To share some interesting facts that I've discovered in my curious quests for more about Legolas and the beautiful gent who played him, Orlando Bloom...

Legolas means "Green Leaf" in Elvish.

Legolas is the son of the king of Mirkwood, Thranduil, and was sent as a messenger from his father to Rivendell. There, he joined the Company of the Ring, and when the Fellowship was broken, he journeyed with Gimli and Aragorn through the south of Middle-Earth, hunting Orcs. He fought in the Battle of the Hornburg and at the Pellenor Fields.

Legolas is an artist with the bow and short blade, and keen of eye and ear and heart. Without his balletic grace in battle and unflinching accuracy with an arrow, surely the Company would have fallen beneath the onslaught of the enemy.

He found it in his heart to befriend a Dwarf, who were hated by Elves, and later it is said that when he finally passed over the sea in IV 120, he brought his dearest friend the Dwarf Gimli with him on his great grey ship.

He was portrayed with great beauty by Orlando Bloom, who received the role a mere 2 days before his graduation from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Orlando, who's reading of the Lord of the Rings had been interupted by girls, found himself getting into acting for girls as well: at a young age, watching "Superman" with his girlfriend, he realized his girlfriend was more interested in Christopher Reeve than him! Realizing how acting could affect the audience, he decided to take it up.

For the role of Legolas, Orlando learned archery (to the level of being able to shoot plates out of the air) and a bit of European and Asian martial arts. Filming was pain and pleasure: he fell off his horse and broke a rib, and the cast was never without bruises after battle scenes; yet he enjoyed the camraderie of the cast and also the offerings of New Zealand. He went surfing with the Hobbits (once they brought along Viggo Mortensen who bruised his face so badly they had to film from one side only) and bungee jumping and snowboarding. The nine cast members, now a Company for real, sealed the memory of the fellowship into their skin: each tattooed with the elvish "nine," Orlando upon his wrist/forearm.

In regards to the mohawk which he sported during filming, (which some thought was cute, and others were horrified by) the haircut was actually to give him a higher forehead and shape the appearance of the blond wig he wore to play the role. Also to do with hair: the color of Legolas's hair is often in debate, but there does not seem to be a firm answer in JRR Tolkien's canon. (Though, there is a mention that dark hair was very very rare among elves, so we would assume he is as blond as pictured in the movie) Likewise Legolas's age, which in the movie is given as just under 3000 years old, is not disclosed in the books.

A funny anecdote passed to me by the lovely Tenshi no Korin: Viggo (who played Aragorn) often teased Orlando about playing a prissy elf who was probably off brushing his hair and manicuring his nails; once Orlando was heard to reply: ""oh yeh? well at least I get to live forever! Got that? LIVE FOREVER!"

Orlando's nickname is Orli, and he loves all sorts of dangerous hobbies, such as Bungee jumping, Skydiving, Snowboarding and Surfing!

He's quite good friends with Andre Schneider (Atti), a German actor/comedian/etc, and has in fact been in three films with him. Surprising, perhaps, since Orlando's girlfriend left him for Andre before they really met on the set of Lullably of Clubland.

He has a dog named Maude. He wanted to play Legolas with Catlike grace.

Orlando means "Land of Gold" and is of Spanish origin.