Oh, I never thought Legolas was not intelligent, just hopelessly insular (up to LotR, that is). I'd also say part of his attitude at the beginning comes from a slight sense of embarrassment. After all, he got sent to Rivendell (which I've always sort of seen as the Third Age Center of Elvish Culture and Elegance, silly elves teasing dwarves from the Hobbit notwithstanding) to tell an entire counsel--with dwarves present!--that his people had rather utterly failed in their task of keeping Gollum in custody.
I've always seen the Mirkwood elves as something like the people in the town I live in. Stiff-necked, very proud, very focused on their own lives, by no means stupid, but rather difficult to make see new ideas.
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