The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power includes familiar characters from The Lord of the Rings, teasing the possibility that Legolas could appear in the prequel series. Set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the Prime Video series The Rings of Power already features Galadriel and Elrond, two of the immortal Elves from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories. Legolas is also an immortal Elf, so there is potential that he, too, could appear in the prequel series — though only if Amazon make more changes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth timeline.

Legolas is a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm best remembered as one of the nine Fellowship of the Ring members in The Lord of the Rings. He previously appeared in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations, including The Hobbit movie trilogy, and is popular for his skilled showmanship and memorable kills, including one epic duel against an Oliphant in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Since he’s an Elf and capable of living for thousands of years, many have wondered if Legolas will be in The Rings of Power just like his fellow LotR elf characters Elrond and Galadriel.

The Timeline Of Rings Of Power Means Legolas Can’t Appear

Legolas Wasn’t Born Until After The First Defeat Of Sauron

 

There’s a simple reason that Legolas can’t appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — he wasn’t born until several decades after the Second Age, when when the events of the show take place, was over. The Lord of the Rings movies officially put Legolas’s age as 2931, born in year 87 of the Third Age. However, the year of Legolas’ birth wasn’t taken from anything written by J.R.R Tolkien. This gives Amazon a surprising amount of creative leeway when it comes to his character.

In truth, no one knows how old Legolas is, with his birth year never specified in Tolkien’s stories, so it’s possible that he can appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. However, compared to Elrond and Galadriel, Legolas is a less mature Elf who hasn’t faced the same horrors experienced in the War of Wrath against Morgoth, or Last Alliance against Sauron. Elrond also never mentions having a history of fighting alongside Legolas, with Elves often referring to such occasions.

If Legolas did appear in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it would mean Amazon making yet more changes to the Middle-earth canon. This would almost certainly irritate many fans, as the alterations Amazon have already made to Tolkien’s vision haven’t been received well. At a stretch, Amazon could make him a century or so older (which isn’t much to Elves), and have a cameo of baby or infant Legolas towards the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Having him appear to take part in the battle as he did in Lord of the Rings, however, is all-but-guaranteed not to happen.

Legolas’ Father Could Appear In The Rings Of Power Instead

Thranduil May Show Up In The Lord Of The Rings Prequel Series

Although Legolas seems unlikely to make an appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, his father, Thranduil could be involved in the series. Thranduil is the son of Orophor, an Elf who establishes the Woodland Realm of the Silvan Elves and is killed in the Second Age’s Battle of Dagorlad during the Last Alliance. After Orophor’s death, Thranduil, who also fights at Dagorlad, becomes King of the Woodland Realm and reigns over the whole of Greenwood the Great.

Eventually, Sauron establishes an influence in Greenwood, infesting it with orcs as it becomes known as Mirkwood. All of these events take place in the Second and early Third Age, which could be toward the end of The Rings of Power‘s timeline.

Legolas may not be born yet, but his father and grandfather are certainly alive during the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Thranduil and Orophor are lesser known in Middle-earth lore, so it could be exciting to see their stories unfold in the series and discover the backstory of Legolas’s ancestry.

This would be a better callback to The Lord of the Rings than actually involving Legolas in the events, especially considering his appearance in The Hobbit felt shoehorned. Either way, it will be intriguing to see the history of the Elves in Middle-earth continue to unfold during The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

What Other Lord Of The Rings Characters Could Appear In The Rings Of Power?

There Could Be More Familiar Faces Arriving In The Amazon Prequel Series

 

While it’s unlikely Legolas will appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there are a handful of other Lord of the Rings characters who could make an appearance. Thranduil, Legolas’s father, has already been teased prior to the release of Rings of Power season 2, and, of course, Elrond and Galadriel are staples of the series so far. Controversially, the show has also teased that the mysterious figure played by Daniel Weyman could be Gandalf.

Having Gandalf in The Rings of Power is a change that many J.R.R Tolkien fans don’t agree with, since it’s established that he and the other Istari didn’t arrive on Middle-earth until the Third Age. However, Gandalf’s inclusion in the show means that other Istari could appear. The obvious choice here is, of course, Saruman — especially since it would be strange that Saruman was considered the more powerful of the two throughout the Third Age if Gandalf arrived before him.

If Gandalf has been retconned by Amazon to appear in the Second Age and feature in The Rings of Power, the same will likely be true for Saruman at some point. This also means that Radagast the Brown from The Hobbit, and other Istari like Alatar and Pallando the Blue Wizards, could show up.

The other two notable characters from Lord of the Rings who could potentially appear in The Rings of Power are the Witch King of Angmar and Treebeard, Lord of the Ents. Like Legolas, Treebeard doesn’t have an official age provided by Tolkien, but various tie-in products for the Lord of the Rings movies list his age at being well over 15,000 years, making him more than old enough to appear in The Rings of Power.

The Witch King, Sauron’s general and most powerful of the Ringwraiths, is more-or-less guaranteed to appear at some point. The Nazgul were created at the end of the Second Age as the 9 human kings gifted with Rings of Power succumbed to the temptations of Sauron. With this in mind, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will end up showing the origins of the terrifying robed servant of The Great Eye sooner or later.