in this tale, the appearance of one Legolas Greenleaf, "Galdor and a band of spear-armed men went ahead, and Legolas was with them, whose eyes were like cats' for the dark, yet could they see further." (p. 192) The Book of Lost Tales vol. 2.

That description fits the Elf of Mirkwood well, yet in the glossary are there two entries, and one of them is for this Legolas Greenleaf, the elf of Gondolin. "Legolas, or Greenleaf, was a man of the tree, who led the exiles over Tumladin in the dark, being night-sighted, and he liveth still in Tol Eressea as named by the Eldar there." (p. 218)

Christopher Tolkien fails to clarify exactly who this elf is and if he is, in fact, the same as the member of the fellowship, as their descriptions are almost identical: "In the tale appears the keen-sighted elf Legolas Greenleaf, first of the names of The Fellowship of the Ring to appear in my father's writings." (p. 215)

This mystery seems utterly similar to that of the fate of Glorfindel of the Golden Flower and Glorfindel of Rivindel. Are there two distinct Legolas's, and elf of Gondolin and an elf of Mirkwood, or did Tolkien first invent Legolas Greenleaf as an elf of Gondolin, only to discard the idea of him in that tale and have him in the Fellowship?

I'm pretty sure they are two distinct individuals.

The passage you cite seems to imply that Legolas of Gondolin fled Beleriand shortly after the fall of the city and from then on he lived in Tol Eressea.

There is also mention of Legolas of Gondolin's cat-like keen sight, whereas there is no such characterization of Legolas of LOTR whose sight is keen but not necessarily anything out of the ordinary as far as his race goes. If the sight of LOTR Legolas was indeed extraordinary, I guess it is possible he was named after this more famous Legolas.

I also doubt Legolas of LOTR was even born in the First Age to begin with. He seems far younger to me - Second, or even Third, Age.

I would guess LotR Legolas is 2nd age or older:
"'Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,' said Legolas, ' and but a little while does that seem to us.'" King of the Golden Hall, TT (emphasis added).

The 'us' suggests that he thinks 500 years pretty short, so one would assume he's lived for many thousands of years (if he was born in 3rd Age, than 500 yrs would be at least 1/6 of his life- not exactly 'a little while').

I haven't read the passage in question, but I would guess that this is another Legolas. After all, the Boromir in LotR isn't the first to bear that name either (I remember 2 more, could be others though).

sousuke22 said:

Recently I have been reading the lost tales, and I must say, in The Lost Tales vol. 2, The Fall of Gondolin may be the greatest battle I have ever had the pleasure of reading, with the descriptions and mighty deeds of the captains of Gondolin, of the battle between Ecthelion (possibly the greatest of the elves) and Gothmog, of Duilin's fall at the gates, and of Glorfindel's epic duel, but that is a topic for another day

Click to expand...

I agree whole heartedly with you, sousuke, that the BOLT II 'Fall of Gondolin' is the best battle narrative Tolkien put out. It is unfortunate that was ended up in The Silmarillion was a watered down summary of that awesome battle!

Wouldn't that story sound great on an audio recording with background noise effects?



As far as the 'Legolas' thing. If Legolas was there in the first age, that would put him even older than Elrond. Nothing in LOTR gives us the impression that this would be so and I doubt that even Legolas' father Thranduil was a First Age Elf.

My bet is that they are two.

Forget all about a "Silmarillion" film. "Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" could make a fine film on its own. Pity someone would have to exhume and re-animate David Lean to get it done just right...

The Legolas mentioned in the BoLT was a Noldor, whereas Legolas of LoTR, who seems to be pretty young by Elf standards (his statements about Lorien and never having been there indicate a late S.A to T.A birth, also note his comments about the Ents) is a Sinda whose family came from Doriath.

Yes, Unfinished Tales Appendix B says this:

"..it is said that 'before the building of the Barad-dur many of the Sindar passed eastward, and some established realms in the forest far away, where their people were mostly Silvan Elves. Thranduil, king in the north of Greenwood the Great was one of these'