For fans of The Lord of the Rings book series, it’s fairly obvious that there are many differences between them and the movies. While fans overall enjoy the adaptation of the story for the silver screen, there are some changes that were clear as well as others that were more subtle. However, while some of the differences were upsetting to fans, there were others that they actually enjoyed, and this is especially true with some of the supporting characters.
While even in the movies Legolas doesn’t get a ton of focus on character development, he gets even less in the books. The movie version of Legolas does differ in some ways from the book version, and some things are added to the character while others are subtracted.
He is even more cryptic than he is in the movies
As the only elf in the Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas has skills that are very valuable such as his great eyesight and agility. He also has a different personality and culture that comes from being an elf and living such a long life.
Because of this, he’s a little less grounded in the real world than humans, Hobbits, and even dwarves. Legolas in the movies will sometimes say poetic or musical things, but he did that even more often in the books.
Book Legolas had a rather strange but funny sense of humor
While the movie version of the character isn’t without humor by any means, most of his jokes and hilarious moments have to do with Gimli. He often reacts or comments on things Gimli is doing to hilarious effect, but, in the books, he has his own distinct sense of humor.
He’s a little more off-beat and strange in his jokes, such as when he talks about going to find the sun, but he does often make them.
His physical description is very vague in the books
While fans of the movies recognize Legolas right away by his long, following blonde hair, the books aren’t very clear about what he looks like at all. This is somewhat strange for Tolkien who did often spend more time describing his elvish characters, but Legolas is only said to be “lithe” and “fair of face beyond the measure of Men.”
While he is said to be quite beautiful, there’s no description given as to things like hair color and eye color.
Movie Legolas is much more of a show-off
While fans of the movies know that Legolas can complete some amazing feats in battle such as climbing on top of an Oliphant, the book version wasn’t nearly as flashy. Of course, Legolas was still an elf, and he was skilled in battle but he wasn’t really a show-off about his skills.
The books spend a lot more time focusing on Aragorn’s warrior skills than anyone else's. Plus, the books also don’t include as much banter in a battle between Legolas and Gimli, and this is what spurs much of Legolas’ showing off in the films.
His connection to Aragorn is underplayed in the movies
The movies do show that Legolas and Aragorn know each other, and they do show that Legolas has some loyalty to Aragorn when he sticks up for him in the Council of Elrond. However, in the books, Legolas’ affection for Aragorn is a lot more obvious.
He spends a lot of time giving speeches about how great Aragorn is, and while the two are still friends in the movies, this was toned down a lot likely to not make Legolas seem like his existence revolved around another character.
He’s highly educated, even for an elf
The story of The Lord of the Rings isn’t really about the elves, so a lot of the lore about them is left out. However, there is a lot of narrative information about elves in many of Tolkien’s other works.
Legolas in the books knows Sindarin, Silvan, and Westron dialects, and this indicates that he is well-educated even compared to his peers. His historical knowledge is also much more on display in the books.
The movies gave him more personality
This point might come as a shock to some people because Legolas in the movies isn’t all that complex of a character either. He’s a supporting player who doesn’t get a ton of character development because there are other protagonists to focus on. Yet, he still gets more focus than he does in the books.
In the books, Legolas doesn’t have much of a personality at all except for knowing some historical facts and cracking the occasional joke. He is mainly there as a representative of the race of elves, but compared to many of Tolkien’s other elven characters, he’s not very fleshed out.
The movies left out his interactions with Gollum
One plot point from the books that the movies leave out about Legolas is that Gollum was briefly held as a prisoner of sorts by the elves of Mirkwood. However, the elves, especially Legolas, treated Golem quite well.
Legolas allowed Gollum to climb trees and see the sunlight. In the books, there is another instance when Legolas interacted with Aragorn as well.
His friendship with Gimli is less developed in the books
Movie fans likely associated Legolas and Gimli for being close friends that grow to care about one another out of their rivalry. But, the book story is different. Legolas doesn’t react to Gimli’s insults as often in the books, and they don’t really interact all that much at all.
However, the books do explain that Legolas and Gimli become close friends after the Ring is destroyed as they explore Middle-Earth together, so the movies likely incorporated this friendship more obviously earlier on in the narrative.
The movies don’t talk about his “sea-longing”
It’s not really surprising that this isn’t touched on in the movies because it’s something that happens in the appendices of the books. However, it is an interesting fact about Legolas, and to understand it, you have to know a bit about the lore of elves in Middle-Earth.
Sea-longing, also called the Unquiet of Ulmo, was a strong desire to return to the ocean that often affected elves. It basically has to do with their nostalgia for their homeland across the sea. And, after having this longing, Legolas eventually did leave Middle-Earth on a ship with Gimli at his side.