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Thranduil, King of Mirkwood, shown in The Hobbit

Thranduil

Biographical information

Other names

Elvenking

Titles

King of the Woodland Realm (Northern Mirkwood)

Date of birth

First Age

Year ascended to the throne

Crowned King of the Woodland Realm after his father's death in the War of the Last Alliance, sometime after SA 3441

Date of death

Unknown

Realms ruled

Woodland Realm

Spouse

Unnamed wife

Weapon

Physical description

Race

Elves

Culture

Sindar, Elves of Lindon, Elves of the Woodland Realm

Gender

Male

Height

Hair color

Golden

Eye color

Blue (film)

Peter Jackson's Film Trilogy

Actor

Lee Pace

Voice

Otto Preminger

Character

Thranduil, also known as the Elvenking, was a Sindarin elf, King of the Woodland Realm, and father of Legolas. Because of Bilbo's exploits and tales, Thranduil is perhaps the most well-known of the Elvenkings among non-elves. He was the leader of the Wood-elves of Northern Mirkwood (the Woodland Realm) for more than three thousand years in Middle-earth, seeing his realm through attacks by the great spiders and the orcs. Thranduil was known for disliking the Dwarves, a trait common among many of his kind. 

BiographyEdit

First and Second AgesEdit

Thranduil was the only son of Oropher. He was born sometime during the end of the First Age and lived in Doriath with Thingol and Melian. At the beginning of the Second Age, Thranduil lived in Lindon with Gil-galad while his father lived in Greenwood. After Oropher died in the war of Last Alliance, Thranduil went east to claim his inheritance and sometime before TA 1000 he established a kingdom in Greenwood the Great.

Third AgeEdit

When Thorin Oakenshield and his party of Dwarves entered northern Mirkwood, they were captured by Thranduil's guards and locked up when they refused to divulge their intentions. It was revealed that Thranduil had a quarrel with Dwarves over some jewels, possibly referring to the First Age murder in Doriath of the Elf king Thingol and the theft of his Silmaril.

After the death of the Dragon Smaug, Thranduil supported Bard the Bowman's claim of a share of the treasure the Dwarves recovered from the Lonely Mountain (Erebor), since Bard was a descendent of Lord Girion of Dale, and the treasure of that town had been taken by Smaug to the Lonely Mountain.

Thranduil led the elven forces in the Battle of the Five Armies. During the War of the Ring, he sent his son Legolas to Rivendell, along with other Elves, to report Gollum's escape from Mirkwood. The gradually-established friendship between the Dwarf Gimli and Legolas later helped to reconcile Thranduil's people with the Dwarves.

When the forces from Dol Guldur later attacked Mirkwood, Thranduil repulsed an attack and had the victory.  His actions were in concert with the Dwarves and the Men of Dale against the Easterlings who attacked from the East. He came into an agreement with Celeborn that the southern part of Mirkwood would be counted as East Lórien . Thranduil took the northern region as far as the mountains; the wide forest between Mirkwood and East Lórien was given to the Beornings. By this time also, Thranduil renamed Mirkwood Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves.^[1]

Fourth AgeEdit

After the fall of Sauron, Thranduil fixed the southern boundary of his realm as the Mountains of Mirkwood, and the Woodland Realm flourished well into the Fourth Age. He may have stayed on as the king of the Great Forest or left Middle-earth.

Appearance in the Books and FilmsEdit

In the booksEdit

• The Silmarillion
• The Hobbit
• The Fellowship of the Ring (Mentioned only)

In the filmsEdit

• The Fellowship of the Ring (film) (Mentioned only in Extended Edition only)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hobbit: There and Back Again

Portrayal in adaptationsEdit

FilmsEdit

Rankin/Bass's The HobbitEdit

In the Rankin/Bass 1977 animated version of The Hobbit, Thranduil was voiced by Otto Preminger.

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogyEdit

Lee Pace portrays Thranduil in Peter Jackson's adaption of The Hobbit. This movie adaptation made several changes in Thranduil's character. When the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain were fleeing their home because of the attack of Smaug, Thranduil arrives with his army. Thorin sees them and asks for help, but Thranduiel, realizing that he would just be leading his soldiers to their deaths, refuses, not risking the lives of his kin, causing Thorin to develop a strong dislike of the Elves.

Voice Dubbing actorsEdit

RadioEdit

In the 1968 BBC radio series, he is voiced by Leonard Fenton.

Video gamesEdit

He was also one of the playable elven heroes in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II real-time strategy game.

ReferencesEdit

• The Hobbit
• The Atlas of Middle-earth pg. 107
• The Lord of the Rings: Appendix B

External linkEdit

• Thranduil at Tolkien Gateway