If Legolas was in a work by any other author except Tolkien then he would simply be identikit Elf No.1.
He personality traits amount to little more than the type of character traits exposed by the "in depth" interviews of celebrities on MTV.
Legolas, like archery, singing and the sea.
Going on about him joining the quest because of selflessness and the like could be argued equally about nearly all the fellowship. It is not unique to Legolas.
The real reason he joined is because the fellowship needed an Elf.
The same reason Gimli joined.
For a novel that is continously voted as best of the century, best of the milennium etc, I find it interesting that in a poll of the best 100 characters in fiction conducted by Book magazine, none of Tolkien's characters featured.
Pretty fitting for an author who spent more words describing green hill country than he does describing many of his major characters.
http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/fea...haracters.html