Is Legolas afraid to get his nails dirty?

[Galin]

Tolkien once described Legolas (this quote can be found reproduced in The Book of Lost Tales) when reacting to an artist's depiction of his character...

'He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock and through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship.' JRRT

I think this can be found in part II, IIRC.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

What, couldn't Legolas lend a hand now and then?

Good point. In the retreat from Caradhras couldn't he have
helped clear the snow and carry a hobbit?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

Good point. In the retreat from Caradhras couldn't he have
helped clear the snow and carry a hobbit?

*The Dark Elf rolls his eyes*

Grunt work? Pffft! We leave such menial toil for men (whom an Elf of Imladris once likened to sheep), or to dwarves (when their short stature proves indispensible, like stooping over smithies to craft armor, or getting cobwebs out from under tables). We elves devote immense amounts of energy to philosophical pursuits and the arts, without which the free folk would suffer the darkness of ignorance (as well as a pronounced dearth of fashion sense).

However, during battle we can be counted on to save our allies from any danger (we did, after all, turn the tide at Helms Deep). Now, would you be so kind as to hand me a quiver of arrows. There are flying Nazgul that need to be shot down.

[skip spence]

Yeah, that's the impression I've got as well. The Elves are a just a bit too lofty to showel the manure so to speak.

[bilbo_baggins]

In fact, I've often wondered: did Elves even produce something as filthy as manure? They do eat food (lembas bread for instance), but then again, they are the Eldar, and could such lofty and wondrous creatures actually be associated with excrement?

Even though the description above states that Legolas was wondrously strong, it seems that in the stories, the Elves only use this strength to fight baddies, like Feanor and Fingolfin in the Sil. When does it say that the Elves used their strength in any purely physical, he-man (he-elf?), stone-lifting contest of strength?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Well, there were Elven smiths, and that is certainly a craft that needs physical power and stamina.

[MatthewM]

Good question skip! I never thought about it, but now that you bring it up...why didn't Legolas help more? Did he just look the other way when Boromir and Aragorn were toiling and breaking their backs and pretend he didn't hear them?

But like others have stated, Elves are very aloof - artsy, yet warriors in their own right. Tolkien's description of Legolas was actually a response to a reader who claimed Legolas was too feminine. Given that description, you would think Legolas wouldn't mind carrying a Hobbit down Caradhras. Maybe he thinks he is retired...being 1,000+ years old?!

Good question!

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Well, there were Elven smiths, and that is certainly a craft that needs physical power and stamina.

That it does. And that brings on another question. Did elves sweat?

Originally Posted by Lindale

Now now, wounding Morgy seven times isn't a feat you can't really dismiss as being not a contest of physical strength.

But he was a special elf and it was in thhe days when elves were more connected to the world and not themselves.

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by bilbo_baggins

Even though the description above states that Legolas was wondrously strong, it seems that in the stories, the Elves only use this strength to fight baddies, like Feanor and Fingolfin in the Sil. When does it say that the Elves used their strength in any purely physical, he-man (he-elf?), stone-lifting contest of strength?

Now now, wounding Morgy seven times isn't a feat you can't really dismiss as being not a contest of physical strength.

[bilbo_baggins]

Originally Posted by Lindale

Now now, wounding Morgy seven times isn't a feat you can't really dismiss as being not a contest of physical strength.

I wouldn't say I necessarily dismiss it as a feat of physical strength, so much as I have always exalted it to a battle of more spiritual proportions. Battling with Melkor is obviously not a purely physical event, since Melkor was a Valar, and was more spirit than creature. I suppose I always assumed that the strength of Fingolfin (it was Fingolfin who fought Morgoth, right? Not some other Elf Lord?) stemmed from his spirit and will in that fight, and not from his body...

But he was a special elf and it was in thhe days when elves were more connected to the world and not themselves.

Were elves more connected to the world, or was the world more in tune with the elvish strengths? When the Third Age ends, it seems to me that it's not a lack of Elvish strength, but a removal of the setting in which they can use that strength. Instead of the Elves getting weaker and less powerful, they are limited in their abilities in the new and changing world...