Legolas and the Balrog

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Nelyo

If he was born in the 3rd Age why hadn't he felt young in the presence of Galadriel and Celeborn? In Eregion? Maybe he didn't know that Gandalf was a Maia, really, few of them knew. But he had to know that Galadriel crossed Helkaraxё, or that Celeborn saw Thingol of Doriath. For me the only explanation is that he is not that young, he was born at least in the end of the First Age.

My interpretation is that Fangorn itself was such a different experience for Legolas he felt rather overwhelmed at that moment. He had simply never seen a forest that old before. Just because he didn't say he felt young in the presence of Celeborn or Galadriel does not mean he had to have been a peer of them; Fangorn just moved him to speak aloud.

Originally Posted by Nelyo

Aragorn doesn't know what it was. If he has his suspicions the never voices them. He has never seen a Balrog before. But Legolas speaks of Balrog with certainty, as if he met one. If he is at least of the same age as Elrond then he could have seen a Balrog or two)

If Legolas was born and raised among Elves, especially of an ultimate Sindarin origin, he would have been likely to have been knowledgeable of First Age history, and I think the "whip of flame" it carried alone would have immediately brought Balrogs to his mind. What other creatures in Middle-earth had used such weapons?