[Mithalwen]

Well I had the horror of my elder sister who had sneered at my Tolkien obsession throughout my adolescence suddenly getting interested because she liked Orlando Bloom ... I mean how ghastly is that? At her age it practically counts as a midlife crisis....grrrrrrrrrrrr Orlando Bloom is harmless enough. The role has brought him fame disproprotionate to his ability but such is the way of the world. He is not my vision of Legolas (who was a favourite of mine too when I first read the book) so I have filtered him out.... you will get him back. The book Legolas is still whatever he was. In my opinion virtually all the characters were demeaned in the film in relation to their book - if you think Legolas is hit hard, think about poor Elrond whose nobility and sacrifice is transformed in to a petulant MD and slightly creepy Dad... or Faramir..... PJ's vision doesn't have to destroy yours... I know have a composite in my head comprising of my own imaginings, Tolkien's picture overlapped with favourite aspects of the film and radio..... Personally I resent these scenes not because of Legolas's tricks - I thought the Troll chain walk was an acceptable sub for Legolas's running a rope across the Celebrant- but because they were overlong and left less time for character development.

For the surfing I merely attempted to provide factual information .... however I found the Gimli related incidents more intrusive and disrupting to the "suspension of disbelief" ("nobody tosses a Dwarf " etc....)