Thranduil – Damn, this is one solid elf.
August, 11, 2014
And we go back to essay. Let's ask you to look at the term "glamour" but not in the "I'm fabulous" context: rather in the " He/she is Fabulous, OMG, Incoherent Screaming, etc" to which I now give you a list of objective examples; Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolph Hitler, Evita Peron, Fidel Castro, David Koresh and some few others. For good or evil, these people had enough charisma so that other people wanted to follow them…perhaps they appeal to an actual archtype lying barely submerged in the human psyche, or perhaps humans are made to need leaders. It seems elves are, and the earlier Age elves liked to have Kings. Oropher impressed the Sylvan elves so much they asked him to be their ruler, and we have to assume they asked Thranduil to pick up the job after his father's death. Fandom Thranduil is portrayed as a violent tyrant…and while I have sympathy with the Fangirls (meaning I get it, I had a crazy megalomaniac, too – in fact he's still here - but he grew up. He can still be a bastard. So when I say sympathy I mean "fellow feeling" as opposed to "feel bad for".) no such individual would be asked to be king, and such a king wouldn't be tolerated for long…especially not by the "dangerous and less wise" Wood elves.
So, Thranduil has to be a fundamentally decent elf. But he also has to possess a powerful glamour, a charisma so strong other elves want to follow him. In gaining leadership of his people during a time of cataclysmic strife, we also find a general – not just a lone warrior but a general – who is able to regroup an army that's been shattered, use it to affect during the rest of the war, and lead home its survivors under such circumstance that they offer him the crown. Even among elves, this has got to be an amazing fellow. His magic is so powerful that he controls the vast gates to his underground capitol with an autonomous, continuous exercise of his will. He never had a ring of power, and it's never mentioned that he coveted one from which we infer he's an elf with confidence ( Hey, that's really attractive.). Elves, as we know, live more harmoniously with Nature that the other races, and Thranduil's well being thrives and ebbs with the health of his people and lands. He's literally committed to them for his own good. Understanding the depth of the commitment, he embraced it wholeheartedly. ( Now that's really really attractive!)
Thranduil is born sometime in the First Age (Early, or Late, but always a peer of Elrond's.) and comes down from Doriath so he's lived in the Big City and the Sticks. He's got layers of sophistication from the former and primal common sense from the latter, and he's between five and six thousand years old. Being King a long time, he might appear authoritative and arrogant (Conversely, also very attractive.), but he could only pattern his reign on what he knew; the style of Doriath's monarchy and Oropher's own short reign. Where his father failed, Thranduil determined he would not. Since his people never try to overthrow him but rather fight for him, it can be assumed that he was loved and trusted by subjects who answered his Call To Arms. ( Inspires loyalty…well, that's attractive, too! Damn, this is one solid elf.)
The Court of the ElvenKing successfully combined both local Silvan and transplanted Sinda – Oropher and Thranduil traveled with their Household which would have included royal kin and philosophical acolytes, along with various secretaries, butlers and servants – to form a working government. Additionally, he'd have to integrate his own Officers – promoted up in the field – with Oropher's Old Guard. Please add diplomat to the list of Thranduil's personal skills, and kindly make that 'exceptional diplomat'. ( How did everyone miss this gent? No wonder the Fangirls, and boys, are losing their minds…and control of their libidos.)
Thranduil is the father of Legolas, whom we meet in LOTR. Legolas comes across as neither an abused child, nor a spoilt brat. Thranduil's son holds his end of a fight, doesn't whore, drink, malinger, whine, or bitch, and is a welcome guest in various Great elven Households. His initial hostility to Gimli is learned, and he unlearns it as events force them to work together. They become good friends. Not particularly communicative, Legolas only mentions home briefly, but he has pleasant memories of the Greenwood. ( Wait, Thranduil raised a well balanced kid, too? Seriously, can it get any more ridiculously attractive? Can it?!) Legolas' must have a mother, unless he sprang from Thranduil's pate fully formed…no, wait, that's Hellenic…but Tolkien tells us nothing about her. We know she existed because Legolas exists. When Bilbo wanders Thranduil's subterranean Halls there is no mention of a Queen in Mirkwood and while a Prince can be fostered out, put to patrol with hand-picked men, or sent on embassy, a Queen traditionally resides at home in grand style. So Legolas' mother either departed for the Grey Havens or she died. ( And he raised the boy by himself? We have surpassed ridiculously attractive. Next stop, the Mountains of the Moon.) If she died, she did so when Legolas was too young to remember her, because he does not react like someone who has experienced loss. If she left, it was also before he was old enough to remember her, but he doesn't act like a child rejected by a parent known to be still living. He acts like an upstanding elf princling. ( So, Thranduil, either as a widower or abandoned husband, raised a normal elfling? That's it. It's just too much. No one, not even an elf, can be that perfectly, deliciously attractive. There has to be a catch.)
Thranduil's people were merrymaking the three times the Dwarves stumble across them during their trip through Mirkwood. Just before the elves appear, the dwarves hear a hunting horn in the far distance and run across a Stag and a white doe with fawns. That's one Wild Hunt and three feasts, so perhaps Thranduil does deserve the "Party-King" reputation. Also, he prefers a particularly strong vintage for his board (table). ( Is this 'the catch"? Is this it? Something to detract from such intolerable…well, Hotness? But, wait…)
Unable to forget the war in which he lost his father, a war he believes isn't over but merely in abeyance, he broods. He cannot put worry aside, and he isolates his people to protect them. He knows its coming. (Oh, not 'the catch.". Mr. Rochester brood…excuse, Thranduil brooding in his dark and dangerous forest….just get out the sprinkles/jimmies and the aero-whip…and leave the aero-whip, thank you. No, really, leave it.) Perhaps the elves of Mirkwood make so much merry in order to distract their charismatic, clever leader…to try to lighten his burden, or at least make him forget it for a while? They'd be tolerant, extraordinarily tolerant, of his personality quirks if they believed he needed them to take care of him as much as they needed him to lead them. Over a few thousand years, we'd be looking at a symbiotic weirdness of epic proportions. (Oh, my God, please, just….can't…no…) But, then, we're talking about elves – immortal creatures of light, truth and beauty - how bad could it get? (So put away the whips, chains, and ball-gags…well, maybe not the ball-gags. Elves are inherently good, when they're not they're Orcs. But, they do have a reputation for being playful...okay, mischievous. Where's that ball-gag?)
Thranduil doesn't have to torture any creature: he's ancient, and patient, wields powerful, deep magic and his trees spy for him. He would consider sadism an inherent flaw, for while Nature can be cruel it is rarely wonton with malice. Nature's perceived cruelties usually serve a purpose in the Working Order. Forest fires actually remove old growth and permit new. Most animals only kill to feed themselves and their young. (Orcas discounted as the Exception rather than the Rule.) Floods provide new paths for water to reach the land. The cycle of life is constant, the old must pass away to make room for the new. Some mammals commit rape, but only when their breeding structure or environment provides no other outlet for reproduction.
As primal as he is, Thranduil would consider sadism not just a flaw but a waste of effort and energy equally damaging to all parties. He never even hints at torturing the dwarves, and as far as P.J. wandered from the actual Hobbit novel, even he dared not stumble so far astray from cannon. Thranduil will lock you up and come to stare, silently, at you every few decades but he won't call for the hot pincers or the Pear. He can out-wait you. He can outlive you. Eventually, you'll do what he wants or you'll die of old age. Now that's pretty terrifying. In fact, it's persuasion most extreme. (It takes the issue of Control, however, to a whole new level. Where's that white flag? It's nearly time to surrender, unconditionally.) Among his own people, in his own lands, his word is Law, even the trees co-operate with his will. He is in control, not just of his realm, but of himself. Maybe he snarls when he's had one too many bowls of wine, maybe he cries while ancient songs are sung, and maybe, once in a while, he has a good explosion, but he wouldn't beat his son, abuse his people, his guests, or prisoners. (or sexual partners, IF you can put aside the inconvenient fact that elves mate once, for life. Oh, now that's just mind-blowingly delicious.) Not even Dwarves. (Yes, that's the author's white flag waving above. Thranduil of Eryn Lasgalen, will you accept terms? He will. Yes, that's one solid Elf.)