when you’re watching fellowship of the ring with your friends it is 100% vital to point to the screen when the balrog shows up and say “in the books this is when legolas starts screaming”
This is the 2013 piece I really wanted to revisit, pretty much ever since I finished it. I was never happy with the rendering or the composition, and even though the text mention's Legolas' small bow, that bow is, like, stupidly small.
"Legolas turned and set an arrow to the string, though it was a long shot for his small bow. He drew, but his hand fell, and the arrow slipped to the ground. He gave a cry of dismay and fear.
...'Ai, ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'" -The Fellowship of the Ring
2023 Redraw:
I love this scene, because to me, it's the first moment things get real for Legolas. Up to this point, the journey has been no big deal for him, even on Caradhras, but now, suddenly, he's faced with the literal manifestation of nightmares, a monster that's only supposed to live in ancient battle-ballads and ghost stories. You can't sing or snark your way out of this one, smartass!
Happy New Year to one and all! May your 2024 be gentle and kind and bright!
Legolas, who is young by elf standards, A wood elf, who worships the stars and light. stuck underneath a mountain, in the dark. He's used to the dark, the suffocating darkness that has taken hold of his home. but here underneath stone he's cut off from nature, he can't hear it, feel it. its alien. Legolas, who's grown up with stories of ages past, fiery creatures made to destroy elves. These things killed the greatest elves of the first age. Things of nightmares. Legolas who knows something is wrong, can feel the darkness take hold of his fëa and the thing from his nightmares, the horror stories is right there. And he's an elf, away from familiar grounds and starlight and there is a Balrog. He's and elf and thats a balrog.