Is there a character you're obsessed with?

[mindil]

The behavior of the Mirkwood elves in the Hobbit has a flavor of Tokien's style of male-companionship, more than his notions of female propriety. We don't see Thranduil himself carousing, but he seems not to rein in his people. Some see this as evidence that most of the Mirkwood elves were Avari.

Be that as it may, it probably fits better with Mrs. Oropher, the Melian-figure, having left for Aman some time before, and for Mrs. Thranduil being a lower-status person unable to put her stamp on the goings-on. Or being Avari herself and enjoying that sort of thing.

It also fits with Legolas seeming somewhat clueless about the wider world outside Mirkwood, despite having had hundreds of years to get educated. If his grandmother had no Noldor blood (Vanyar weren't "knowers" either) and if he was brought up by an Avari mother with his grandmother out of the way, he might end up being something of a hick.

This clashes with my preferred picture of her being Sindar, but it makes more sense.

[mindil]

Now that I think of it, the Lorien elves didn't treat Legolas like royalty at all. Just like any common elf.

That could well point to an Avari mother.

Any thoughts?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by mindil

...for Mrs. Thranduil being a lower-status person unable to put her stamp on the goings-on. Or being Avari herself and enjoying that sort of thing.

...

This clashes with my preferred picture of her being Sindar, but it makes more sense.

Another possibility is that Mrs. Thranduil is really uncomfortable in large crowds. I say this because there's exactly one named character who could even possibly be Legolas' mother, and that description fits her perfectly: Nellas, Turin's childhood friend, who was socially awkward enough that she began her defence of Turin on capital charges with "My king, I was sitting in a tree. [Silence]"

We know that Thranduil's people didn't so much live in the Halls as centre on them (per The Hobbit), so it could well be that she left Faux-Menegroth to her husband, and spent her time outside in the wider Northern Mirkwood.

(She'd be Thranduil's wife rather than Oropher's on the basis that Thranduil seems to remember the death of Thingol as something he was around for, and I don't think there's enough time between Turin's departure and Thingol's death for Nellas to have plausibly gotten married.)

All pure fanon, but if you want a canon character to marry Thranduil, I'm pretty sure she's it.*

hS

*Okay, okay, one of two... "Meleth, nurse of Earendil, was a Sinda of Nevrast who escaped with Idril's party and met Thranduil in the Havens of Sirion". It could work, just about, but would require her to completely throw out her time in Gondolin and be happy living in a knock-off of Menegroth.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Another possibility is that Mrs. Thranduil is really uncomfortable in large crowds. I say this because there's exactly one named character who could even possibly be Legolas' mother, and that description fits her perfectly: Nellas, Turin's childhood friend, who was socially awkward enough that she began her defence of Turin on capital charges with "My king, I was sitting in a tree. [Silence]"

We know that Thranduil's people didn't so much live in the Halls as centre on them (per The Hobbit), so it could well be that she left Faux-Menegroth to her husband, and spent her time outside in the wider Northern Mirkwood.

(She'd be Thranduil's wife rather than Oropher's on the basis that Thranduil seems to remember the death of Thingol as something he was around for, and I don't think there's enough time between Turin's departure and Thingol's death for Nellas to have plausibly gotten married.)

All pure fanon, but if you want a canon character to marry Thranduil, I'm pretty sure she's it.*

hS

*Okay, okay, one of two... "Meleth, nurse of Earendil, was a Sinda of Nevrast who escaped with Idril's party and met Thranduil in the Havens of Sirion". It could work, just about, but would require her to completely throw out her time in Gondolin and be happy living in a knock-off of Menegroth.

Nah, Meleth loved Morleg. You will rip this headcanon from my cold dead hands.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Nah, Meleth loved Morleg. You will rip this headcanon from my cold dead hands.

I don't think she's a great fit either, but I felt obligated to mention her for completeness' sake.

hS

[Urwen]

Also, I doubt that Nellas got over big brother that quickly.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Also, I doubt that Nellas got over big brother that quickly.

Ah, but that's the beauty of it: she doesn't have to get over him for millennia. All she has to do is be together-enough to escape from Doriath (my in-progress fanfic of this has Thranduil leading her out); after that, she would naturally fall in with the party that wants to go live in forests again (rather than hanging out in Lindon or Eregion). She could of course sail West - but the West is full of Noldor, and who was it that actually burned Doriath? Yeah. I can't see her going that way, not when 'more forests' is an option.

hS

[mindil]

I'm fine with Nellas, especially if she's a Nandor.

If not, if his parentage is pure Sindar, how does it fit the puzzle I thought of - why Legolas is not treated as royalty in Lorien, and why he acts so uneducated?