mithril vest

[A_Brandybuck]

Originally Posted by Elianna

Hmmm, I wonder if Tolkien had thought that Lego was going to be as popular as he is, would Tolkien have written more about him?

I don't think so. I remember a quote from Tolkien (having my books not around me), that Legolas did of all members of the Fellowship least.
This is mirrored by the situation of the Elves in Middle-earth at the time of the War of the Ring. Legolas IMHO do represent in a way this situation in the Fellowship. The time for the Elves in Middle-earth is over. And showing 'more Legolas' in the book wouldn't have fit the situation.
So I think that Tolkien gave Legolas this role explicitly.

Leaving offtopic:
Correct me, if I am wrong:

- There is no mention, that the vest was made by the Dwarves of Erebor.
- There is no mention, in which age the vest was made. "long ago" is a bit vague. :-)
- There is no mention, how the vest came to Smaug.
- We know, that Dwarves have made the vest.
- We know, that this vest was made for an elf-prince.

Assuming this, we can think of other potential candidates:

#1 Amroth:
Amroth's history was often changed by Tolkien. In one version, he is the son of Celeborn and Galadriel, but this version was rejected. Or he was the son of Amdir. A a version with Malgalad but without fatherhood.
In every case, Amroth was a prince, before he became King or Lord of Lorien. There was mithril in the near of Lorien (-> Moria).

#2 Celebrimbor:
I am assuming, that Celebrimbor is the son of Curufin and assuming that Celebrimbor was born in Middle-earth. This is not clear, concerning his father, there are different versions and concerning his date of birth, there is no mention, but a assumption, because he didn't swear the oath. (shortly)
The family of Feanor is connected with juwels and such things. Curufin, having a region in the east of Beleriand under his control, could have had some relations to the Dwarves of the Ered Luin.

#3 other son of Thranduil:
There is no mention, that Legolas is the only one.

What about these as a alternative to Legolas?

As a very vague and improbable thesis (not to take very serious), we can choose Elladan and Elrohir. The smith(s) could only have made one vest, but Elrond wanted two. *g*