10 Worst Changes Peter Jackson Made To The Hobbit

Officially Legolas does not get a mention in Tolkien's The Hobbit. It's doubtful the writer had even conceived of the character at the point he wrote the book. But it would make sense for him to be knocking around at the time of the story. He is after all, an elf, and therefore old enough to have been alive. Being the son of Thranduil, he likely would have been at the Battle of Five Armies, as well.

So his inclusion in the films wasn't necessarily unwarranted, or even unwise, but it was poorly executed. Portraying Legolas as a somewhat moody and even arrogant teen-elf seemed to be what Jackson was going for. But given that this was only 60 years before The Lord of the Rings - Jackson specified Legolas was almost 3,000 years old in his original trilogy - it left the whole angsty-teen elf thing feeling inconsistent with Jackson's established world.

The real issue was all the logic-defying acrobatics Orlando Bloom displayed throughout the story. It was one thing to see him using a shield as a skate board in The Two Towers, but when he defied the laws of gravity by walking on falling rocks, it just got silly.