...disseminating a wee bit of propaganda. Those of you who plan to vote or have voted for Thranduil, take a minute to peruse this well-written and readable essay-
http://henneth-annun.net/stories/cha...56&SPOrdinal=1
By voting for Thranduil, you are following a stereotype trod by thousands of Legolas fangirls, demonising the "evil father"; and neglecting the evidence in the Hobbit and the LOTR appendices, which definitely settles on Thranduil being a good, even great king. Remember also that he was the last Elvenking on Middle-earth; truly the last whose realm was free, if not "fair and free", of ancient Sindarin race and great practical abilities.
You are also rejecting the closest Tolkien's Elves come to a truly beautiful and chilling piece of our folklore; the fay wood-dwellers, the Hunters of the forests, in a word, the elfin-court, as celebrated in its marvellous, terrifying brilliance in ballads like Tam Lin:
"I used to go out hunting
But I fell from my horse one day.
The Queen of Fairies captured me
And in their land I must stay.
"The faerie land is a pleasant place
But there's a darker side as well.
At the end of every seven years
They make a sacrifice to hell.
Later on:
The faerie horses came riding by
In the middle of the night
And some were black and some were brown
But Tam Lin's was milk-white.
She pulled him down from off his horse
With her arms around his shape.
The faerie court gave an angry yell
"Tam Lin is trying to escape!"
And:
At last he was himself again
So she wrapped him in her cloak.
She was rejoicing in her victory
When the Queen of Faeries spoke.
"If I had know, Tam Lin," she says
"that you were up to no good
I'd have taken out your green eyes
and put in eyes of wood."
"If I had known, Tam Lin," she says
"you would have always been alone!
For I'd have taken out your mortal heart
And put in a heart of stone."
Incredible, heartrending, poetic tradition; represented by Thranduil the Elvenking. I entreat you all, if you are swayed, change your votes to Gollum.