8. Legolas Is Not In The Book
Arguably one of the most popular characters from the original movie trilogy, Legolas was an Elf prince from Mirkwood who accompanied the Fellowship when they first set out from Rivendell on their quest to destroy the Ring. He joined forces with Aragorn and Gimli to rescue Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-Hai and played an instrumental role at the Battle of Helm's Deep. His Elven reflexes made him faster and stronger than his companions and allowed him to perform extraordinary feats of martial prowess that left audiences' mouths hanging open in awe and admiration. Needless to say, expectations for the planned Hobbit movies skyrocketed when it was announced that Orlando Bloom would be reprising his role of Legolas for the prequel movies. This was a move that initially made some sense; the Dwarves were held prisoner in his father Thranduil's kingdom, so it was to be expected that he might put in an appearance or two. However, his involvement in the movie narrative proved to be much more pervasive than that; he has an active role in the subplot and is once more a major character, a far cry from the book where he doesn't appear at all.