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PERSONAL
NAME: Tracy
PERSONAL JOURNAL: yeshallbeasgods
EMAIL: die.wiederkehr@gmail.com
AIM: turbotracy14
WIKI NAME: N/A
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Legolas (Thranduilion)
SERIES: Lord of the Rings
CANON POINT: Just after receiving Galadriel’s message in The Two Towers.
LOSS: Legolas' keen sight. Elves are capable of seeing several leagues away, more than seventeen miles. His vision will still be good but nowhere near so clear as his kin are capable of.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

So, once upon a time there was a jerk named Sauron who had a magic ring. Okay no, it started before that. Back when Morgoth was the big bad and Sauron obeyed him. But he got the crap beat out of him and was put into an eternal timeout. So for awhile, everything was okay but then Sauron got the idea in his head to try to enslave everyone in Middle Earth.

So he made a disguise, called it Annatar and became friends with the elves and taught them how to make magic rings. Except Celebrimbor made three rings outside of his influence which kind of pissed him off when he found out. Anyway, he made his own ring then and poured into it all his malice and power. With it, he controlled all the other rings except the three that Celebrimbor made without him.

Moving on, the War of the Elves and Sauron happened, Eregion was destroyed and Celebrimbor slain. And of course, most well-known, the War of the Last Alliance where the last of the Free People of Middle Earth marched to Mordor and fought against Sauron’s armies and Sauron himself. This is important because this actually has to do with Legolas’ family. It was there, during the Battle of Dagorlad, that Oropher (king of the Woodland Realm) was slain with two-thirds of his army when he sent his forces before Gil-Galad gave the order. He and his fallen people lie in what is now the Dead Marshes. This left Thranduil as king and he spent several years there both fighting a war and learning to be king. After Sauron was ‘slain’ and his ring taken, Thranduil returned to the forest with what was left of his army.

And for a while, everything was okay. Until about a thousand years into the Third Age when Sauron began to regain his power and spread a shadow across Greenwood the Great. Over the next thousand years, the peace they’d known was twisted and corrupted, great spiders and orcs would infest the forest and the elves had to retreat far north in the forest to the Halls of Thranduil. About one thousand more years pass and Gandalf visited Dol Guldur, forcing the Necromancer to flee East and so the Watchful Peace began.

Within the next five hundred years, give or take, Legolas was born to Thranduil (the Elvenking) and that jerk, Sauron, came back because he doesn’t believe in eviction notices. So Legolas grew up in a forest covered in shadow and filled with spiders. Which would mean that, from a young age, he’d have had to learn to fight to help keep some part of the forest safe from what dwelled there aside from elves.

In 2491, the Company of Thorin Oakenshield passed through Mirkwood and three times invaded on the merrymaking of the wood-elves. Eventually, Thorin and the company was captured (though not together) and imprisoned within Thranduil’s Halls. When they escaped and arrived in Lake-Town, elves were sent to retrieve their king’s prisoners. They didn’t get them. After Smaug was killed by Bard and Erebor reclaimed by the dwarves, the wood-elves provided support for them to start new farming plots and helped them to recover before heading to the mountain. It was after that, that the Battle of the Five Armies took place and Thorin Oakenshield was fatally injured. After he was buried, the Elven king placed the Arkenstone and Orcrist with him.

Years would pass, about sixty or seventy of them, and Gollum would be brought to Thranduil and the wood-elves to be held by them. And yet he escaped. From there, Thranduil entrusted Legolas with the task of traveling to Rivendell and delivering word of Gollum’s escape to Elrond.

During the Council of Elrond, Legolas met Frodo and heard the tales of what had happened recounted. Questioned on Gollum’s fate, Legolas recounted the tale. Out of pity though, they allowed him into the fresh air rather than the dim dungeons that he might fall into his old ways again and he climbed a high tree where they allowed him to climb. He remained there and none wished to retrieve him. An orc raid distracted his keepers enough that he was able to escape and they couldn’t reclaim him before his trail drew near Dol Guldur. He learned of Saruman’s treachery there and then, as did the rest of the council, and of Gollum’s involvement and Bilbo’s in gaining the Ring. And of how the Ring could be identified.

The council adjourned for a time and when it reconvened, the Nine Walkers were decided on. Whether or not Legolas volunteered or was told to join is unknown but it’s more likely that he volunteered to be the elven member of the Fellowship.

Upon departing from Rivendell, Legolas took position as rearguard due to his keen eyesight. Within a fortnight, they reached Hollin which was once called Eregion by the elves, in happier days. Gandalf told them that they would spend the day and night there while Legolas commented that the trees and grass did not remember the elves and that that the stones lament them.

“ ‘…deep the delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone.’ ”

It was in the night, after Aragorn had taken note of the strange silence of the land and animals that black crows (crebain) flew over them. They were being watched. And so they went on, climbing the Caradhras with snow falling more heavily than it should have. Cold as it became, they all tried to light a fire but only Gandalf succeeded. Legolas remained unbothered and light of heart, later flaunting his ability to walk over top the snow.

“ ‘Farewell!’ He said to Gandalf. ‘I go to find the Sun!’ ”

Unlike the film, Gandalf was the one that had suggested passing through Moria while Aragorn attempted to avoid it. When deciding whether or not to go through, Boromir looked to Legolas and the Hobbits as his deciding factor. The approach of Wargs decided for them all and they chose to set out by morning, Legolas and his bow proving to be a help already when one attempted to attack followed by the pack, his bow being described as ‘singing.’

At the Elven Door of Moria, a brief disagreement was had between Legolas and Gimli as to whose fault it was for the failure of friendship between the elves and dwarves. While their good were split amongst them, because they couldn’t take Bill in with them, Legolas tried listening to the rock of Moria’s wall. When the doors were revealed to them, Gandalf gave the password. Though they spent a good deal of time trying to figure out the riddle. Into Moria they went and the way behind them was sealed off by the Watcher in the Water. They spent several days traveling until they came upon Balin’s tomb and a book (the Book of Mazarbul) which detailed the his fate and the fate of his company. Too soon they knew the feelings of those that had died here before them as orcs and trolls attacked. When they could flee, Legolas was forced to drag on Gimli along with them.

Going to the bridge with the orcs crying out “Fire!” behind them as something was after them, they crossed single file and were shot at with arrows. Legolas tried to fire back but was dismayed at the sight of two great trolls and the feared. For the Balrog was revealed to them.

“ ‘Ai! Ai!’ Wailed Legolas. ‘A Balrog! A Balrog is come!’ ”

Gandalf stood against it and fell leaving the company to be lead by Aragorn. Quickly they left Moria and didn’t stop until they were out of reach and sight of the orcs and their bows. There they wept for Gandalf before going on and Legolas exclaimed that they were entering the woods of Lothlorien. After treating the hurts of the hobbits, they went on and Legolas explained that his people had heard tales that the Golden Woods were not yet deserted and that ‘some secret power holds evil at bay’ there. About a mile in, they came upon the stream, Nimrodel, and Legolas told them of how the waters were said to be healing to the weary and encouraged them to wade across it with him. On the other side of the bank he told them takes and sang to them the Lay of Nimrodel.

Deciding to take refuge in the trees, Legolas attempted to climb and see how they were when an Elven voice cried out. Legolas was bid to climb with Frodo for they had heard word of him. Sam, of course, followed. The others were to wait and watch. Above, they met and spoke with Haldir, Rumil and Orophin. Refuge was given though they reacted with disdain to Gimli. Legolas was declared to answer for those in the Fellowship. And Legolas and Aragorn were told to guard Gimli and that he’d be blindfolded through the forest. When such a time came, Gimli argued his right to go through the forest as freely as the others. Aragorn decided that they would all go blindfolded, even Legolas, who did not take kindly to the thought. By noon, word reached them that the Lady of the Wood said they were all to walk free. Even Gimli whose eyes they unbound first. There, where they stopped, Frodo and Sam climbed with Haldir to up Cerin Amroth and the two would pointed to look towards Mirkwood and Dol Guldur, where they feared that evil resided once more.

By the sunset of that day, they came to Caras Galadhon and continued to the southern gate. They were led then to where Celeborn and Galadriel dwelled. Haldir led while Frodo and Legolas specifically followed behind, the rest told to follow as they wished. They met there the Lord and Lady, Celeborn greeting them each by name and then noted that they were missing someone. Aragorn mentioned briefly Gandalf’s fate and then Legolas explained why they hadn’t said anything before that.

They spoke of their quest and its fate, Galadriel testing each of them as she held them within her gaze. Legolas and Aragorn were the only ones that could hold her gaze the longest. They stayed in Lothlorien for some time, no one ever quite recalling how much time passed after they left.

Legolas spent much of his time amongst the Galadhrim and with Gimli, exploring the wood with him and their friendship growing while there. He only spent the first night in Lothlorien with the rest of the Fellowship but he did see them and eat with them. While they were there, the elves sang for Gandalf and asked Legolas to translate but he told them that he had neither the skill or the heart to do so, that he was still too grief-stricken to do so.

And then came the time that the Fellowship needed to depart. The night prior, they were all called to the Lord and Lady’s chamber to speak of it. They were told that they would be given boats to traverse the Great River until they decided their course. Legolas went with the Fellowship to their pavilion so that they could counsel. The following morning, they prepared to leave and were brought Lembas, other food and clothes by the elves. Among them were cloaks made specifically for each member of the Fellowship with brooch’s of Lorien pinned to each of them. The cloaks were capable of hiding the wearer from unfriendly eyes, light to wear but could keep them warm or cool enough to be comfortable and made by the Lady Galadriel and her ladies themselves.

Haldir came to them and led them again and ten miles to the river shore. They took to the boats there, three to each but for the boat that Legolas and Gimli shared, the two already good friends. They went down the Silverlode and came upon a great swan which they discovered was a boat. A boat which carried Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. They bid the Fellowship to share a parting feast with them and again spoke of their quest before drinking from the ‘cup of parting.’ From there, Galadriel gave them all gifts and Legolas’ was a bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and more stout than the bows of Mirkwood, strung with elf hair and a quiver of arrows. Once the gifts were given, they departed for good and the last they heard of Galadriel was her song.

Gimli and Legolas spoke of Galadriel as they left and Gimli exclaimed that he’d taken his greatest wound at leaving Lorien and Galadriel to which Legolas comforted his friend. And so they went along the river, traveling for days without any sign of the Enemy but with a growing sense of unease. Knowing that Gollum was following them, the Fellowship kept a careful watch for him, especially after he came close enough that Frodo felt the need to draw Sting. They traveled from then on by night and twilight, resting and making camp by day. It was one of those days that Aragorn spotted a shape flying over them which Legolas told them was a hunting eagle which prompted them to not make any moves to travel until it was completely dark. By the eighth day of their journey from Lorien, they decided that they would only travel by night for one more day. It was sudden when the river changed, water flowing faster and more violently, forcing them to try to go back only for orcs to fire on them as they went and leading them to believe that Gollum was responsible for it. Forced to the western shore, Legolas took up his bow but could not see the orcs again before a Fell beast attacked and shot it down. None of them were quite sure what it was.

As Sam and Frodo discussed how much time passed when they were in the Golden Woods, Legolas told them that time doesn’t tarry and that it passes even for the Elves:

“ ‘Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at last.’ ”
They continued through the night, the weather changing and disagreement being had between Aragorn and Boromir about how they travel on, the latter conceding only when Frodo’s choice to follow Aragorn became clear. And then told that he would part from them once they reached the Tindrock. Aragorn and Legolas were then decided to go along the shore to find a path to smoother water. Plans were made for the rest of them to move on if they didn’t return within a day but they returned in only a few hours. They found a way to go on, hard but manageable and carried their gear and boats which were much lighter than they thought they might be. What wood they were made from, not even Legolas knew.

By the afternoon they all needed rest, even Gimli, and they set up camp for the night. They started again the next morning and kept as close to the western side as they could, moving to and staying on the river even when it grew swift once more. They came quickly on the Argonath, the Pillar of the Kings, and they were told to keep to the middle of the stream. Now they were left with the choice of going the west or east way before their journey could continue. They took to Tol Brandir and there they chose to rest for the night. The watch for that night heard and saw nothing yet during Frodo’s watch, Aragorn came to him and bid him draw Sting which had a very faint glow. It indicated that orcs were near but not yet close enough for them to be concerned.

The next day forced them to choose and it came to Frodo to make the final choice. He asked for an hour to choose and he was given that as well and the time to do so alone. While Frodo thought, Legolas remained with the others while they wondered what the Hobbit would decide and commented that his own choice lied in going to Minas Tirith, as Gimli could, but both agreed that they would follow Frodo no matter what his choice. It was after they discovered that Boromir was missing and that over an hour had passed that they decided to search for Frodo. At that same time, Boromir rejoined them and, in a panic, all of them set out to search for Frodo.

END OF ‘THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.’

During the search for Frodo, the orcs attacked and captured Merry and Pippin. Boromir was killed in the attack, witness to the capture of the Hobbits. Legolas and Gimli found Aragorn and Boromir and grieved for him. Legolas told him that they needed to tend to Boromir. They searched among the fallen and gathered arrows and the discarded weapons of their Hobbits companions. Carrying Boromir to the rivers edge, Legolas and Gimli retrieved the boats and brought news that only two boats had been there before preparing Boromir, setting him on one of the boats and sending him to his rest. Aragorn sang for Boromir and then Legolas sang and then Aragorn again. Back at their earlier campsite, Aragorn figured out that Frodo had gone with Sam and then decided that they would chase the orcs that had captured Merry and Pippin.

The trail of the orcs was easy to follow, Legolas commenting on how they ‘delight to slash and beat down growing things.’ And so went the Three Hunters, traveling all the day and night until dawn the next when the trail was lost to Aragorn. They attempted to determine which way the orcs would go and decided to go on northward. They came upon five dead orcs but no way to know who had killed them, assuming that they fought among themselves. They continued on still and eventually came on the trail again, entering Rohan.

Again they spotted an eagle, only Legolas being able to see him clearly with how high he flew and could see closer still was a great company traveling by foot: the orcs, twelve leagues away by Legolas’ guess. Following, they found Hobbit footprints and a Lorien brooch, dropped as a token. After a day since the death of Boromir though, they had to decide whether to continue on or rest and though Legolas wished to continue, he left the choice to Aragorn, Aragorn chose that they rest the night and slept though Legolas did not and, in the morning, he told Aragorn that the orcs had not rested and had passed beyond his sight. For the rest of the day, they continued the chase in the hopes of catching up, following the trail closely and finding the land to be strangely quiet. When they rest again, Legolas woke them to a red dawn and more than a day behind the orcs.

Five leagues from them were Riders of Rohan, one-hundred and five of them as Legolas reported. Aragorn decided that they would wait for them and Legolas reported soon after that they had three empty saddles among them and no Hobbits. They sat and waited, discussing where Rohan’s loyalties lied, something they would soon know as they approached. Aragorn called out to them and soon they found themselves surrounded with spears and bows aimed to them, questioned before their leader demanded to know why Legolas and Gimli remained silent. And, of course, Gimli gave a smart reply that was returned with a threat, something that Legolas did not take kindly to and leapt to Gimli’s defense, threatening them in turn with an arrow fitted in his bow. Quickly, Aragorn calmed them before a fought started among them all and they spoke, Aragorn revealing his identity to the Riders.

The Riders went off but Éomer remained to talk with them, spoke to them of Rohan’s conditions and they told him of Gandalf’s death after being informed that Gandalf was not considered a friend to the king now. They discover then that it was a lie that Rohan paid tribute to Sauron, that ‘Saruman’ walked the lands freely and looked a great deal like Gandalf. They were given horses, Gimli riding with Legolas who asked that his horses saddle and reins be removed. The horses they were given were swift and loyal.

At the borders of the Entwash, Aragorn checked the tracks, got back on his horse, went east and did so again with little result, the trail confused thanks to the horsemen. As they rose on through the day, over as it is described, they passed by a good many felled orcs. In the afternoon, they found a pile of orcs burning. The Three Hunters searched the battlefield but found no sign of Merry or Pippin. They made camp away from the battlefield and made a fire against Aragorn’s advice. While Gimli gathered already cut kindling, Legolas commented that the tree nearby was glad of a fire before he questioned Aragorn as to why Celeborn advised them not to go too far into Fangorn. To which Aragorn told him that if a Wood-elf did not know, how should he? Even if a ranger traveled far more than Legolas.

Gimli took first watch that night and the other two rested but it was not long before Gimli looked up to find an old bent man at the edge of the firelight and thought it Saruman. Legolas and Aragorn were roused when Gimli leapt to his feet and Aragorn walked forward, calling greeting out to him but he vanished. And with his disappearance, the horses fled. They discussed who it might have been, that Saruman was said to disguise himself as ‘an old man, hooded and cloaked’ but Aragorn pointed out that this man wore a hat rather than a hood. The night passed without further incident.

The morning came and they found no trace of the old man, not even a footprint. Gimli thought it a phantom of Saruman that frightened away the horses though Aragorn and Legolas disagreed, the elf pointing out that they did not seem afraid but rather glad, as though they had seen a friend they had missed. From then, they spent the morning searching again for some sign of Merry and Pippin, not yet knowing that their friends had entered Fangorn.

Aragorn, at last, found a trace of them: a mallorn-leaf and crumbs from Lembas. Legolas was then a smartass, saying: “After that, I suppose, he turned his arms into wings and flew away singing into the trees. It should be easy to find him: we need only grow wings ourselves!” Aragorn pieced together most of what happened but could not tell whether or not it was one Hobbit or two, though he hoped. And wondered then why the orcs had captured Merry and Pippin rather than slay them as they had Boromir. Perhaps because they had thought one of them had the Ring. With that, they then decided to enter Fangorn and find the Hobbit.

Inside, Aragorn was quick to find fresh signs near the Entwash and determined that their Hobbit went further into the forest so Gimli claimed that they should as well, though he didn’t like the look of the trees. Legolas, ever the nature-lover, said that the woods did not feel evil, that it was not evil, that there was an anger in the trees, an tenseness of something happening or that soon would. And then Legolas got cheeky again, commenting that the forest made him feel young again:

“So old that I almost feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace.”
And Gimli was cute, saying that Legolas comforted him. Cuties.

Further along in the woods, Aragorn found footprints of the two Hobbits but already the tracks were two days old. And even though they didn’t have supplies enough to last them, their dedication to the Hobbits lead them further still into the forest. They came upon Treebeard’s Hill, where the Hobbits had first met the Ent, and climbed up in the hopes of finding a clue and to breathe fresher air. Getting a look about, Legolas claimed that they could have all made it safely to Fangorn if they had gone west from the Great River just a couple days out. And then the elf spotted something in the trees that the others could not. The old man from the night before. Gimli bade Legolas to take up his bow but it refused to bend and his arrows would not fit. And then he came to them, saying that he wished to speak with them. Again Gimli bade Legolas to shoot but the old man repeated himself, also telling Legolas to put his bow away. The bow and arrow fell from his hands, arms hanging loose at his sides. And then the old man commanded that Gimli take his hand away from his axe.

Once he had gotten closer then, he began to ask them what an Elf, a Dwarf and a Man were doing in those parts as was not often seen. Like he knew Fangorn well. They questioned him as to what his name was but he said they already knew it before asking them again of their tale. When they did not speak, he began to tell some of it himself, knowing that they were tracking a pair of Hobbits who had met someone that they had not expected. The old man asked if it comforted them to hear that and bade them to sit and talk now that their task was not quite so urgent anymore. Able to take their weapons again, they made to join him until his grey robes parted (OH GOD) and revealed pure white clothes beneath. They mistook him for Saruman and tried to attack but he was quicker than they, his robes flung away and the Hunters weapons dropped, burning their wielders with great heat or setting on fire. It was then that Legolas recognized him as Mithrandir: Gandalf.

Gimli dropped to his knees but Gandalf told him to get up, that there was no blame on the dwarf and no harm to him. He claimed that, in a way, he was Saruman but as he should have been. He wanted them to know what had happened since he fell in Moria. And told them, when they asked, that he had not known of the Hobbits capture until the eagle, Gwaihir, told him. The same eagle that Legolas had seen only a few days before. He then went on to tell them that the Ring was now beyond their help and that he thought Frodo had gone alone until Legolas spoke up to tell him that they thought Sam had gone with him, much to Gandalf’s relief.

From there, they told him all that they could up to the death of Boromir. And then Gandalf shared what he knew that the Enemy knew, what he expected of them and that Sauron expected war over the Ring rather than them attempting to destroy it. Which meant that there was less defense to Mordor and better luck to Sam and Frodo. He confirmed that Saruman was now a traitor to both sides, that he now threatened the Men of Rohan and that Sauron’s Nazgûl now had winged steeds, one of which Legolas had shot down before Boromir’s death.

They spoke more and learned that Merry and Pippin were with Treebeard and the Ents, surprising them all to hear that Ents still existed outside of stories. The morning wore on and Gandalf told them that they soon had to go, not to Treebeard and their friends but to Edoras and Théoden. He also told them what little he dared to of what befell him in Moria with the Balrog before passing along messages to them all from the Lady Galadriel. Legolas’ message would give him reason to despair, describing it to Gimli as a message of his death:

“Legolas Greenleaf long under tree
In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.”
THANKS GLADDY. REALLY. (CANON POINT BY THE WAY.)

With the messages passed, they went on. At the edge of the forest, Gandalf gave three whistles and three horses came. Two were the horses given to them by Éomer. Gimli rode with Gandalf this time as they rode for Meduseld.

The riders rode through the day and much of the night, sleeping only a few hours. And then they rode again until Shadowfax stopped and Legolas told them that he could see Edoras at Gandalf’s bidding. When at last they came to Edoras’ gates, they were stopped by guards who would not let them enter unless they spoke the tongue of the Riddermark. When finally they were given leave to enter, they were told that they would have to leave their weapons with the door wardens. They did so, though Aragorn was loath to part with Andúril, and Gandalf was crafty enough to get by with his staffs till in hand. Inside they found Theoden bent with age, Éowyn and Wormtongue. They were not given and warm welcome and Gandalf soon had enough of Wormtongue’s words. Shedding his cloak, he bade Theoden to come outside and look abroad. And once outside, age and darkness did not hold him so well as it had just a short while before. Gandalf and Theoden spoke awhile and Éomer was brought to him, offering his sword to his king. With that and rounding up his soldiers, Theoden was advised by Gandalf to have his people seek refuge in the mountains.

Wormtongue was soon brought to him as well as his blade and the king made clear to his advisor that his host would soon ride. He begged not to be forced with them, to be left as Theoden’s stewart but Gandalf saw through him and knew Saruman had bought his services. Given the choice of serving Theoden loyally once again and fleeing, Gríma chose to flee. Hastily, they all ate and drank while preparations were made for the people to leave. Éowyn was chosen as Lord of the Eorlingas in the kings absence while more than a thousand men were gathered for the king, ready to set out before the day ended.

They rode for more than a day and on the second, Gandalf dropped back to speak with Legolas, asking if he could see anything towards Isengard. In answer, he told he wizard that he could see great shapes moving but a veil of shadow kept him from seeing clearly. And then at the end of the second day, they were met by a horseman who reported that things had gone badly since Théodred had fallen, that they lost many when they were forced back over the river Isen and that Saruman had armed the hillmen and herd folk of Dunland. The king ordered that the man be given a fresh horse then and that he would ride with them. Gandalf left them then, advising that they not pass the Fords of Isen and continue to Helm’s Deep.

They were still on the way to Helm’s Deep when a scout came back to them with word that wolf-riders and orcs were attacking and that he had found many of their folk already slain. Even with word that a greater host enemies than what they had themselves to fight. Theoden ordered then that they continue to Helm’s Deep and that they not trust the secrets ways out of the caves beneath because of Saruman’s spying and treachery.

Legolas and Aragorn rode with Éomer through the night and as they went, they saw flames burning as the host of enemies followed them, destroying entire villages as they came. They rode still until they came to Helm’s Dike and Helm’s Gate, quickly making their forces ready as they arrived. As night came, Gimli and Legolas spoke together on the walls, taking comfort in the company of one another.

Soon the enemy approached, a good many falling to arrows at the Dike but still more came and this time without torches lit. It was after midnight when the orcs and wildmen came to the wall, a storm beginning around them, and fired their arrows at the Men on the battlements. Larger orcs went up along the causeway and ramp, to the gate, trying to break through. Aragorn and Éomer went with their men to the outer court of the wall and leapt to the orcs that were ramming the gate and took down all they could before the gate was broken through. When they turned to return inside and see what could be done to fortify the gate, several orcs leapt up from among the dead to attack but were thwarted by Gimli when he separated their heads from their shoulders.

Inside, Gimli and Legolas tallied up their killed so far: two to Legolas’ twenty. So far. The night was not yet over and soon the attempts to break down the gate were resumed, grapples and ladders for the orcs to climb were being attached to the walls faster than they could be cut or thrown down. when the battle became hard-fought, orcs found a way to creep into the Deep and attacked. Gimli went to fight, summoning Legolas to join him. He helped to kill eighteen orcs before helping to seal the hole that the orcs had gotten through before returning to the wall where Legolas was whetting his knife. And told Gimli that his count now stood at two dozen. Cheeky little shit.

As dawn, and hope by Aragorn’s words, approached, the enemy snuck into the culvert again and blasted their way into the Deep with the ‘fire of Orthanc.’ This time, the defense was overwhelmed and forced further into the Deep. Legolas guarded the stairs to the Hornburg with his last arrow and with Aragorn until all who were able to get there were safely inside. They fled inside themselves then, with a small incident, and inside Legolas learned that Gimli was not with them. Aragorn spoke with the king, passed on word that Éomer was not with them either and told Theoden that he would ride with him at dawn, returning to the walls and defense after.

On the wall, Aragorn gave a gesture of parley and looked out on the dawn, threatening the ‘fighting Uruk-hair.’ Soon the gate fell and Aragorn fled inside to mount his horse and ride with Theoden. And they rode and the Sun lit the fields, they saw that a great forest had sprung up in the night and then Gandalf appeared. In terror, the enemy fled and not even their bodies were found again.

When they were all gathered again and Gimli emerged, injured, from the Dike, Legolas was so glad to see him again that he didn’t care a bit that Gimli had beaten him forty-two to forty-one. Gandalf told them that the forest was not his doing and that he was going to Isengard with any who would join him. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli (of course) went with him as well as Theoden and twenty of his men. They spent the day resting in preparation to leave and left as the sun set. The men were wary of passing through the strange forest but followed Gandalf nonetheless. Legolas and Gimli, riding together, stayed near of Gandalf for Gimli feared the forest and Legolas could feel a wrath in the wood.

Legolas wanted to listen to the woods, to understand, but haste and Gimli kept him from doing so. They spoke of the trees, Legolas telling Gimli that it was orcs that the trees hated rather than others, and of the caves beneath Helm’s Deep. Gimli fanboy’d some more over Galadriel as he described the caves to Legolas (oh Gimli, you are adorable) and how precious ore and marble could be found in the stone. So moved was Legolas by his friends words that they made an agreement that Gimli would visit Fangorn with Legolas and that Legolas would visit the caves with Gimli should they complete the quest safely.

As they left the forest, Legolas looked back longingly and gave a cry at the sight of eyes in the forest. Meaning to go back, Gimli’s pleading and Gandalf’s sharp order not to stopped him and Ents emerged soon after. Giving a cry, the Ents called out to more who soon joined them. The things of legend were being made real before Theoden’s eyes. They continued on, Legolas more reluctantly than the others, and passed by many carrion birds and wolves, taking comfort only in the fact that they were feasting on the dead orcs rather than the fall Men of the Mark. They ended their journey for a time when the king became weary and they saw smoke in the distance which Éomer claimed was actually steam.

In the night, something passed them by, blocking out the light of the moon, and Gandalf commanded that they not draw their weapons. They did not sleep for the rest of the night and the dried up river they rested by began to flow again. At dawn, they continues on into the Wizard’s Vale, a once beautiful valley ruined by Saruman. They were not far then from Isengard and by noon they came to its door, the mists that had blinded them until then fading. They found it flooded, the gates rest and stones shattered. And nearby, on some rubble, they found two resting Hobbits. Merry was quick to greet and welcome them as he’d been told to by Treebeard.

Gimli gave them a sharp but happy lecture before questioning them as to where they got the weed they were smoking, good priorities, Gimli, while Legolas asked of the wine. Even better priorities.

Cheeky young Hobbit that he is, Pippin told them that this was their plunder from their victory. And Theoden then almost made the mistake of letting Merry go on about Hobbit history were it not for Gandalf who soon asked where Treebeard was. He was directed easily and, when asked, they told him who was guarding Isengard. Gandalf and Theoden went to find Treebeard while the others remained to talk with Merry and Pippin who they asked for an account of what had happened to them. Though this account did not come until after a meal and a good smoke, in which Pippin produced and unused spare pipe for Gimli to use. Outside they smoked until, finally, Legolas demanded the tale from them.

Pippin told them that it started nine days before when Boromir fell and the orcs carried them from Emyn Muil to the forest. Aragorn returned their knives to them then and Pippin’s Lorien brooch. Merry went on to tell them about Grishnákh and the orcs of Barad-dûr, of the Ents and the Entmoot, which was around the time that the Hunters had thought they’d seen Saruman at the edge of the forest. And then told them of the Ents’ siege on Isengard, about the Huorns (Ents that were more like trees) and how Isengard was emptied for what they assumed was the purpose of wiping out Theoden. They told them about how Quickbeam had almost gotten Saruman and how the wizard started his machinery and set fire to a good number of Ents, which enraged the others, how Treebeard had to calm them as they threw themselves against Orthanc and hurt themselves more than they hurt the stone before setting a watch so that Saruman wouldn’t escape.

And then he came to the part where Gandalf rode to Isengard and spoke with Treebeard and then left with the Huorns going to help at Helm’s Deep. They revealed that the fog that had blinded them on the way to Isengard was the water of the rivers putting out Saruman’s fires before returning to their regular flow, coming out dirty from the filth of Isengard before steadily clearing and how Gríma had entered Orthanc to Treebeard’s command to greet Theoden well, as they had.

The only thing that Aragorn did not understand was how the pipe-weed, a Southfarthing kind that Hobbits made, had gotten to Isengard. And with that, they chose to walk about Isengard and find Gandalf. At his words, they joined him in going to find Saruman and were warned not to be careless, to jest and to beware his voice. They came to Orthanc and Gandalf approached with Aragorn, Theoden with Éomer and Gimli with Legolas. When commanded to come forth, Gríma answered for Saruman at first before the wizard came forth with enchantments in his voice. His words gripped the minds of Theoden and his men but for Éomer who tried to clear his lords mind. Finally he came to his senses, if ever they had really been ensnared, and refused Saruman’s plea for ‘peace’ between them. Saruman was angry but regained his composure before attempting the same with Gandalf, this time his words affecting all but the one he attempted to ensnare. Gandalf’s laugh at the attempt though broke it and freed them all from Saruman’s trick.

He asked Saruman to come down, to leave Orthanc free and safely, all he had to do was turn over the key to Orthanc and his staff, to be returned later if he proved himself worthy of them again. The offer was turned down with a sneer and Saruman tried to turn away back into the tower but was stopped by Gandalf, who was clearly a far greater wizard now than Saruman. He broke Saruman’s staff and cast him out of their order. As he fled, something was thrown from above, a crystal globe thrown by Wormtongue. Pippin was quick to retrieve it and Gandalf was just as quick to take it from him. Though Gandalf was not entire happy with result of his confrontation with Saruman, he was not greatly disappointed either.

As they came to the gate again, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas finally met Treebeard. Legolas being the one that the Ent seemed most interested in as an Elf of Mirkwood. They spoke of Legolas’ home forest, briefly, and how great is was and is. And of how Legolas would like to travel Fangorn one day, if given leave by Treebeard, with Gimli. Soon though, they all parted, with Treebeard’s oath that Saruman would not escape them.

With the setting of the sun, they were all off again. Including Merry and Pipping, who Treebeard was sad to see go. They rode for a few hours, Gandalf spending that time wondering over the connection between Isengard and Mordor and how news was exchanged between the two placed, before they made camp. In the night, Pippin stole a look at the globe which left him in a state of shock that Gandalf had to draw him out of, forcing him to tell the wizard all that he had seen before forgiving him. When Pippin was left to rest, Gandalf gave it to Aragorn who was sure that it was one of the palantír. Now they knew the connection between Isengard and Mordor.

It was then that a Nazgûl flew over them and Gandalf quickly took Pippin on Shadowfax, going to Minas Tirith without the others. Meanwhile, Theoden left ten of his men with Legolas, Aragorn, Merry and Gimli before departing for Helm’s Deep.

END OF ‘THE TWO TOWERS.’

Sept. 17 - Paths of the Dead & the Battle of Pelennor Fields
* Walking the Paths of the Dead with Aragorn and Gimli.
* No fear is shown from the elf regarding the dead there.
* Sails on the ship with Gimli and Aragorn (and the dead ones) to fight.

Sept. 18 - Youth in the forest
* A younger Legolas is out in the forest with companions, hunting.
* Not much hunting happened, the elves started to compete.
* Attacked by Great Spiders, one of his companions gets hurt/bitten.
* Legolas carries her back to the Halls of Thranduil.

Sept. 19 - Tower, Ganondorf kills Legolas
* In the cathedral before the first Evil Meeting, Ganon and Legolas run into each other.
* Ganon's a douche and attacks him.
* Ganon manages to stab Legolas through the chest and leaves the elf to bleed out and die.

Sept. 20 - Middle Earth, 100 years after the end of the War of the Ring
* Legolas is building a ship to sail West
* Gimli is an old dwarf and going with him
* Legolas is totes taking his bff to be the first dwarf in Valinor

Sept. 21 - Boromir's Death and 'burial'
* Legolas saw Boromir fall during the fight at Amon Hen.
* He sang a lament for the Man and assisted Aragorn and Gimli in collecting his things and giving him a proper burial.