[Tar Elenion]

I'm not saying that JRRT decided that he Legolas was going to go on to be in the fellowship in the 1930s when he wrote the book, but i would guess that Legolas, in some form, appeared in the Fall of Gondolin, and he then appeared again in the LoTRs.

You are at liberty to say that all you want. However they are two different Elves. Completely seperate characters.

While the stories don’t exactly fit together perfectly, this is not unusual of a Lost Tale. I think that if JRRT had come to re-write the Fall he would have included Legolas in some (equally cryptic) way.

They dont fit together at all.

For starters it is not Legolas', its Legolai. I think that the evidence is that
1) They have the same name (Including Surname).

Greenleaf is the translation of Legolas. It is not a surname.
Having the same name is not evidence that they are the same character. Several Elves share the same name, and are different characters.

2) They are both associated with Trees (house of the leaf?),

Legolas of Gondolin is a Gnome (Noldo) of the House of the Tree.
Legolas son of Thranduil is a Sinda who dwelt in Mirkwood.

3) They both withdraw the Lonely Isle

One goes after the defeat of Melko, the other in the Fourth Age

4) They are both night-sighted.

Elves could see well in the dark.

5) The main piece of (still circumstantial) evidence is that when JRRT re-read the Fall he saw Glorfindel's name and thought "damn I have used the same name", and he never commented on Legolas being there, even though Legolas has a much larger part in the LoTRs than Glorfindel.

That is evidence against them being the same.
If they were the same Elf it would be deserving of comment. But Legolas of Gondolin was not a major character nor was his name so striking as Glorfindel.

[ September 21, 2002: Message edited by: Tar Elenion ]