The Two Towers

by

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Legolas Character Analysis

Legolas, the cheerful and tireless son of the elf king of Mirkwood, has keen eyesight and a strong connection with trees and animals. As one of the Three Hunters, he accompanies Aragorn and Gimli to recover Merry and Pippin from the orc company that kidnapped them. Though they initially mistrust each other, Legolas becomes Gimli’s staunchest defender and closest friend. During the battle of Helm’s Deep, they make a contest out of how many orcs they can kill and later plan to travel together to their favorite places on Middle-earth.

Legolas Quotes in The Two Towers

The The Two Towers quotes below are all either spoken by Legolas or refer to Legolas. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decline and Decay  Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

‘Let me think!’ said Aragorn. ‘And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!’ He stood silent for a moment. ‘I will follow the Orcs,’ he said at last. ‘I would have guided Frodo into Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

‘It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’

‘As he has ever judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Éomer (speaker), Gimli, Legolas, Galadriel
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

‘You have not said what you know or guess, Aragorn, my friend,’ he said quietly. ‘Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Aragorn, Boromir, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

‘I have spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory. War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.’

He rose and gazed out eastward, shading his eyes, as if he saw things far away that none of them could see. Then he shook his head. ‘No,’ he said in a soft voice, ‘it has gone beyond our reach. Of that at least let us be glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Sauron, Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 108-109
Explanation and Analysis:
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Legolas Quotes in The Two Towers

The The Two Towers quotes below are all either spoken by Legolas or refer to Legolas. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Decline and Decay  Theme Icon
).
Book 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

‘Let me think!’ said Aragorn. ‘And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!’ He stood silent for a moment. ‘I will follow the Orcs,’ he said at last. ‘I would have guided Frodo into Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 2 Quotes

‘It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’

‘As he has ever judged,’ said Aragorn. ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.’

Related Characters: Aragorn (speaker), Éomer (speaker), Gimli, Legolas, Galadriel
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

‘You have not said what you know or guess, Aragorn, my friend,’ he said quietly. ‘Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Aragorn, Boromir, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, Peregrin “Pippin” Took , Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

‘I have spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory. War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory. It fills me with great sorrow and great fear: for much shall be destroyed and all may be lost. I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.’

He rose and gazed out eastward, shading his eyes, as if he saw things far away that none of them could see. Then he shook his head. ‘No,’ he said in a soft voice, ‘it has gone beyond our reach. Of that at least let us be glad. We can no longer be tempted to use the Ring. We must go down to face a peril near despair, yet that deadly peril is removed.’

Related Characters: Gandalf (speaker), Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Sauron, Gimli, Legolas
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 108-109
Explanation and Analysis: