Editing Thranduil (section)

==Reception and analysis==

[[File:Battle Under the Trees.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Battle Under the Trees'': [[Tom Loback]]'s depiction of [[Dol Guldur]]'s attack on Thranduil's wood-elves in [[Mirkwood]]]]

===Tolkien===

In an article published by ''[[Tor.com]]'' as part of a bi-weekly series titled "Exploring the People of Middle-earth", Megan N. Fontenot found it surprising that in ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', none of the attendees at the [[Council of Elrond]] pays much attention to Legolas' status as Thranduil's heir. Fontenot found the lore behind Thranduil to be underdeveloped, as his name appeared more often in the Appendices than in the main narrative.<ref>{{cite web |last=Fontenot |first=Megan N. |url=https://www.tor.com/2019/06/27/exploring-the-people-of-middle-earth-legolas-a-radical-warrior/|title=Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Legolas, a Radical Warrior |date=27 June 2019 |website=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=20 January 2020}}</ref>

[[Tom Loback]], writing in ''[[Mythlore]]'', attempts to evaluate the strength of the [[orc]] forces that attacked Thranduil in the battle under Mirkwood's dark trees (Dagor Dauroth). He estimated, on the basis of the standard words that Tolkien uses for military forces, and the need for the forces to be superior to Thranduil's, that the Witch-king used a "legion" of around 10,000 orcs for the initial reconnaissance<!-- in June 3018-->, and an "army" of 2 or 3 legions of orcs, for the main attack.<ref name="Loback 1990">{{cite journal |last=Loback |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Loback |title=Orc Hosts, Armies and Legions: A Demographic Study |journal=Mythlore |date=1990 |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=10–16 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol16/iss4/2/}}</ref>

===''The Hobbit'' film trilogy===
[[File:Elvenking by Nolwyn.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|left|Fan art of Thranduil, the Elvenking]]

Lee Pace's portrayal of the Elvenking in Jackson's film trilogy was received warmly. Dennis Perkins from ''The A.V. Club'' found that Pace's "eerie intensity" made him a "fine elf king".<ref name="AV"/> Alisha Coelho from ''[[India Times]]'' described Pace's Thranduil as "a cold, calculative and condescending king" who is prettier than [[Galadriel]] but has less heart than [[Elrond]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=5 Reasons To Watch The New Hobbit Film |date=16 December 2013 |access-date=19 January 2021 |website=[[India Times]] |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/5-new-characters-to-watch-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-for-117432.html }}</ref> ''[[Business Review]]'' praised Pace's "aggressive" Thranduil as one of the better performances of ''The Battle of the Five Armies'', and said that the movie gives audiences a better insight into the Elvenking's motivations as well as the reasons behind his isolationist outlook.<ref name="BR 2014">{{cite news |last=Anon |title=Movie review – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies |url=https://business-review.eu/featured/movie-review-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-74398 |access-date=18 January 2021 |work=Business Review |date=17 December 2014}}</ref>

Nathan Caddell from ''[[The Georgia Straight]]'' observed that Pace "tried to stay as loyal as he could to the source material that he loved, using any small crumbs to try to gain more information about his role", and noted that while it is debatable as to whether Thranduil is an evil character, the "vindictive elf" is a departure from Pace's previous roles, which reflected his warm personality.<ref name=Straight/> In a review of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray edition of ''The Desolation Of Smaug'', M. Enois Duarte from ''High-Def Digest'' wrote that the confrontation between Thorin and Thranduil was one of the more interesting aspects of the expanded material introduced by Jackson's vision of Tolkien's original narrative for ''The Hobbit''.<ref name="Duarte 2020">{{cite web |last=Duarte |first=M. Enois |title=The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug- 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |url=https://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/90910/thehobbitthedesolationofsmaug4kultrahdbluray.html|publisher=High-Def Digest |access-date=19 January 2021 |date=14 December 2020}}</ref>

Conversely, Kirsten Acuna from ''[[Business Insider]]'' found the depiction of Thranduil's motivations in the film series contradictory; she observed that he repeatedly stresses the prioritization of his people's lives to justify his unwillingness to help other communities in ''The Desolation of Smaug'', and yet in the sequel is willing to risk the same over a war for the White Gems. Nevertheless, she found Thranduil to be much more likeable by the end of ''The Battle of the Five Armies''.<ref name="BI 2014">{{cite news |title=The New 'Hobbit' Movie Is Basically A Toned-Down Version Of The Final 'Lord Of The Rings' |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/hobbit-battle-of-the-five-armies-review-2014-12 |access-date=18 January 2021 |work=[[Business Insider]] |date=16 December 2014}}</ref>

Tanja Välisalo, in an empirical study of the audience reception of ''The Hobbit'' films, found that Thranduil was mentioned by just under 5% of respondents, placing him 7th in the list of people's favourites among the films' cast of characters.<ref name="Välisalo 2017">{{cite journal |last=Välisalo |first=Tanja Välialo |title=Engaging with film characters: Empirical study on the reception of characters in The Hobbit films |journal=Fafnir: Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research |date=2017 |volume=4 |issue=3–4 |pages=12–30 |url=https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/57621}}</ref> They found the character sexually attractive, along with Thorin (played by the "handsome" [[Richard Armitage (actor)|Richard Armitage]]).<ref name="Välisalo 2017"/> In addition, the audience had an "allegiance" to the character; Välisalo cites as illustration comments like "Thranduil truly captured me"<ref name="Välisalo 2017"/> and "this character's make-up and character design ... were a perfect success."<ref name="Välisalo 2017"/>{{-}}