Thranduil in The Hobbit

[martasfic]

TOR.n has a photo of Lee Pace dressed in his Thranduil outfit, taken from a movie-tie-in book.

Thranduil picture (spoilers, obviously)

It's hard to make too much of a photo, but he seems too... Lothlorienish? to me. That makes sense given Thranduil was a prince of Doriath, just like Celeborn, and also because he's just an elf with fair-colored hair. Also because he's Legolas's dad; there's a definite resemblance going on here.

Still, from a cultural standpoint, this look is too stern. Not really what I expected given the book - Thranduil is obviously a king, but this look makes him seem almost like a high elf. Which would be one of those things that ends up bothering me unless this is his look for council and they balance that with less regimented wardrobe in other contexts. I'll withhold judgment, of course, until I actually see the move.

Comments

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

*nods* Promo pics don't always reflect the film very accurately, but I agree. Although somehow I can't imagine an elven king wearing, you know, sweatpants and trainers... *g*

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

No, but I can imagine an elf wearing something simpler and more flowy. Something about this just looks so stern. Given the description we get in the book before the dwarves' capture (before he's, you know, interrogating prisoners), this just isn't the mental image I have of him.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's lovely and just the way I imagine him at that timeframe of his life. I like!

- Erulisse (one L)

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

Good to have your opinion! I do hope I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[gwynnyd.livejournal.com]

Simpler, yes. Flowy - not so much. Have you ever tried to climb a tree wearing, long, flowy garments, or even just big, dangly sleeves? I do not recommend it.

Smooth fitting, neutral colors look like very good camouflage to me!

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

One does wonder how Galadriel and Arwen managed those sleeves over the years. You can't tell me a woman who lives in a flet never once wanted to camp out in the crook of a tree-branch.

[aearwen2.livejournal.com]

I agree that he looks fantastic, although I expected his hair to be more golden. I really am not fond of the crown, though. And as for the clothing, I'm wondering if these pics came from the latter part, where he's in armor while leading the army? Maybe we haven't seen the Thranduil that tosses the dwarves & hobbit into the wine cellar?

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I suspect they were trying to make him look more like Legolas with that hair, Aearwen. Though you're right, it is way too platinum for our golden-haired elvenking. As for the clothes, I hope you're right, as Cel said, it really is difficult to tell too much from still shots, particularly promotional shots like these.

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

What's UP with the dark brown eyebrows beneath the platinum blond hair???

Thanks for the eye candy, anyway :)

[telperion1.livejournal.com]

Is that normal? Id din't even notice it. Glad to offer the eye candy, in any case.

[telperion1.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've actually read your comment now - I at first thought eyes but you said eyebrows. Yes, that is definitely odd!

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

He does look rather Celeborn-ish. To repeat more or less what I just said on jay_of_lasgalen's thread, I like the fierceness, but my mental Thranduil is a little more, I don't know, grumpy; and I'd never pictured him as quite that flamboyant (my!Thranduil would think that outfit was terribly Lothlorien, dahling).

(I have this theory that Thranduil is secretly more like a Dwarf - stubborn, proud, loyal, practical, grumpy - than he'd ever admit, and that this may be both why he is so prickly about them, and also why Legolas ultimately becomes bosom friends with a Dwarf...)

I also have an uneasy feeling he's dancing just on the edge of campness, which after the way Celeborn turned out in FoTR has me slightly concerned. But I'm willing to be convinced!

(OTOH I can, somehow, believe this is Orlando!Bloom!Legolas's father. After all, Legolas betrayed a certain weakness for glittery tunics at Aragorn and Arwen's wedding...)

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that I have nuzgul off a publicity photo? I'm imagining this being some artist's idea of helping Mirkwood's cause by making their king look like a fashionable Lothlorien elf - a portrait that Thranduil never consented to and certainly didn't approve of, and Legolas's turning up in that ridiculous (if pretty) tunic at Aragorn's wedding was a way of poking fun at Dear Old Dad.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

OWWWwww! Gerroff bunny!