Warning: SEVERE Lord of the Rings Geekiness
So, in light of my most recent spiral into the black hole that is the Lord of the Rings fandom (don't worry, this happens to me all the time), I was trying to pull together what I remember reading from Silmarillion (the history of the elves) and various google sites about the relationship between major elves in the trilogy and The Hobbit. So, here are my half-assed theories and a equally half-assed diagram.
SO. Establishing background for people who aren't as geeky as I am and have a life. 8D
Silmarillion background in a really, really short story format. So basically, a really really long time ago, elves were created in Middle Earth. They were the first sentient creatures to exist, which is why they're called the "First-Born". The Valar (demi-gods, or angels, or whatever you want to compared them to) then called them to Valinor, a paradise across the sea that was created specifically for the elves. So most of the elves traveled across Middle-Earth, got on ships, and left.
However, quite a few groups got left behind. The ones that NEVER tried to answer the call of Valinor are called the Avari ("Unwilling"), and it's believed that these are the ones that were imprisoned and turned into Orcs. All the ones that attempted to answer the call of Valinor are called the Eldar.
Now, the Eldar breaks off into three groups, two of which made it to Valinor and one of which did not. One of the groups that left for Valinor was called the Noldor, and they are said to be the wisest of the elves and were the most skilled 'blacksmiths', often creating things of great beauty. Many years later, this group came BACK to Middle-Earth for a reason that I will leave out because it takes much too long to explain, and amongst these people was Galadriel, the future Lady of Light. Galadriel was actually born in Valinor, so she and the Noldor were considered elves that had seen the "light of Valinor". These are the elves that brought with them Quenya, one of the two major elven languages.
Now, the group that was left behind but did attempt to go to Valinor are collectively called the Teleri, and are sometimes referred to as the Moriquendi ("Dark-elves") because they have not seen the light of Valinor. They were also broken off into numerous groups amongst themselves. The highest-ranking and wisest of these Dark-elves were called the Grey-Elves, or also called the Sindarin elves. They are the inventors of the most common Elven tongue, also called 'Sindarin'. However, I'm under the impression that most of the Moriquendi are Silvan elves, also known as "true" wood-elves.
Sorry if this is vastly confusing to people. This family tree will help.
Ah, yes, an interesting tidbit that people who have only seen the movies missed out on. Legolas was one of the last elves to leave Middle-Earth since he waited until Aragorn died before he set sail with Gimli for Valinor. Now, Legolas is a Sindarin elf, descended from the Teleri clan of elves who were left behind in Middle-Earth when other elves sailed for Valinor many ages ago. The Teleri are the only elves capable of making the Grey Ships that carried the remaining elves out of Middle-Earth at the end of the trilogy. Therefore, Legolas was described as having built a grey ship after the death of King Aragorn. Now, Galadriel and Elrond are both Noldor elves, so they would not have been capable of doing this. They did show another elf at the very end of the third movie standing behind Celeborn and Galadriel which I'm pretty sure is Cirdan, a famous elf (from the books) that took care of the ships at the Grey Havens (the 'port' from which everyone sails to Valinor from). I'm pretty sure he's also a Sindarin elf, or at the very least, also descended from the Teleri clan. Just an interesting tidbit.
Now, on to the LOTR trilogy itself...
During the time of the trilogy, there are three main elven kingdoms --Imladris ("Rivendell"), Lothlorien and Greenwood the Great (later called Mirkwood.) Imladris is ruled by Lord Elrond, Lothlorien is ruled by Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, and Mirkwood is ruled by King Thranduil, father of Legolas. Now, Lothlorien and Mirkwood are interesting because they are both made of a kingdom of Silvan elves ("true" wood elves) ruled by a class of higher-born, "noble" elves. The Noldor (Galadriel's people) were the ruling class amongst the Lorien elves, and the Sindarin/Sindar (Legolas and Thranduil's people) were the rulling class amongst the Mirkwood elves.
So, Prince Legolas is the son of King Thranduil, who is the son of King Oropher. These three are the only known members of the Royal Family of Mirkwood/Greenwood, and Oropher died in the first War of the Rings (on the slopes of Mt. Doom, that sort of thing.) Now, interesting enough, both Oropher and Celeborn hail from the ancient forest of Doriath, which was burned down/destroyed sometime in Age I or... something. (Can't remember.) Celeborn was Oropher's "distant kinsman" and was called a Prince of Doriath in the Silmarillion who fell in love with one of the maidens of the returning Noldor elves, Galadriel.
This means that Oropher's grandson, Legolas, is both related to Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien and also to Arwen of Imladris, who is Celeborn and Galadriel's grandchild. Interesting, but not too surprising. It's never shown in the movies (or in a deleted scene, sadly) but there was a scene filmed between Arwen and Legolas when the Fellowship was first leaving from Imladris. The two reached out and touched each other's face, which I assume means that they were close. (It'd make sense, with them being distant cousins.) The pics are here for anyone that doesn't believe me: here and here.
Another strange relationship, though this one is more common knowledge: Aragorn is a Dunedain, a long-lived race of men that is actually descended from Elros, Elrond's twin brother. Now, Elros and Elrond are themselves half-elf, half-man. (Elrond is often called "Elrond Half-Elven".) Elros chose to be a human, while Elrond chose to be an elf. But since Elros is still half-elf, his blood allows his descendants to live far longer than normal Men, though as the years go on his blood is diluted and they live shorter and shorter. Many generations later, Aragorn comes along, one of the last of the Dunedain and the future King of Gondor. He is raised by Elrond (technically his great-something-uncle) and is treated as a foster son, but he then falls in love with Arwen, who is actually the niece of his ancestors. So basically, Aragorn and Arwen are related, though they are many Men generations apart. Weird, but oh well, its Lord of the Rings.
So yeah. That's my Lord of the Rings rant, super simplified for people that have never read the triology (like me) or have never read the Silmarillion (which took me a whole summer to get through. @_@). Someone tell me if there are any huge glaring errors in my theory, lol.
By the way, I'm still waiting on who they're going to cast as Thranduil, the elven king and Legolas's father from the Hobbit. As stated before, Orlando Bloom wants to come back, but they're not sure whether they should invent a side story for Legolas (who was not invented until the trilogy) or just cast him as his own father. Personally, I'd LOVE for Jason Isaac, the actor for Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, to be cast as him. He already looks and acts the part. 8D
On the other hand, the two Hobbit movies are schedule for release, at the earliest, at 2011 and 2012. ;_; So far away...
...Okay so I fail. There was more I wanted to say that I forgot to say. XD So, basically, in descending order from the most powerful downward, here's a list of powerful 'creatures' in LOTR.
Illuvatar ("the One") > Valar > Maiar > Elves.
Illuvatar is basically God. He created the demi-gods, the Valar, to keep order and to take care of the elves. Maiar/Maia were creatures created by the Valar to help them. In Valinor, Maiar are actually very elven-like, beautiful creatures.
The first Dark Lord (and the war against him, fought by the Valar) took place before the Elves came into existence (I think). He was a rogue Valar called Melkor that set out to damage Valinor but was booted out by the rest of the Valar. At some point, he either created or corrupted a Maiar called Sauron into becoming the second Dark Lord when he was defeated. Sauron is, obviously, the Dark Lord referred to in the trilogy.
A lot of people don't know this, but while most of the Maiar stayed in Valinor, some of them were sent to Middle Earth to help with the war against Sauron. Instead of keeping their beautiful forms, they took the form of old men and they became known as the wizards. YES, GANDALF! So basically, Gandalf is on the same "plane" as Sauron. (Gandalf has many names, but his true Maia name is Olorin. No one knows what he looked like in his elven, "pretty" form, but a lot of people in the fandom keep saying he's blond, lol. Sauron's true name is Annatar, and his elf form was actually filmed but never shown in the movie! D: Look! SO PRETTY!)
Also, Balrogs are basically the equivalent of Orcs to Elves for the Maiar. They were tortured, mutilated (minor) Maiar that Sauron and Melkor corrupted. Hence, I think that's why the symbolism in the first movie of Gandalf vs the Balrog was so important.
SO. Establishing background for people who aren't as geeky as I am and have a life. 8D
Silmarillion background in a really, really short story format. So basically, a really really long time ago, elves were created in Middle Earth. They were the first sentient creatures to exist, which is why they're called the "First-Born". The Valar (demi-gods, or angels, or whatever you want to compared them to) then called them to Valinor, a paradise across the sea that was created specifically for the elves. So most of the elves traveled across Middle-Earth, got on ships, and left.
However, quite a few groups got left behind. The ones that NEVER tried to answer the call of Valinor are called the Avari ("Unwilling"), and it's believed that these are the ones that were imprisoned and turned into Orcs. All the ones that attempted to answer the call of Valinor are called the Eldar.
Now, the Eldar breaks off into three groups, two of which made it to Valinor and one of which did not. One of the groups that left for Valinor was called the Noldor, and they are said to be the wisest of the elves and were the most skilled 'blacksmiths', often creating things of great beauty. Many years later, this group came BACK to Middle-Earth for a reason that I will leave out because it takes much too long to explain, and amongst these people was Galadriel, the future Lady of Light. Galadriel was actually born in Valinor, so she and the Noldor were considered elves that had seen the "light of Valinor". These are the elves that brought with them Quenya, one of the two major elven languages.
Now, the group that was left behind but did attempt to go to Valinor are collectively called the Teleri, and are sometimes referred to as the Moriquendi ("Dark-elves") because they have not seen the light of Valinor. They were also broken off into numerous groups amongst themselves. The highest-ranking and wisest of these Dark-elves were called the Grey-Elves, or also called the Sindarin elves. They are the inventors of the most common Elven tongue, also called 'Sindarin'. However, I'm under the impression that most of the Moriquendi are Silvan elves, also known as "true" wood-elves.
Sorry if this is vastly confusing to people. This family tree will help.
Ah, yes, an interesting tidbit that people who have only seen the movies missed out on. Legolas was one of the last elves to leave Middle-Earth since he waited until Aragorn died before he set sail with Gimli for Valinor. Now, Legolas is a Sindarin elf, descended from the Teleri clan of elves who were left behind in Middle-Earth when other elves sailed for Valinor many ages ago. The Teleri are the only elves capable of making the Grey Ships that carried the remaining elves out of Middle-Earth at the end of the trilogy. Therefore, Legolas was described as having built a grey ship after the death of King Aragorn. Now, Galadriel and Elrond are both Noldor elves, so they would not have been capable of doing this. They did show another elf at the very end of the third movie standing behind Celeborn and Galadriel which I'm pretty sure is Cirdan, a famous elf (from the books) that took care of the ships at the Grey Havens (the 'port' from which everyone sails to Valinor from). I'm pretty sure he's also a Sindarin elf, or at the very least, also descended from the Teleri clan. Just an interesting tidbit.
Now, on to the LOTR trilogy itself...
During the time of the trilogy, there are three main elven kingdoms --Imladris ("Rivendell"), Lothlorien and Greenwood the Great (later called Mirkwood.) Imladris is ruled by Lord Elrond, Lothlorien is ruled by Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn, and Mirkwood is ruled by King Thranduil, father of Legolas. Now, Lothlorien and Mirkwood are interesting because they are both made of a kingdom of Silvan elves ("true" wood elves) ruled by a class of higher-born, "noble" elves. The Noldor (Galadriel's people) were the ruling class amongst the Lorien elves, and the Sindarin/Sindar (Legolas and Thranduil's people) were the rulling class amongst the Mirkwood elves.
So, Prince Legolas is the son of King Thranduil, who is the son of King Oropher. These three are the only known members of the Royal Family of Mirkwood/Greenwood, and Oropher died in the first War of the Rings (on the slopes of Mt. Doom, that sort of thing.) Now, interesting enough, both Oropher and Celeborn hail from the ancient forest of Doriath, which was burned down/destroyed sometime in Age I or... something. (Can't remember.) Celeborn was Oropher's "distant kinsman" and was called a Prince of Doriath in the Silmarillion who fell in love with one of the maidens of the returning Noldor elves, Galadriel.
This means that Oropher's grandson, Legolas, is both related to Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien and also to Arwen of Imladris, who is Celeborn and Galadriel's grandchild. Interesting, but not too surprising. It's never shown in the movies (or in a deleted scene, sadly) but there was a scene filmed between Arwen and Legolas when the Fellowship was first leaving from Imladris. The two reached out and touched each other's face, which I assume means that they were close. (It'd make sense, with them being distant cousins.) The pics are here for anyone that doesn't believe me: here and here.
Another strange relationship, though this one is more common knowledge: Aragorn is a Dunedain, a long-lived race of men that is actually descended from Elros, Elrond's twin brother. Now, Elros and Elrond are themselves half-elf, half-man. (Elrond is often called "Elrond Half-Elven".) Elros chose to be a human, while Elrond chose to be an elf. But since Elros is still half-elf, his blood allows his descendants to live far longer than normal Men, though as the years go on his blood is diluted and they live shorter and shorter. Many generations later, Aragorn comes along, one of the last of the Dunedain and the future King of Gondor. He is raised by Elrond (technically his great-something-uncle) and is treated as a foster son, but he then falls in love with Arwen, who is actually the niece of his ancestors. So basically, Aragorn and Arwen are related, though they are many Men generations apart. Weird, but oh well, its Lord of the Rings.
So yeah. That's my Lord of the Rings rant, super simplified for people that have never read the triology (like me) or have never read the Silmarillion (which took me a whole summer to get through. @_@). Someone tell me if there are any huge glaring errors in my theory, lol.
By the way, I'm still waiting on who they're going to cast as Thranduil, the elven king and Legolas's father from the Hobbit. As stated before, Orlando Bloom wants to come back, but they're not sure whether they should invent a side story for Legolas (who was not invented until the trilogy) or just cast him as his own father. Personally, I'd LOVE for Jason Isaac, the actor for Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, to be cast as him. He already looks and acts the part. 8D
On the other hand, the two Hobbit movies are schedule for release, at the earliest, at 2011 and 2012. ;_; So far away...
...Okay so I fail. There was more I wanted to say that I forgot to say. XD So, basically, in descending order from the most powerful downward, here's a list of powerful 'creatures' in LOTR.
Illuvatar ("the One") > Valar > Maiar > Elves.
Illuvatar is basically God. He created the demi-gods, the Valar, to keep order and to take care of the elves. Maiar/Maia were creatures created by the Valar to help them. In Valinor, Maiar are actually very elven-like, beautiful creatures.
The first Dark Lord (and the war against him, fought by the Valar) took place before the Elves came into existence (I think). He was a rogue Valar called Melkor that set out to damage Valinor but was booted out by the rest of the Valar. At some point, he either created or corrupted a Maiar called Sauron into becoming the second Dark Lord when he was defeated. Sauron is, obviously, the Dark Lord referred to in the trilogy.
A lot of people don't know this, but while most of the Maiar stayed in Valinor, some of them were sent to Middle Earth to help with the war against Sauron. Instead of keeping their beautiful forms, they took the form of old men and they became known as the wizards. YES, GANDALF! So basically, Gandalf is on the same "plane" as Sauron. (Gandalf has many names, but his true Maia name is Olorin. No one knows what he looked like in his elven, "pretty" form, but a lot of people in the fandom keep saying he's blond, lol. Sauron's true name is Annatar, and his elf form was actually filmed but never shown in the movie! D: Look! SO PRETTY!)
Also, Balrogs are basically the equivalent of Orcs to Elves for the Maiar. They were tortured, mutilated (minor) Maiar that Sauron and Melkor corrupted. Hence, I think that's why the symbolism in the first movie of Gandalf vs the Balrog was so important.