Thranduil

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Character
Name: Thranduil
Occupation:
Relationships: son Legolas
Fandom: Tolkien, The Hobbit
Other:
Thranduil by Zeilyan (2015)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Thranduil is an elf character who appears in The Hobbit and is referenced in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. He is the father of Legolas and is the king of the elves in Mirkwood. In the Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy, he is played by Lee Pace.

Fandom

Thranduil fanworks existed before the 2012 Hobbit film. Legolas is one of the most popular LotR characters, and Thranduil is often written in the context of his son's upbringing. Portrayals as a bad or even abusive father predominate to the point that Evil!Thranduil was a noted cliche, which Coriel described in 2004 as unquestionably the prime chimera of fanon Elvendom.[1] Evil!Thranduil is lampooned, for example, in Thranduil: Owner's Guide and Maintenance Manual:

The Mk I THRANDUIL comes with three preset modes:

Royal Attitude - when set in this mode, your THRANDUIL will become assertive, stubborn and somewhat argumentative.

Family Instinct - in this mode, THRANDUIL acts fatherly to younger elves, lost animals, and small beings (except dwarves: see above), and triggers the 'Doting Husband©' programme towards you.

Gleeful Elfling - this mode will make your THRANDUIL sly, cheeky, fun-loving, and fond of merrymaking.

The Mk II THRANDUIL has only one setting:

Tyrant - no matter to what model he is interacting with, be it GALADRIEL or LEGOLAS, your THRANDUIL will be obnoxious and volatile to the point of temper tantrums.[2]

All Aboard the Party Elk, Archived version, animated line art by gingerhaze (December 23, 2012)[3]

He's often portrayed as an obstacle to the Legolas/Gimli pairing. The rift between the Mirkwood elves and the Rivendell elves also generated backstories both humorous & angsty. Those works that don't go the Evil!Thranduil route often assume that his wife is nowhere mentioned because she's dead, and pile on the angst.

There was an uptick in Thranduil's popularity following the film, possibly encouraged by interest in the actor (who was known to fandom through other roles). Tumblr fandom is very active, with many fanart and cosplay posts, as well as gifs and screencaps.

A series of fanart posts by gingerhaze on Tumblr depicting Thranduil as a "dwarf racist party dad" starting in August 2012[4] inspired many more fanworks. See Thranduil wearing shutter shades and a cosplay inspired by it.

After the release of the films, several pairings with Thranduil were shipped, such as with Thorin or Bard.

Example Fanworks

Pre-film

Meta

Post-film


Shipping Art

Resources

Canon Resources

References

  1. ^ A Case of Mistaken Identity by Coriel (accessed 24 January 2014)
  2. ^ Thranduil: Owner's Guide and Maintenance Manual by Allocin
  3. ^ 15,242 notes on tumblr as of 4 December 2018.
  4. ^ This post by gingerhaze on August 30, 2012 appears to be his first with Thranduil in shutter shades.
  5. ^ The original post has since been deleted, but has 16,343 notes on tumblr as of 4 December 2018.reblog, Archived version
  6. ^ 631 notes as of 4 December 2018.
  7. ^ 14,956 notes as of 4 December 2018.