The Rings Of Power’s Canon Changes Mean Legolas CAN Appear In S2

The Tolkien canon changes in The Rings of Power have been massive, which makes an appearance by Legolas in season two a possibility. Of course, the show won’t add characters who physically could not be alive, but the writers have been stretching the meaning of “could.” Given that The Rings of Power only has so many hours of programming to work with and that Tolkien didn’t flesh out the Second Age as the First and Third Age, dramatic license is understandable, but retconning the birthdates of key canon characters might prove problematic.

The canon changes that pave the way for Legolas to be in The Rings of Power stem from one particular thing. Amazon bought the rights to the entirety of Tolkien’s principal works, including The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the Appendices, and The Hobbit. However, they did not purchase Tolkien’s continuing publications, including The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth. This means that the creators of The Rings of Power had to come up with clever but convoluted solutions to explain key elements of the earlier Tolkien world without drawing on forbidden materials like The Silmarillion. In other words, they are wide open to tweak and twist all they want.

Related: How Old Each Lord of the Rings Fellowship Member Really Is

How Old Legolas Is During The Lord Of The Rings

According to The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide, Legolas was 2,931 years old at the time of the War of the Rings. This put his birthdate in 87 of the Third Age and was entirely fabricated by the filmmakers as Tolkien never specified an age or birthdate for Legolas. Interestingly, Legolas’ age is also the year Aragorn was born. In The Tale of Years in the Appendices, Tolkien provided specific information on names and dates, but Legolas is conspicuously absent, so his actual age is not known with any certainty.

There are, however, contextual clues. In The Lord of the Rings, Legolas seems young for an elf. He had never seen the sea, and for a 2,931-year-old elf, it was unlikely that his wanderings ever took him there. It was Galadriel who first warned him of the call of the sea, words that came through Gandalf when they met in Fangorn Forest. “Legolas Greenleaf long under tree in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.” Also, in Fangorn, Legolas tells Aragorn and Gimli, “It (the forest) is old, very old. So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children.” This signals Legolas is of significant age. While there are contextual clues, they point in different directions, and the most one can conclude is that Legolas is between 200 and 2,931 years old.

Legolas In Rings Of Power Season 2 Is No Worse Than Gandalf

Having Legolas appear in The Rings of Power is no more a canon distortion than having Gandalf there. The Wizards, Istari, weren’t sent to Middle Earth until roughly a thousand years into the Third Age, and there is no evidence, in the books and the Lord of the Rings movies, that Legolas was born before the Third Age. Having Gandalf, and perhaps Legolas, appear in The Rings of Power would rewrite canon, but as stated earlier, Amazon is under no obligation to adhere to the canon.

One note worth mentioning is Thranduil, Legolas’ father, who was born in the First Age. Thranduil and his father, Oropher, fought in the War of the Last Alliance, with Oropher being killed in the Battle of Dagorlad. Thranduil’s timeline runs concurrent with the events in The Rings of Power, and his appearance would be a fitting callback.

Related: Are Elves Immortal In Lord Of The Rings? How Do They Age?

The Rings of Power showrunners have changed the established Tolkien canon, some of which were by necessity. They could include Legolas in season two of The Rings of Power, as there is nothing definitive about Legolas not having been alive in the Second Age. Whether they should do it is another question.

Next: Will Legolas Appear In The Rings Of Power? Can He?