"Do not speak to me of dragon fire"

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

EDIT: Oddly enough, in "Flies and Spiders" the narration states of the Elvenking "His people neither mined nor worked metals or jewels, nor did they bother much with trade or with tilling the earth." Seems an odd thing of Professor Tolkien to write – if they traded little, but also didn't mine and smith their own metal or grow much of their own food, how did they eat and maintain their armouries?

Well, there is the small matter of their magically creating and disappearing a feast three times in a row... Given the nature of The Hobbit, I think it's entirely feasible that Tolkien was writing them as far more 'fairy' than his normal elves.

Alternately, maybe they lived entirely on hunted white deer and cave-grown mushrooms (washed down with a healthy dose of Dorwinion wine, which was presumably tribute, not trade, if they didn't trade...). Maybe we can craft a fanfic where the early Hobbits pass through Thranduil's halls on their way to the Anduin Vale and pick up their racial +1 to Mushroom-eating there...

[Nerwen]

So, have we established there isn't anything more about Thranduil's history with dragons in the EE?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Well, there is the small matter of their magically creating and disappearing a feast three times in a row... Given the nature of The Hobbit, I think it's entirely feasible that Tolkien was writing them as far more 'fairy' than his normal elves.

The "fey" nature of the Silvan Elves in TH certainly reflects the folklore of the British Isles (particularly Gaelic Ireland, Wales and Scotland), where unwanted visitors stumble upon a glimpse of Faery (usually walking into a "fairy ring" - a circular growth of mushrooms), only to have the scene suddenly snuffed out and the bewildered person left alone in the dark (or in more malign tales spirited away forever). The appearance of a white hart or stag also portends the supernatural, and is a motif often used in the Arthurian cycle. That the ElvenKing lives in a subterranean palace fits perfectly with Celtic mythos.

[The Sixth Wizard]

I actually thought that was a fairly good addition. Tolkien's characterisation of Thranduil in The Hobbit was a bit light (although it didn't matter, as he was a bit part character in a light children's story). The reveal visually emphasised Thranduil's magical nature and his ancient age, and gave him a more compelling reason for being recalcitrant than just being a suspicious old elf (which works in the books but not really in a film context where we are used to the Elves being paragons of virtue).

It's one example of these movies' central problem. They had a few good story ideas peppered throughout a rushed, trashy mess. They should have been given twice the time to make two quality movies with a clear directorial vision. We got to see glimpses of the movies they could have been i.e. slightly more fantastical and lighter in tone than LOTR, closer to Tolkien's vision, with more exploration of the races of Middle Earth, instead of LOTR's huge set piece good-vs-evil battles. It's a shame they had so little of Gollum riddling and dwarves singing, and so much Legolas CGI acrobatics.