The Fellowship
When I was a kid, my folks basically told me I was a hobbit. I cherish the memory of them reading all these books to me--and I turned around and read them to my little siblings and eventually to my partner! I've drawn and painted a lot for The Hobbit but never The Lord of the Rings, and this ECCC seemed like the right time to debut one!
Gosh I just love book Legolas. He's immortal. He's a teenager. Elrond picks him instead of Glorfindel because he's average and won't draw attention to the Fellowship. He's the comic relief guy and resident Little Shit, but he can also shoot a Nazgul out of the sky in the pitch black like a one-man elf anti-aircraft defense system. He wants everyone to know that he's, like, really old. He forgets the task at hand because he wants to look at trees. His greatest qualities are that he can become friends with anyone and his loyalty is unending. He shows up to Valinor a century late with Starbucks in hand and his dwarf bestie at his side. Iconic.
crying because an elf prince, dwarf lord and a fucking king of men dropped everything and ran over 100 miles with barely any rest, to rescue a couple of halflings (who were worth nothing outside the shire, and functionally little more than a burden) because they were their friends.
screaming and throwing up because the golden boy of gondor, the steward's eldest son and his pride and joy; noble heir of the house of húrin, sacrificed his life for those self-same halflings
The fact that Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) both said that they based their performances in Lord of the Rings off of cat behavior really shows you the sheer range of what cats are like
why did they ever even attempt to try and make another actor wear a white-blonde wig after orlando bloom in the lotr trilogy. don’t they understand that we peaked 20 years ago and everything else has looked like shit after that
Every time I rewatch The Lord of the Rings I oscillate violently between “it’s important to show men having close, supportive friendships and I’m so glad Peter Jackson chose to show all the male characters being loving and physically affectionate with one another in a healthy, platonic way” and “damn, these bitches gay. good for them, good for them”
I honestly feel like nobody in lotr mentions how fucking weird Legolas is. He stays up pacing the floor and singing to himself in the dead of night. He deadass stares straight into the tree line in the absolute pitch black when no one else can see anything. He yells goodbye to a river he has heard about in songs. He's so strange and not one character mentions it AT ALL. I absolutely love him.