Progress So Far

Names and Places

Oropher

The tale of Oropher is only recorded in Unfinished Tales, so it is not certain whether it should be considered to be canonical or not. He was the King of the Silvan Elves in Greenwood the Great, and was Thranduil's father, and so the grandfather of Legolas of the Fellowship of the Ring. Oropher fell in the Battle of Dagorlad during the War of the Last Alliance in SA 3441, along with nearly two thirds of his army. His son Thranduil survived, and went on to become the King of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood who held Thorin, and his companions captive in The Hobbit.

Thranduil

King of Mirkwood and father of Legolas,Thranduil was a Sindarin prince that came from the west with his father Oropher in the Second Age. They established the kingdom of Greenwood the Great, which later became known as Mirkwood. Along with his father, he fought in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. When Oropher was lost in one of the first battles,Thranduil became king. He wished to recreate the glory of Doriath, from whence he came, and he started to build a cave hall to match Menegroth. However,due to the inappropriate terrain at Greenwood, the cave hall was not easy to make and so when it was finished, it looked nothing like Menegroth. Thranduil sent his son Legolas to the Council of Elrond in TA 3018. When the War of the Ring ended, he met with Celeborn and agreed to cede South Mirkwood to Lothlórien. The region became known as East Lorien. Thranduil then renamed Mirkwood Eryn Lasgalen, meaning "the forest of the greenleaves". He had fondness for silver and white gems, and he wore a crown of leaves and berries that changed colour with the seasons. He wielded a carven staff of oak. His hair was golden. How long he remained on Middle-earth is not known, but it is likely that he was the last Elven King there.

Legolas

Legolas Greenleaf was the son of King Thranduil of the Mirkwood Realm. The name 'Legolas' literally meant 'green leaf'. He was a Silvan elf of Sindarin descent and his birthdate is not known. He lived in Mirkwood until he was sent to Rivendell to tell the news of Gollum escaping. There he ended up becoming part of the Fellowship of the Ring. He travelled with Aragorn and Gimli, and named Gimli 'elf-friend'. He fought at the Battle of the Hornburg and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. He travelled on the Paths of the Dead, and often rode with Gimli behind him on his horse. After the War of the Ring he lived in Ithilien with elves from Mirkwood. When Aragorn died, he finally followed the sea-longing the gulls had awoken in him, and sailed West in a boat he built himself. It was said that he took Gimli with him, because of their great friendship, and that the two passed into the West in 120 of the Fourth Age. There is also a Legolas in the story of the Fall of Gondolin (in the First Age), but it is not known if they are the same elf. That Legolas led the refugees over the plains, because he was night-sighted.

Mirkwood

Name used in the Third Age for the great forest of Rhovanion east of the River Anduin, formerly Greenwood the Great and later Eryn Lasgalen. The name ‘Mirkwood’ was only used after about TA 1050 when Sauron (then called the Necromancer) was found to be living in Dol Guldur. Although Sauron fled to Mordor when discovered, he later stationed some of the Nazgul there and as evil spread throughout the wood, the elves named it Taur e-Ndaedelos (Forest of Great Fear). Mirkwood was traversed by the old Old Forest Road and the Elf Path, both somewhat neglected by the end of the Third Age, the latter being infested with huge malicious Spiders. In the north the Elvenking, Thranduil protected a kingdom around the Forest River. Further south around the Old Forest Road there lived Wood-men and Beornings. The wizard Radagast the Brown also made his home there. The Mountains of Mirkwood formed a small group at the heart of the forest from which flowed streams of dangerously enchanted water, one of which crossed the Elf Path. The realm of Lothlorien occupied the western bank of the Anduin, opposite the southern part of the forest and was protected from its evil by the ring Nenya kept by the Lady Galadriel. After the destruction of Sauron in TA3019 Dol Guldur was cast down and the forest renamed Eryn Lasgalen (Wood of Green Leaves by Thranduil and Celeborn, the latter taking up residence there in a region named East Lorien.

Mirkwood Mountains

Though referred to as mountains, the Mountains of Mirkwood were actually a range of tall hills running through the Forest of Mirkwood in an east-west line, to the north of the Old Forest Road. The Enchanted River, a tributary of the Forest River , crossed by Thorin and his company in TA 2941, had its source in the Mountains of Mirkwood. When the Sylvan Elves, led by King Thranduil first settled in Mirkwood the mountains were referred to as the Emyn Duir, but after evil creatures began multiplying in the forest, the name was change to Emyn-nu-Fuin. When the Evil was cleansed from Mirkwood and it was renamed the Wood of the Greenleaves (Eryn Lasgalen), the Mountains of Mirkwood became the boundary between the Kingdom of the Wood-elves and the land of the Beornings and Woodmen.