Legolas an only child?

[Gwenneth]

HEHE...I'm in a thread starting mood.

I have to admit, I flip flop on this issue. I have created a sister for Legolas twice in stories, but I tend to write him as the only son of Thranduil. WHICH I admit may not be so likely.

If Legolas were the crown prince of Mirkwood, is it likely that he would be sent to Elrond's Council? I mean, it is a pretty dangerous mission for the only heir to a kingdom. Granted, Elves ARE immortal...he may never have to rule....

Also, it seems like he is never referred to as prince. (Please, if he is in the books somewhere tell me! But I thought not..) SO if he was the crown prince, he is either bashful or chooses not to divulge that information. Entirely possible in both cases.

I recall Aragorn referring to him in the movie simply as Legolas of the Woodland Realm. Nothing else in there.

What does everyone else think about this? Do you think he is the crown prince, the only son of Thranduil? Or do you think he is a younger son, not the heir to the throne?

Why do you think whatever you think?

I tend to write him as crown prince, but I tend to BELIEVE that he is actually not the heir...I know I know...weird me!!!

[LKK]

I'm like you -- I tend to flip-flop on this issue. For a long time (like 15 years) I assumed Legolas was an only son. In the past year or so, I've read the reasons in defence of the siblings arguement. I'm currently leaning towards the idea of siblings.

The "sending the only son with the message" reason for siblings isn't as strong to me as another reason. In medieval societies, sending the son with an important message was quite common even if the son was the only heir.

I think a stronger argument for Legolas as one of several children is that he is permitted to start the colony in Ithilien after the war. If Legolas were the only heir, I think it less likely that he would have been permitted to move out of Greenwood.

On the other hand .... who says elven realms choose their leaders based on inheritance? Thranduil succeeded Oropher. But that doesn't guarantee that Thranduil's child would succeed him. Karri, didn't you mention one time somewhere that elves choose their own leader when they needed a new one?

If that's true, then the arguements about Legolas being the only heir versus one heir among several are totally irrelevant.

[Karri]

LKK said:

Karri, didn't you mention one time somewhere that elves choose their own leader when they needed a new one?

Yes, basically what I said is that Elven rulers are rulers by consent, meaning that they rule because their people allow them to rule, not because of some sort of cultural belief that the king or lord has a Valar-given right to rule them. If an elven ruler dies, his crown is most likely going to go to his eldest son or nearest male relative, but it is not a given. The people could elect a different king, if they did not consider the heir suitable, and if bereft of both king and heir, they would simply select a new one or go without one (which elves -- especially dark elves -- were prone to do when an especially beloved lord or king died.)

As for sibling for Legolas, I really take no stand. My inclination is that he is Thranduil's one and only because (except for a few occassions such as Feanor), elves tended to have few children (one or two, three in the case of Elrond.) But despite that inclination, in the stories I have written where family comes up, I have given Legolas two deceased older brothers and an older sister. I adore Nilm's stories in which Legolas is one of seven. I adore stories where he is an only child. Really, pretty much as long as he is not a twin, I'm good with it all.

[French Pony]

I think of him as an only. Tolkien tends to be very exacting about mentioning siblings; Haldir, who gets all of a scene and a half in the book, is carefully provided with two brothers, none of whom have speaking parts. In the Silmarillion, Gwindor is given a brother named Gelmir, whose only purpose in life, as far as I can tell, is to die horribly. Elrond has three children, yet only one is so vitally important to the plot that her place cannot be taken by anyone else. If Legolas had siblings, they would have found their way into "The Lord of the Rings" somehow.

[Joee]

I have listened to both sides of this argurment many times and somewhere in my mind I believe that Legolas is probably an only child, but for some reason I like to think of him as having older siblings.

I suppose the nice thing about fanfiction is that you can write what you want as long as there isn't blatant evidence against it (and even then it doesn't stop people).

[Karri]

French said:

If Legolas had siblings, they would have found their way into "The Lord of the Rings" somehow.

That's a very good point. Elladan and Elrohir serve no real function in the story that could not have been accomplished by Halbarad, but Tolkien sneaks them in there.

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