One of my favourite things about Legolas is that he keeps referring to the rest of the Fellowship as 'children' in the books. 😂 The movies did him dirty by taking all his sass away.
I particularly missed his levity when he was prancing around on top of the snow drifts coming down from Caradhras while the rest of the Fellowship were laboring through it. He was probably lucky none of the others had a bow. ;-)
"raise high the black flags muh children! ... no mercy, no pity for the French, i personally shoot anyone who shows pity to the French" in case you don't know the reference - it's Blucher from Battle of Waterloo
In addition to OP's comment, I believe (it's been a while since I've read the books) that when he, Gimli, and Aragorn approach Fangorn, he says something about the forest making him feel young, so who knows how old he is lol.
@@GiaSesshoumaru I personally like to think that he's an Elf of the Second Age, but reasonably, he could far, far older than even _that_ - sometimes, I like to think about the possibility that he's older than Elrond (who isn't actually all _that_ old when compared to some of the truly ancient Elves), and that possibly brings me much joy. :D
The very best! It is a fully fleshed-out, functioning world with detailed languages, jaw-dropping environments, thousands of years of history, battles, & genealogies, several races of beings themselves with detailed backstories, and a well-developed religious/creation/god mythos. A review of the source material that Tolkien’s son, Christopher, published after his father’s death reveals that the only limiting factor was that a human life (JRR Tolkien’s) was not long enough to bring it fully to fruition in glorious detail, as “The Lord of the Rings” story was.
Ironically, Pip is the youngest hobbit while Billy is the oldest of the four to play the four main hobbits, while Frodo is the oldest hobbit but has the youngest of the four actors, Elijah.
@@julieeverett7442 how sam is older than frodo? Its said Frodo is 51 and Sam is 37 in this video. Yes, he is not growing old since age of 33 but technically he is 51.
It should be mentioned that Boromir (and Faramir) has numenorean blood, like Aragon. Aragon's blood is more pure, but Boromir ages slowly relative to regular humans as well, just not as much as Aragon. Hence why he is both such a good leader and has such a youthful physique and energy.
Yes, a lot of the stewards of Gondor lived to about 95-100. Kind of a similar lifespan to hobbits, maybe. Faramir made it to 120 but he was apparently kind of an exception who by chance inherited more numenorean genes than most of his family.
I'm not sure how you figure that since Tolkien never provided a year of birth for Legolas. If we reckon his age according to background material for the films (born in T.A. 87) then he was as young as 2,914 years old or as old as 2,931 year old at the time of the Council of Elrond (depending on if we are looking at the films or the book).
@@otaku-sempai2197 And that my friend is just a few years shy of 3000, by the time you're over 2000 years old, a mere 86 or 69 years from 3000 isn't much.
@@Thorinox It is close to 3000 years, but it is also not canonical to Tolkien's legendarium. It also does not place Legolas at the Battle of Dagorlad (as somebody attempted to to).
To show how mature Merry and Pippin become, in the book, Merry and Pippin upon coming home and finding bandits have taken over the shire put together a full-on army and lead the hobbits to victory crushing their adversaries. Both were wearing full plate armor (Aragorn never releases Pippen from his duty to Gondor, but allows him to go home and protect the shire in the name of the King. Merry has the Armor of Rohan) and both become the keepers/protectors of the law in the shire. Merry and Pippin also are known to be two of the three tallest hobbits in history due to the Ent water they drank.
One nitpick, in the book no one has full plate armor, the Guard of the Citadel of Minas Tirith and the Rohirrim are all described as wearing mail. IIRC Pippin's armor was made for Faramir when he was a young boy. Full plate armor has to be custom-made for the wearer. Some of the characters are described as wearing individual pieces of plate (cuirasses and for Imrahil vambaces) but that's not the same as a full articulated suit.
All of the ainur (the maiar and valar) were created by eru before the creation of arda, Gandalf is the oldest member of the fellowship by a gigantic margin
The time from the first thought of Eru and the singing of the songs of creation is an uncounted eternity. Gandalf goes back billions of years to the before there was anything.
@@cadengrace5466 - True, and he was around during the shaping of Arda as were pretty much all Maiar, but it sounds like they are measuring his age based on his avatar as Gandalf. In that guise, he's been around a LONG time, but not as long as some (Treebeard, for example).
@@BreandanOCiarrai Treebeard was created by Yavanna in response to "her" "husband's" work in creating the Dwarves known as the Seven Fathers. Because the Dwarves favored gems and metals above all else, she feared that they would burn down all that she created - she was sort of the Middle Earth version of Mother Nature. Eru gave her permission to create a Guardian of the Woods, the Ents that would stand against the Dwarves when they sought to burn down the forests of Middle Earth. The Elves refer to the Ents as Eldest becuace the Ents were the first intelligent species to live in Middle Earth, long before the Elves and Dwarves and Men. The Eagles came in a close second to the Ents and are sometimes thought to be in league with the Ents since they also do the bidding of Yavanna or her aids. Gandalf as Orilin was a direct student of Yavanna.
@@rikk319 Yeah...and? I never said Yavanna created them just that they were the second intelligence upon Middle Earth and are often regarded along with the Ents as guardians of the world, watching and protecting and answering the call of the Valar and the Maiar.
one thing i always found interesting about gimlee is that in the hobbit series when the dwarf company is being taken in by the elves and their stuff is being gone through, legolas finds a locket and asks one of the dwarves what the hideous beast is and the dwarf responds with "that's my wee lad, gimlee" just always though it was cool to see that legolas saw his future companion and friend many years before they would even meet
@@melol560 true, but thats also before his character development in the lord of the rings so hes no that great of a person yet haha still a cool little nod to the first series tho
@@mythicalfox24 Legolas didn't even exist in Tolkien's mind until well into the writing of LotR, years after the Hobbit was published. He was going to make Glorfindel (who in the book played the role Arwen played in the movie in finding Aragorn and the hobbits in the wilderness and bringing Frodo to Rivendell) a member of the Fellowship but decided against it and created Legolas - a much younger and less powerful person by elven standards - to take his place. Glorfindel had killed a Balrog in single combat in the First Age, died in the process, and been reincarnated, so I guess JRRT decided he was a bit too OP and would overshadow Aragorn in those terms in the Fellowship.
@@amiradatumanong9092 That's.....because he IS! Bilbo was closest to his cousin Frodo whom he took in as he needed an heir to inherit Bag End and he felt who better to fill that role than the spunky young Frodo who he seemed so fond of instead of leaving it to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, whom he really didn't care for, putting it mildly, and started referring to Himself as Frodo's Uncle and declared Frodo his heir, It stuck and hence forth people started to refer to Bilbo as Frodo's Uncle.
Heres their ages in lotr for anyone not wanting to finish the video Pippin - 29 Merry - 37 Sam - 39 Boromir - 40 Frodo - 51 Aragorn - 88 Gimli - 140 Legolas - 500???? Gandalf - old
@@Kareem_Saad_Al-Deen_ he’s a maia reborn. He’s sent to earth with vulnerabilities that he didn’t have when he was part of the Maiar and has very little memory of it.
I watched the three when I was a kid and then never again until just a few months ago, when I got the whole set of extended editions. I'd mostly forgotten them, so it was like seeing it new again. They're really great.
I still watch it occasionally... to such degree that my husband teases me why the need to watch it over and over as I already have memorized the dialogue 😂😂😂
dispite several bad decisions, the production of all 6 movies is just amazing. for me the fellowship is the best of all, great writting, almost no CGI (compared with the rest), action well balanced with slow shots....
Lmao I love the whole aesthetic of the film but I only watched an unexpected journey last week I havent watched any others (call me a fake fan idc I'm so looking forward to watching the rest of them cos I love what I've seen and the videos I've seen on CZcams and tiktok
What the hell is a Maria Duck? And Frodo left after his 50th birthday, not 51st. Tolkien (or Frodo if you will) chose this age because Bilbo also went on an adventure at the age of 50 (in The Hobbit).
he was 35 when he got the ring but didnt leave on the quest till he was 70. its in the original book but the film made changes and the later books were rewritten to fit in with the film.
20 years in December 2021. Man, I feel old! I still love these films 🤎🤍🤎. So few books and movies hold their power for so long. Just goes too show how special these stories are, and how well Peter Jackson made these films. Not alone, but by ensuring he got the best actors, writers, editors, special effects team, makeup artists, sword makers, set designers, etc...Absolute masterpieces. Anyone else still get goosebumps when Sauron is destroyed, and everyone close to death realizes Frodo and Sam succeeded 🌋? I highly recommend any fan, casual or otherwise, to watch the behind the scenes extras for each film. Peter Jackson dedicated staff to film all the things happening behind the cameras while the movies were being made, not as an afterthought. Because of this, there must be a 100+ hours of fascinating details. If you’re someone trying to get into the industry, you will get a lot of good information. I’m going to repurchase the 4K this Christmas 🎄.
He still ruined the end with the mawkish departure from the Grey Havens and ignored the maturing of the Hobbits as a force to be reckoned with. They were seen, partly because of Pippin and Merry's youth as little more than children when the whole race of halflings are strong enough to defend their home and rebuild the parts of it that are valuable. They aren't subject to the greed of Men or the craving for power that could afflict the elves and wizards. So that suits them to get on with impossible tasks.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the best adapted book series to film. Even though there are many instances of major characters and events changed for the film. It makes the story more precise. These stories are timeless. And we will forever have fans through the decades.
I've watched over a hundred videos on Tolkien's stories, and this is easily one of the very BEST. It offers some amazing insight on each of the members of Fellowship, in their own context, and it perfectly matches how Tolkien portrayed them. Well done, Looper.
Well, I'm only 1:21 into the video and am troubled by inaccuracy already. Although Pippin looking into the Palantir was useful, it wasn't because he prevented Gandalf from looking into it (in both the book and the movie, I don't think Gandalf was ever tempted to do so). It was because it misled Sauron into thinking that Saruman had at least one hobbit in captivity and might already have the ring in his possession. This served as another distraction to keep Sauron unaware of Frodo and Sam's mission. After watching the next 14 seconds, they couldn't even bother to make sure that the narrator would know how to pronounce "Meriadoc"???? This is pretty basic stuff.
Aragorn is rare but not unique in the population of Middle Earth. He may be the First, but he is still but one of the remaining Numenorians in Exile, all of whom possess similarly long lives. Others of this population include the Rangers of the North, the purer of Numenorian blood in Gondor, and quite possibly a large percentage of the citizens of Dol Amroth.
Yes Gandalf is the older by far. As he said :” 300 lives of men I lived, and now I’m running out of time” putting him at about 25,000-30,000 years old. Damn....
@@julieeverett7442 There are quite a few more Maiar than that. They were present at the making of the world. Gandalf was originally Olorin so is older than the world. The original plan was to have only one level of gods under illuvatar but after Tolkien started to create the characters he realised there were too many and created the lesser rank of Maiar to assist the Valar. Of all the creation stories from religion or stories, I like Tolkiens the best, creating a world via music is just so beautiful.
Frodo left the Shire at his 50th bday, not 51. He shared the same bday with Bilbo. Also, Bilbo was at the same age when he left with the dwarves. Frodo’s 51th bday was when they were again in Rivendell, after the Quest.
@@andrewmcgregor6507 yup and that song (the last goodbye) was a beautiful homage to all six movies and to the Lord Of The Rings universe in general, if u were a fan of the movies and maybe the books it would make u cry or get an emotional response and even if ur not it is still simply well and beautifully done.
I liked how pippin was the youngest hobbit, yet billy boyd was the eldest of the four, yet still makes you believe he's the little guy (accidental pun not intended but screw it)
Isn't Legolas fighting alongside the Elves in the prologue. He's in a shot bracing himself as Sauron is exploding. That would make him 3,000 years old at least just like Elrond.
Arwen is older than Legolas and she was about 2777 give or take when the Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkein claims Legolas was considered a teenager among Elves, that is why you see him act like such in the movies, they based on Tolkien's notes about Legoas to determine how he would act. We do know her birth date...TA 241 and when she was married TA 3019, this would make her 2778. Tolkien seems to suggest that Legolas is much younger, though he never gives an exact date of birth. EDIT: That's the movies. It is almost certain he wasn't there in the books. We know this because he doesn't know much about the Ring at the meeting of it. In fact, he isn't even the main Elf at the meeting sent to represent. He wasn't even meant to be at that meeting, he was sent by his father Thranduil with ill news of Gollums escape. Gandalf and Aragorn don't even know him well. It was Glorfindel, who was there representing the Elves.
Legolas isn't there. The person you are thinking of is a completely different actor and character, though it could possibly be a representation of his father Thranduil as just a little Easter egg
@@StacieMMeier Yeah he is 2931, so was not around for the second age battle of the last Alliance his father was there, but was a prince, not yet the king.
Legolas wasn't born then orephor his grandfather fought in the last alliance it's his elves you see in the dead marshes legolas' father stayed in mirkwood
What will really cook your noggins, for people unfamiliar with Gandalf and how the rules work for him. When he died after fighting the Balrog he simply went back to "where he came from" so to speak. And even though he was only gone for a short time in the eyes of the "mortals" it was something like 1000 years? Or so, in the void while he waited to be brought back as Gandalf the White. So even though he wasn't on the planet, he was living ages and ages of time because time passes differently where the Maia belong. This is evident in when he says, "Gandalf? Yes..I was once called Gandalf the Grey." because to him he has been gone for SOOOO long, he even forgets that detail.
That's not really accurate. Gandalf said he passed out of time and space, i.e., outside the material universe, and though he doesn't say it, it was Eru himself who sent him back. That was NOT normal for Maiar, the Maiar, like the spirits of Elves, did not leave the world when they were killed, they became disembodied spirits like Sauron who might later form new material bodies if they had the native power or were assisted by the Valar. In fact in their native state the Maiar were not bound to material bodies at all and could form them, change them, and dissipate them at will - but they could become bound to a physical body if they stayed in it too long or committed great evil and violent acts in it. But their spirits would never leave the world while it lasts. But yes, for Gandalf alone, he left the world when he was killed and the passing of time for him in that state was as many eons of earthly time.
In the book Bombadil says Treebeard is the oldest living creature in Middle-earth, so if that's true he's at least 9,000 years old since Cirdan (who is seen but not named at the end of the movies) is at least that old.
Also no way Treebeard is older than Gandalf, who was a Maiar and existed before the world was even created, together with Sauron and Saruman who were also there.
Was Gandalf a Maiar? As far as I remember it only is written that the wizards appear and is never mentioned where they came from. But it's been a while since I read the Silmarillion.
@@ristridin_photography Long story short, Istari are Maiars who took a form of elderly wizards to contain their powers. They were meant to inspire, lead and advice free people of Middle-Earth, but not exactly do their job for them, that's why their powers were somewhat contained. Their bodies were noted to age, but extremely slowly. Gandalf after his rebirth as the White is much closer to his true power, but he claims that Sauron is still stronger than him.
In the book it’s mentioned that tree beard is probably the oldest living thing in middle earth. That obviously probably means oldest mortal but he’s obviously thousands of years old and the other ents are too
Legolas was born in 87 or around 185 (depending on the source) of the third age. He was 2931 years when the ring was destroyed according to the official movie guide.
Yup, Gandalf is a Demi-god, and as such is insanely powerful, though while in middle earth he has his powers held back. Fun fact: Sauron is also a Maiar like Gandalf, and so is Saruman and Radagast, as well as the two blue wizards who Tolkien never wrote about beyond they came over with Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast.
I'd say perhaps "Archangel" rather than "Demi-god", but same diff, I suppose. Yeah, existed before Time, before Creation, so how do you put an age on that? Oh yeah - there was one other Maiar alive in Middle Earth at the time of LOTR - our buddy the Flame of Udun, Durin's Bane, the Balrog Gandalf slays (and is slain by).
Gandalf was one of the beings present and assisting when Arda (Middle Earth) was sung into existence by the creator Eru Iluvatar. His name at the time Olorin means Dreamer.
He was, but he was changed and limited in his incarnation for his mission so in a way Gandalf was a different person from Olorin the Maia even though his spirit was that of Olorin.
@@brucetucker4847 Always made me wonder if Gandalf could've pushed past his limiter and just taken down Sauron himself. It takes a Maia to beat a Maia. Look how he tackled Durins' Bane.
@@Baggytrousers27 Possibly, though not likely. Sauron was one of the most powerful Maiar, and even as Gandalf the White Gandalf had been limited in terms of his powers from his native Maia state. And he'd have to fight all nine Nazgul and armies of orcs, trolls, and Easterlings and Haradrim at the same time, even for Gandalf that would be a forbidding task. In any case he was expressly forbidden from attempting it.
Legolas age was such a mystery that it sort of difficult to pinpoint exactly how old he was it was just described as older then the rest of the fellowship (minus gandalf) but still roughly younger than the rest of of his kin in other words he'd be very young if compared with Elrond or Arwen, there was indications that his actual age is roughly around the 900 almost a 1000 🤔 before the ring was destroyed
He's roughly over 2,000 years old because he was in Gondolin during the fall of Gondolin which happens 2,511 years before the end of the third age. And he was old enough to help fight to escape... so probably closer to 3,000 years old
@@frosty2114 Gondolin fell in the first age, and yes Glorfindal was there. Legolas helped save people fleeing the fall of Rhudaur, one of the kingdoms that broke off when Arnor was divided.
Legolas is around 2600-2900 years old meaning he was born a little after the War of the Last Alliance in which his father fought together with Isildur, Elrond and other heroes. Gandalf physical form is around 2000 years old while his spirit is about 20 000 - 24 000 years old.
Before the Sun and Moon first rose, each year was counted as Valian years, equaling 9.5 years to each Valian year. So by the time Men first awoke and the Sun and Moon did as well, Gandalf was at least 47,500 years old. The Ring was destroyed roughly 7,500 years after the beginning of the Years of the Sun and Moon
With all those years living even in just physical form, I'm surprised gandalf didn't try to max out his stats. Sure he had maxed out wisdom knowledge and magic power, charisma, but he could have worked on physical power, speed, and physical defense
That wasn't why he was in Middle-earth. He and the other Istari were forbidden to use their full power (as Maiar) to directly attack Sauron and his minions. This is why they took the form of old men. The Valar and Maiar had entered Middle-earth in their true forms during the War of Wrath and unleashed their full power against the armies of Morgoth. They defeated him, but open warfare between demigods was terribly destructive to that part of the world. That's why the entire region of Beleriand no longer exists; by the end of the War of Wrath, it had sunk beneath the sea. The other Istari strayed from their mission, but Gandalf stayed true to it, and he knew that he was in Middle-earth to support, advise, and inspire the elves and humans in their fight against evil. (He made a point of including the dwarves and hobbits, who were probably not considered when the Istari were sent.) This meant serving as a member of the White Council and doing his best to discover what Sauron was up to so that he could provide accurate intelligence to the Council. He also spent a lot of time traveling around Middle-earth to learn as much as he could about the various Free Peoples, what problems they were facing, and how they might be able to help oppose Sauron. This is why he had so many names: he had been everywhere and was known to everyone except in the far east. In particular, Gandalf was the only one of the Istari who ever visited the Shire and got to know the hobbits, who turned out to be far more important that anyone realized. So he was very busy gathering intel, forging alliances, advising leaders, and doing what he could to help people who needed it. This didn't leave him any time to visit the gym and build up his physical strength, speed, and dexterity. As for his physical defense, he was far tougher than anyone knew. He only LOOKED like a frail old man, but he fought at least six of the Nazgul (and possibly all nine of them) ALONE at Weathertop and drove them away. Then he went toe-to-toe with a Balrog and held his own against it for SEVERAL DAYS, finally killing it and throwing its body off the peak of the mountain Silvertine. (He then died from his wounds, but only after the Balrog was already dead.) Gandalf was already a powerful and dangerous warrior. But he only fought in self-defense, or in the defense of others. He was not there to attack and destroy Sauron's forces directly. And, in truth, the good guys had plenty of valiant warriors, such as Glorfindel, Boromir, Eomer and Eowyn, Dáin Ironfoot, King Brand of Dale, Grimbeorn the Old, Treebeard and the other Ents, and of course Aragorn and the other Rangers. Even Merry and Pippin became fearsome warriors, as Saruman's minions learned during the Scouring of the Shire. The Free Peoples didn't need Gandalf to become Conan the Barbarian and fight for them. They were quite capable of fighting for themselves. What they needed was wisdom, guidance, and above all, hope. And Gandalf gave them all of that. It made all the difference.
@@lissifajen185 He had no idea what the Ring was for 16 1/2 years of that time. In the book it took Gandalf all that time to figure out exactly what it was, track down Gollum, find the scroll in Minas Tirith, and return to test the Ring in the fire. Gandalf warned Bilbo from the start that the Ring might be dangerous but it wasn't until he returned for Bilbo's birthday and saw the effect the Ring had had on him - the extension of his life and the hold it had gained on him - that he really started to suspect it was something more than a dangerous trinket.
He did say it in the video, albeit not directly. At 6:00, the video said Frodo was 33 at Bilbo's 111th birthday and 51 when leaving the Shire with the fellowship. I think the correct age is that Frodo was actually 50 when he left, but this is a pedantic difference.
In the official movie guide for The Lord of the Rings, a birthdate for Legolas is set to TA 87. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring.
"Correctly predicts Gollum's treachery" No, he causes it, Tolkien himself said that if they hadn't been so hostile that Smeagol would have willingly destroyed the ring, and potentially himself
I've read that Legolas is about 2931 according to google. And that since Aragorn is born in 2931 he's birth year is the same as Legolas's age. Though idrk it's just what the internet says. :)
So awesome that the creators of this video truly put in the time and effort to thoroughly research the background and the true, Canon 'facts' to back up the content of this video! Super work!
Olórin/Gandalf was created by Ilúvatar before the Music of the Ainur. Ilúvatar's creation of Ea marked the beginning of time; sometime thereafter began the Years of the Lamps. Adding together the passage of time of the Years of the Lamps, the Years of the Trees, the First Age, the Second Age, and the Third Age (to TA 3021), reveals that Gandalf was older than 54,673 years of the Sun old, at his sailing into the West.
I don't think Gandalf looking into the orb would have revealed everything he was thinking either. Frodo put the ring on which allowed Sauron to spy on him but he didn't instantly know everything that was going on with Frodo.
Of the 4 Hobbits Pippin is the youngest, but of the 4 actors playing the Hobbits Billy Boyd is the oldest. And Elijah Wood is the youngest of the 4 actors, but he's playing the oldest of the 4 Hobbits.
It is a little-known fact that Pippin went on to have a second career as a helmsman in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. He served on the same ship as Caesar Augustus.
@@Tar-Numendil Max Pirkis played Lord Blakeney (the young midshipman who loses his arm) in Master and Commander and the young Octavian in HBO's Rome. Sadly for the rest of us, he retired from acting after that.
For the movie cannon Legolas' date of birth is given as T.A. 87. Which when you compare his father's age to that of Elrond makes sense. Elrond was born in F.A. 532, Thranduil was born in ~F.A. 457. Elrond's twin sons Elladan and Elrohir were born in T.A. 130, so T.A. 87 is a fairly reasonable date of birth for Legolas. That makes him 2,932 years old at the time of the Rings destruction.
There's no textual indication, but it would make sense. Tolkien said that Elves generally only had children when they were fairly newly married, and preferably in times of relative peace. Presumably a number of Elves were born in the first century or three of the Third Age, when Sauron was thought to have been destroyed and, as Elrond said in the book, evil of that sort was thought to have been banished forever.
"who in spite of his years still possess a youthful amount of vigour". Yes, Boromir is many years old, but he has Numenorean blood, so his age is quite young.
They’re pronounced the same in most American accents. Linguists call it the Mary-merry-marry merger. I might have gotten the order wrong since I myself have the merger and cannot tell them apart.
Tolkien picked 33 as the coming of age for the Hobbits as that is the age Jesus is thought to have died and risen and St Thomas Aquinas says we will be that age at our resurrection.
It's, actually, the purported age of the archetype that the story of Jesus, and many other similar characters, that experience similar situations and character arcs, are based on. Many of these stories predate Christianity.
@@andrewmcgregor6507 yes, but St Thomas Aquinas, who Tolkien would be very familiar with also said it of Jesus.....so perhaps with it being the archetype it is also a truth...but we won't know until the Age ends and the Resurrection of the Dead occurs.
@@andrewmcgregor6507 The Christian explanation is that those earlier stories were incomplete prophetic foreshadowings of Jesus. That's almost certainly what Tolkien believed.
Aragorn doesn't just live long from his half elf ancestor that chose the life of man. All men that helped the Valar defeat Morgoth were given Numenor and longer lifespans. All Dunedain lived extra long, but only the royal lines have elf blood. The elf blooded royal lines don't seem to have a major life span advantage over normal Dunedain.
Not only elf blood. Elros, the first king of Numenor, was the son of the elf Elwing, who was descended from Luthien. Luthien's parents were the elven king Thingol and Melian, one of the Maiar. So one of Aragorn's ancestors was a Maia, the same kind of eternal being as Gandalf, Saruman, the Balrog, and Sauron himself.
That is why I play LOTRO, I can pretend at least, and when the mood hits I can go get drunk at the green dragon listening to hobbits talk about the crops, the scandal of the tainted pies, or how Flowerdumpling is worried about some upstarts taking his cushy job as mayor.
I think it's sad: Legolas had such deft hands, poise and skill enough to grab hold of a rope to swing onto a charging horse, but ages later his descendant was injured trying the opposite maneuver in a Black Hawk helicopter.
Lol thank you for the reminder of how old I've gotten, I was in the 4th grade when my first Favorite movie ever came out. I was So obsessed with that movie, when I had the vhs,I watched to the point where the magnetic strip was warped and I memorized every single line, scene. I would play it my head before I'd go to sleep. Lol now,not so much. But the impact wi never leave me
Wow. I haven’t read the books in ages and being reminded of the age difference the hobbit’s friendship seem weird put in a normal human context. Imagine a 50 year old man’s best friends being a teen, a 20-year old and his very best friend 10+ years younger than him and they all grew up in the same small area. Relatively small. I guess they truly grew close during the journey but Still.
@@threadracer6076 I was talking about the pronunciation. They said it really weird in the video and completely differently than the movies and British accents.
Just the Josh Gad’s Fund Raiser event with the LOTR cast, i was like shouting “Wow” for 50 mins, full of surprises, and i love how they all arrive via Zoom..Watch it too after this!!
As one of the Maiar, yes, but the Istari Gandalf avatar is only his latest avatar incarnation and I think that's what they are measuring the age of. In that case, he's been around for thousands of years (and yet is still considered young by Treebeard :D ), but IIRC the Maiar didn't take the form of the Istari until the end of the second age/early 3rd age
Sean bean does the voice acting for martin septim in the elder scrolls oblivio. And guess what. His character is scripted to die in every playthrough... Poor sean cant even survive a video game
![The History of Sauron [COMPILATION] | Tolkien Explained](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8IqAN1Of70k/mqdefault.jpg)
![The History of Sauron [COMPILATION] | Tolkien Explained](/img/tr.png)
Being an elf hanging with humans would be like making friends with fruit flies. "Hey little buddy, oh dear, you're dead now"
😁😆🙄
"DOUG. Oh nah. Doug's dead"
Like Ant Man's Anthony ant 😀. But at the same time I named the spider in my bathroom Peter (and I don't allow any other spiders as housemates)
It's like Thranduil said in The Desolation of Smaug, "One hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an elf".
@@dangerousspaces9371 piss off ghost!
THAT'S why Aragorn seemed so distracted at the Black Gate, he was preoccupied by his birthday plans!
His birthday is march 1st. The ring was destroyed on march 25th..Sams oldest child elanor was born in march 25th
Lol. It seemed the eye of sauron was almost hypnotizing him, he passes the sword past his eyes which seemed to break the trance before he charges.
@@sierramcroberts13 you mean I have the same birthday as him? Awesome
lol he's like: "rarrrr 88 such lucky number!! it's lucky in Chinese i tell you!"
No that was just Viggo wondering if he was going to blow up any second because of galloping wildly in a mine field without following his set route
One of my favourite things about Legolas is that he keeps referring to the rest of the Fellowship as 'children' in the books. 😂 The movies did him dirty by taking all his sass away.
I particularly missed his levity when he was prancing around on top of the snow drifts coming down from Caradhras while the rest of the Fellowship were laboring through it. He was probably lucky none of the others had a bow. ;-)
"raise high the black flags muh children!
... no mercy, no pity for the French, i personally shoot anyone who shows pity to the French"
in case you don't know the reference - it's Blucher from Battle of Waterloo
Hi I'm Arianna and I have a crush on legolas from hobbit he is cute
In addition to OP's comment, I believe (it's been a while since I've read the books) that when he, Gimli, and Aragorn approach Fangorn, he says something about the forest making him feel young, so who knows how old he is lol.
@@GiaSesshoumaru I personally like to think that he's an Elf of the Second Age, but reasonably, he could far, far older than even _that_ - sometimes, I like to think about the possibility that he's older than Elrond (who isn't actually all _that_ old when compared to some of the truly ancient Elves), and that possibly brings me much joy. :D
Lotr will go down as one of the best fantasy writing ever
The best.
The very best! It is a fully fleshed-out, functioning world with detailed languages, jaw-dropping environments, thousands of years of history, battles, & genealogies, several races of beings themselves with detailed backstories, and a well-developed religious/creation/god mythos. A review of the source material that Tolkien’s son, Christopher, published after his father’s death reveals that the only limiting factor was that a human life (JRR Tolkien’s) was not long enough to bring it fully to fruition in glorious detail, as “The Lord of the Rings” story was.
Nah mate lord of the g strings
Already has my guy
Peter Jackson best new Zealander director ever
"Drawing out their adolescent years right through their 20s" I'm not immature, I'm a hobbit 🤓
Yes
Do you also have hairy feet?
@@Julius55555 I'm generally hairy tho does that count
Yea, I was thinking along the same lines. I'm 54 and refuse to grow up. I must be a hobbit!
@@Julius55555 yes
Ironically, Pip is the youngest hobbit while Billy is the oldest of the four to play the four main hobbits, while Frodo is the oldest hobbit but has the youngest of the four actors, Elijah.
Well in the movies Frodo is around the same age as the rest of the hobbits,
I pointed out the same thing before scrolling down to read this.
@@Tar-Numendil 2h ago yes. He pointed this out 21h ago.
Frodo, like Bilbo, were both preserved in age while in possession of the Ring.
@@jaimelannister1797 no. Hes not. Hes the oldest both in years and in social standing by quite a bit.
So basically the hobbits are like teenagers who went off adventuring .. .
yeah, pip 16, merry 19, frodo 25 sam 26 human years
absolutely..............and were in the best age, when they came back
@@julieeverett7442 how sam is older than frodo? Its said Frodo is 51 and Sam is 37 in this video. Yes, he is not growing old since age of 33 but technically he is 51.
sounds like the plot of a lot of movies/books nowadays
@@6packabbs692 almost all of the plots of movies and books takes it from tolkien in some kind of way
It should be mentioned that Boromir (and Faramir) has numenorean blood, like Aragon. Aragon's blood is more pure, but Boromir ages slowly relative to regular humans as well, just not as much as Aragon. Hence why he is both such a good leader and has such a youthful physique and energy.
Thanks!
Yes, a lot of the stewards of Gondor lived to about 95-100. Kind of a similar lifespan to hobbits, maybe.
Faramir made it to 120 but he was apparently kind of an exception who by chance inherited more numenorean genes than most of his family.
The blood of the Numenor runs nearly true in Faramir, but not so in Boromir, who he loved most.
Aragon: By far the hottest 88 year old that ever lived.
I would make a joke about disputing that, but there really isn't any way to argue that Aragorn indeed is/was the most attractive 88 year old human.
What about Wolverine? He was over 100 in X-Men movies. I can't judge this as a man but I think it's something to consider.
@@marcinkusmierzak991 how about captain America? How old was he?
@@Top10soon doesn't count. He spent most of that time a frozen ice popsicle
"Maria Doc Brandybuck". I died inside.
Oh look 33 likes you are now of age in hobbit years
Yeah, that was what my comment was going to be about too.
How he got Maria doc out of that I have no idea.
Yea this is cringe af
By the time it ended, Legolas was just a few years shy of 3000 years old.
I'm not sure how you figure that since Tolkien never provided a year of birth for Legolas. If we reckon his age according to background material for the films (born in T.A. 87) then he was as young as 2,914 years old or as old as 2,931 year old at the time of the Council of Elrond (depending on if we are looking at the films or the book).
@@otaku-sempai2197 And that my friend is just a few years shy of 3000, by the time you're over 2000 years old, a mere 86 or 69 years from 3000 isn't much.
@@Thorinox It is close to 3000 years, but it is also not canonical to Tolkien's legendarium. It also does not place Legolas at the Battle of Dagorlad (as somebody attempted to to).
it takes a true tolkien fanatic to get upset that “a few years shy of 3,000” is NOT 2,914-2,931😉 lol
@@preshuzmelody I'm not upset, but my issue was that Tolkien never provided an age for Leggy.
To show how mature Merry and Pippin become, in the book, Merry and Pippin upon coming home and finding bandits have taken over the shire put together a full-on army and lead the hobbits to victory crushing their adversaries. Both were wearing full plate armor (Aragorn never releases Pippen from his duty to Gondor, but allows him to go home and protect the shire in the name of the King. Merry has the Armor of Rohan) and both become the keepers/protectors of the law in the shire. Merry and Pippin also are known to be two of the three tallest hobbits in history due to the Ent water they drank.
One nitpick, in the book no one has full plate armor, the Guard of the Citadel of Minas Tirith and the Rohirrim are all described as wearing mail. IIRC Pippin's armor was made for Faramir when he was a young boy. Full plate armor has to be custom-made for the wearer. Some of the characters are described as wearing individual pieces of plate (cuirasses and for Imrahil vambaces) but that's not the same as a full articulated suit.
frodo was 50 when he left, the same age as bilbo was when he left for his adventure. they also had the same birthday
yeah he did mention it in the video
Legolas is at least 500 years old.
Me: HE'S 2931
We don't know how old he is.
@@Frelzor Actually, his age was mentioned in Tolkien's notes/backstories and he was ~3k years old
Btw he's actually over 7000 years old
Gandalf is 2018 years old
@@Waterm3lon335 Gandalf is 5-6x that age if not older since hes a maiar
All of the ainur (the maiar and valar) were created by eru before the creation of arda, Gandalf is the oldest member of the fellowship by a gigantic margin
The time from the first thought of Eru and the singing of the songs of creation is an uncounted eternity. Gandalf goes back billions of years to the before there was anything.
@@cadengrace5466 - True, and he was around during the shaping of Arda as were pretty much all Maiar, but it sounds like they are measuring his age based on his avatar as Gandalf. In that guise, he's been around a LONG time, but not as long as some (Treebeard, for example).
@@BreandanOCiarrai Treebeard was created by Yavanna in response to "her" "husband's" work in creating the Dwarves known as the Seven Fathers. Because the Dwarves favored gems and metals above all else, she feared that they would burn down all that she created - she was sort of the Middle Earth version of Mother Nature. Eru gave her permission to create a Guardian of the Woods, the Ents that would stand against the Dwarves when they sought to burn down the forests of Middle Earth.
The Elves refer to the Ents as Eldest becuace the Ents were the first intelligent species to live in Middle Earth, long before the Elves and Dwarves and Men. The Eagles came in a close second to the Ents and are sometimes thought to be in league with the Ents since they also do the bidding of Yavanna or her aids. Gandalf as Orilin was a direct student of Yavanna.
@@cadengrace5466 The great eagles were "devised" by Manwe. They're literally called "The Eagles of Manwe" in the Silmarillion.
@@rikk319 Yeah...and? I never said Yavanna created them just that they were the second intelligence upon Middle Earth and are often regarded along with the Ents as guardians of the world, watching and protecting and answering the call of the Valar and the Maiar.
The movie is almost 20 years old, and Tolkied died almost 50 years ago
Reminds me. Walt Disney died 51 years ago.
I wish both had lived longer since they weren’t finished with their work.
There's an animated version that came out in the 70's. I thought he was alive when it first came out? 🤔
@@jeaniebird999 Well the 70s were about 50 years ago. Depending on when the animation came out and when Tolkien died, he might have been.
@@fishiefish6179
Ok, I finally got off my ass and googled it, he died in 1973.
one thing i always found interesting about gimlee is that in the hobbit series when the dwarf company is being taken in by the elves and their stuff is being gone through, legolas finds a locket and asks one of the dwarves what the hideous beast is and the dwarf responds with "that's my wee lad, gimlee" just always though it was cool to see that legolas saw his future companion and friend many years before they would even meet
@@mythicalfox24 which is unfortunate but still a neat little easter egg to find in the movies
But hes calling his future best friend a GOBLIN MUTANT thats messed up
@@melol560 true, but thats also before his character development in the lord of the rings so hes no that great of a person yet haha still a cool little nod to the first series tho
@@mythicalfox24 Legolas didn't even exist in Tolkien's mind until well into the writing of LotR, years after the Hobbit was published. He was going to make Glorfindel (who in the book played the role Arwen played in the movie in finding Aragorn and the hobbits in the wilderness and bringing Frodo to Rivendell) a member of the Fellowship but decided against it and created Legolas - a much younger and less powerful person by elven standards - to take his place. Glorfindel had killed a Balrog in single combat in the First Age, died in the process, and been reincarnated, so I guess JRRT decided he was a bit too OP and would overshadow Aragorn in those terms in the Fellowship.
I noticed that in the movie too. Nice foreshadowing
One does not simply make an in-depth Tolkien lore video without researching pronunciations...
Tobias Merriman agreed
Agreed
6:01 he said Bilbo is Frodo's cousin...
@@amiradatumanong9092 That's.....because he IS! Bilbo was closest to his cousin Frodo whom he took in as he needed an heir to inherit Bag End and he felt who better to fill that role than the spunky young Frodo who he seemed so fond of instead of leaving it to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, whom he really didn't care for, putting it mildly, and started referring to Himself as Frodo's Uncle and declared Frodo his heir, It stuck and hence forth people started to refer to Bilbo as Frodo's Uncle.
The movie's 20th Anniversary is Dec. 19th
Imma cry now
20 years already? Truly? Oh my....
Yikes, has it been nearly 20 years already? Doesn't even feel like a decade since its release if I'm being honest.
@@3DTyrant nah..it feels like 40 years actually. World and life and absolutely everything has long since changed. Different era
I don't like thay
Heres their ages in lotr for anyone not wanting to finish the video
Pippin - 29
Merry - 37
Sam - 39
Boromir - 40
Frodo - 51
Aragorn - 88
Gimli - 140
Legolas - 500????
Gandalf - old
Lol at Gandalf. Yeah, he's as old as the universe (and really since the beginning of everything).
Legolas is almost 3000 years old lol
Gandaki is 56000 yrs
Isn’t gandalf older than the years of the trees?
@@zombified3362 I did a bunch off googling and I really couldn't find a set age so that's why I just said old lmao
Didn't Gandalf said he have walked the earth for 300 lives of men? If we put the everage of man's lifespan at about 60years, that's 18000 years. Damn!
He’s older than world itself so he’s around somewhere like.... 30000 years old?
Gandalf has been in middle earth about 3000 years. Other than that you can't really put and age on him really
Gandalf is older than time itself
He's a "maiar" which makes him immortal
@@Kareem_Saad_Al-Deen_ he’s a maia reborn. He’s sent to earth with vulnerabilities that he didn’t have when he was part of the Maiar and has very little memory of it.
@@ldbears920
He always remained an immortal Maia.
I envy people that still get to see these films for the first time.
I watched the three when I was a kid and then never again until just a few months ago, when I got the whole set of extended editions. I'd mostly forgotten them, so it was like seeing it new again. They're really great.
I just watched both The Hobbit and The LoTR trilogy for the first time in my life about a week ago :D
I still watch it occasionally... to such degree that my husband teases me why the need to watch it over and over as I already have memorized the dialogue 😂😂😂
dispite several bad decisions, the production of all 6 movies is just amazing. for me the fellowship is the best of all, great writting, almost no CGI (compared with the rest), action well balanced with slow shots....
Lmao I love the whole aesthetic of the film but I only watched an unexpected journey last week I havent watched any others (call me a fake fan idc I'm so looking forward to watching the rest of them cos I love what I've seen and the videos I've seen on CZcams and tiktok
What the hell is a Maria Duck?
And Frodo left after his 50th birthday, not 51st. Tolkien (or Frodo if you will) chose this age because Bilbo also went on an adventure at the age of 50 (in The Hobbit).
That's what I'm saying 😂
he was 35 when he got the ring but didnt leave on the quest till he was 70. its in the original book but the film made changes and the later books were rewritten to fit in with the film.
@@cliffbird5016
No, he got the ring at 33 and left at 50. And nothing was changed in any of the books to fit in with the films. Don’t talk nonsense.
@@cliffbird5016 what are you talking about? Lol
@@cliffbird5016 wha-
Fun fact: I share the same birthday with Bilbo and Frodo on the 22nd September!
oh my lil brother too! i gotta tell this to him quickly... he's 14.
oh.. he has not yet watched LOTR trilogy :'
20 years in December 2021. Man, I feel old! I still love these films 🤎🤍🤎. So few books and movies hold their power for so long. Just goes too show how special these stories are, and how well Peter Jackson made these films. Not alone, but by ensuring he got the best actors, writers, editors, special effects team, makeup artists, sword makers, set designers, etc...Absolute masterpieces. Anyone else still get goosebumps when Sauron is destroyed, and everyone close to death realizes Frodo and Sam succeeded 🌋? I highly recommend any fan, casual or otherwise, to watch the behind the scenes extras for each film. Peter Jackson dedicated staff to film all the things happening behind the cameras while the movies were being made, not as an afterthought. Because of this, there must be a 100+ hours of fascinating details. If you’re someone trying to get into the industry, you will get a lot of good information. I’m going to repurchase the 4K this Christmas 🎄.
I'd even more highly recommend that anyone who loves the movies read the novel, and then read the Silmarillion as well.
@@brucetucker4847 Absolutely.
And I read LOTR when it was still a first edition and Peter Jackson was in elementary school. how's that for feeling old
He still ruined the end with the mawkish departure from the Grey Havens and ignored the maturing of the Hobbits as a force to be reckoned with. They were seen, partly because of Pippin and Merry's youth as little more than children when the whole race of halflings are strong enough to defend their home and rebuild the parts of it that are valuable. They aren't subject to the greed of Men or the craving for power that could afflict the elves and wizards. So that suits them to get on with impossible tasks.
This is tha best triology ever, with Back to the Future.
Although very enjoyable, Back To The Future 2 & 3 are considerably worse than the original.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the best adapted book series to film. Even though there are many instances of major characters and events changed for the film. It makes the story more precise. These stories are timeless. And we will forever have fans through the decades.
Dude haven't you seen Star Wars
@@kapoor1989 then planet of the apes reboot series would be a perfect choice
As a trilogy back to the future isn’t that great. But the first one is a masterpiece
I've watched over a hundred videos on Tolkien's stories, and this is easily one of the very BEST. It offers some amazing insight on each of the members of Fellowship, in their own context, and it perfectly matches how Tolkien portrayed them. Well done, Looper.
Well, I'm only 1:21 into the video and am troubled by inaccuracy already. Although Pippin looking into the Palantir was useful, it wasn't because he prevented Gandalf from looking into it (in both the book and the movie, I don't think Gandalf was ever tempted to do so). It was because it misled Sauron into thinking that Saruman had at least one hobbit in captivity and might already have the ring in his possession. This served as another distraction to keep Sauron unaware of Frodo and Sam's mission. After watching the next 14 seconds, they couldn't even bother to make sure that the narrator would know how to pronounce "Meriadoc"???? This is pretty basic stuff.
Thank you for this. Now I realize why Pippin and Merry made decisions a little differently than the others.
Most of the mistakes Pippin made in the movie were actually made by Frodo in the book.
"My friends, you bow to no one"
Aragorn is rare but not unique in the population of Middle Earth. He may be the First, but he is still but one of the remaining Numenorians in Exile, all of whom possess similarly long lives. Others of this population include the Rangers of the North, the purer of Numenorian blood in Gondor, and quite possibly a large percentage of the citizens of Dol Amroth.
Yes Gandalf is the older by far. As he said :” 300 lives of men I lived, and now I’m running out of time” putting him at about 25,000-30,000 years old. Damn....
Wouldn't that be just his physical form too? Given he's basically (in LotR terms) a demi-god.
@@3DTyrant angel actually, the maia are the middle earth equivalent of angels, and only 5 of them
@@julieeverett7442 There are quite a few more Maiar than that. They were present at the making of the world. Gandalf was originally Olorin so is older than the world. The original plan was to have only one level of gods under illuvatar but after Tolkien started to create the characters he realised there were too many and created the lesser rank of Maiar to assist the Valar. Of all the creation stories from religion or stories, I like Tolkiens the best, creating a world via music is just so beautiful.
@@burstcity3832 I meant 5 wizards, the Balrog was a Maia too, and yes I know there were a lot more
@@julieeverett7442 I should have worked that out :-) Smaug and the Eagles are Maiar too if I remember correctly.
Frodo left the Shire at his 50th bday, not 51. He shared the same bday with Bilbo. Also, Bilbo was at the same age when he left with the dwarves. Frodo’s 51th bday was when they were again in Rivendell, after the Quest.
"Twice as old as Frodo and triple Pippen's age"
-Triple Pippen new band named called it
Yes, but what about second Pippin?
@@michaeldean4712 brilliant i lol'ed
WHAT ABOUT PIPPIN SUPPER
I don't know about Pippin, but doesn't Billy Boyd have a band that did the credit music for 'The Hobbit'?
@@andrewmcgregor6507 yup and that song (the last goodbye) was a beautiful homage to all six movies and to the Lord Of The Rings universe in general, if u were a fan of the movies and maybe the books it would make u cry or get an emotional response and even if ur not it is still simply well and beautifully done.
Greatest movies of all time.
An elf, a dwarf and a man walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Is this a joke?"
I’m afraid it isn’t.
Yes I laughed
I liked how pippin was the youngest hobbit, yet billy boyd was the eldest of the four, yet still makes you believe he's the little guy (accidental pun not intended but screw it)
Just one thing: Frodo's journey starts after his 50th birthday, not 51st.
Isn't Legolas fighting alongside the Elves in the prologue.
He's in a shot bracing himself as Sauron is exploding.
That would make him 3,000 years old at least just like Elrond.
Arwen is older than Legolas and she was about 2777 give or take when the Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkein claims Legolas was considered a teenager among Elves, that is why you see him act like such in the movies, they based on Tolkien's notes about Legoas to determine how he would act. We do know her birth date...TA 241 and when she was married TA 3019, this would make her 2778. Tolkien seems to suggest that Legolas is much younger, though he never gives an exact date of birth.
EDIT: That's the movies. It is almost certain he wasn't there in the books. We know this because he doesn't know much about the Ring at the meeting of it. In fact, he isn't even the main Elf at the meeting sent to represent. He wasn't even meant to be at that meeting, he was sent by his father Thranduil with ill news of Gollums escape. Gandalf and Aragorn don't even know him well. It was Glorfindel, who was there representing the Elves.
Legolas isn't there. The person you are thinking of is a completely different actor and character, though it could possibly be a representation of his father Thranduil as just a little Easter egg
Well to be honest, elrond is way older than legolas, since he was born near the end of the first age, where melkor still rule in angband
@@StacieMMeier Yeah he is 2931, so was not around for the second age battle of the last Alliance his father was there, but was a prince, not yet the king.
Legolas wasn't born then orephor his grandfather fought in the last alliance it's his elves you see in the dead marshes legolas' father stayed in mirkwood
Pippin. = 29
Merry = 37
Sam = 39
Boromir = 41
Frodo = 51
Aragon = 88
Gimli = 140
Legolas = 500+
Gandalf = oldest #?
What will really cook your noggins, for people unfamiliar with Gandalf and how the rules work for him. When he died after fighting the Balrog he simply went back to "where he came from" so to speak. And even though he was only gone for a short time in the eyes of the "mortals" it was something like 1000 years? Or so, in the void while he waited to be brought back as Gandalf the White. So even though he wasn't on the planet, he was living ages and ages of time because time passes differently where the Maia belong.
This is evident in when he says, "Gandalf? Yes..I was once called Gandalf the Grey." because to him he has been gone for SOOOO long, he even forgets that detail.
That's not really accurate. Gandalf said he passed out of time and space, i.e., outside the material universe, and though he doesn't say it, it was Eru himself who sent him back. That was NOT normal for Maiar, the Maiar, like the spirits of Elves, did not leave the world when they were killed, they became disembodied spirits like Sauron who might later form new material bodies if they had the native power or were assisted by the Valar. In fact in their native state the Maiar were not bound to material bodies at all and could form them, change them, and dissipate them at will - but they could become bound to a physical body if they stayed in it too long or committed great evil and violent acts in it. But their spirits would never leave the world while it lasts. But yes, for Gandalf alone, he left the world when he was killed and the passing of time for him in that state was as many eons of earthly time.
Sarumans seeing stone....
Palantir, it's called a Palantir
What I learnt from this video: I am now 19 years older than when Fellowship of the Ring was released :(
Incredible movie series! I had no idea how old each character was. Thanks for the video!
Hey you forgot the tree guy :/ He called Gandolf young master .. I wonder how old is that creation.
In the book Bombadil says Treebeard is the oldest living creature in Middle-earth, so if that's true he's at least 9,000 years old since Cirdan (who is seen but not named at the end of the movies) is at least that old.
Also no way Treebeard is older than Gandalf, who was a Maiar and existed before the world was even created, together with Sauron and Saruman who were also there.
Was Gandalf a Maiar? As far as I remember it only is written that the wizards appear and is never mentioned where they came from. But it's been a while since I read the Silmarillion.
@@ristridin_photography Yes. There's an essay on the Istari in Unfinished Tales.
@@ristridin_photography Long story short, Istari are Maiars who took a form of elderly wizards to contain their powers. They were meant to inspire, lead and advice free people of Middle-Earth, but not exactly do their job for them, that's why their powers were somewhat contained. Their bodies were noted to age, but extremely slowly. Gandalf after his rebirth as the White is much closer to his true power, but he claims that Sauron is still stronger than him.
I thought this was going to be a how old the actors are today. Pleasant surprise. 😁
Why would someone watch a video about how old the actors are now?
Yeah me too. I heard Aragorn’s actor is his 60’s now the other day. It just messes with your head how time flies.
@@MissVasques Very true.
That’s what I thought too.
Good video but you still pronounce the names wrong.
Wasn't sure if this was going to do justice to the topic. This video was excellent. Well done.
In the book it’s mentioned that tree beard is probably the oldest living thing in middle earth. That obviously probably means oldest mortal but he’s obviously thousands of years old and the other ents are too
I can watch this movie over and over again and it never gets old. Beautiful soundtrack too
Legolas was born in 87 or around 185 (depending on the source) of the third age. He was 2931 years when the ring was destroyed according to the official movie guide.
Yup, Gandalf is a Demi-god, and as such is insanely powerful, though while in middle earth he has his powers held back. Fun fact: Sauron is also a Maiar like Gandalf, and so is Saruman and Radagast, as well as the two blue wizards who Tolkien never wrote about beyond they came over with Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast.
I'd say perhaps "Archangel" rather than "Demi-god", but same diff, I suppose. Yeah, existed before Time, before Creation, so how do you put an age on that?
Oh yeah - there was one other Maiar alive in Middle Earth at the time of LOTR - our buddy the Flame of Udun, Durin's Bane, the Balrog Gandalf slays (and is slain by).
Gloin: “My wee 62-year-old lad, Gimli.”
Gandalf was one of the beings present and assisting when Arda (Middle Earth) was sung into existence by the creator Eru Iluvatar. His name at the time Olorin means Dreamer.
He was, but he was changed and limited in his incarnation for his mission so in a way Gandalf was a different person from Olorin the Maia even though his spirit was that of Olorin.
@@brucetucker4847 Always made me wonder if Gandalf could've pushed past his limiter and just taken down Sauron himself. It takes a Maia to beat a Maia. Look how he tackled Durins' Bane.
@@Baggytrousers27 Possibly, though not likely. Sauron was one of the most powerful Maiar, and even as Gandalf the White Gandalf had been limited in terms of his powers from his native Maia state. And he'd have to fight all nine Nazgul and armies of orcs, trolls, and Easterlings and Haradrim at the same time, even for Gandalf that would be a forbidding task. In any case he was expressly forbidden from attempting it.
Legolas age was such a mystery that it sort of difficult to pinpoint exactly how old he was it was just described as older then the rest of the fellowship (minus gandalf) but still roughly younger than the rest of of his kin in other words he'd be very young if compared with Elrond or Arwen, there was indications that his actual age is roughly around the 900 almost a 1000 🤔 before the ring was destroyed
Nah he was a very young elf at 2931, still a teenager technically.
He's roughly over 2,000 years old because he was in Gondolin during the fall of Gondolin which happens 2,511 years before the end of the third age. And he was old enough to help fight to escape... so probably closer to 3,000 years old
@@frosty2114 Gondolin fell in the first age, and yes Glorfindal was there. Legolas helped save people fleeing the fall of Rhudaur, one of the kingdoms that broke off when Arnor was divided.
@@frosty2114 The Legolas who survived the fall of Gondolin isn't the same Legolas that fought with the fellowship.
@Zane Flynt Legolas is older then Arwen, she is the youngest elf, barely 100 by the time of the 5 armies
Legolas is around 2600-2900 years old meaning he was born a little after the War of the Last Alliance in which his father fought together with Isildur, Elrond and other heroes. Gandalf physical form is around 2000 years old while his spirit is about 20 000 - 24 000 years old.
Fact: Aragorn is the hottest 87 year old...EVER!
Aragorn had a lot of energy for a 87 year old
He has neumenorisn blood
Before the Sun and Moon first rose, each year was counted as Valian years, equaling 9.5 years to each Valian year. So by the time Men first awoke and the Sun and Moon did as well, Gandalf was at least 47,500 years old. The Ring was destroyed roughly 7,500 years after the beginning of the Years of the Sun and Moon
Jolly good video. I enjoyed it very much. I am most thankful and I appreciate your hard work put into this video. Excellent work chaps! 😁 👍
Thanks Man, I needed that.
But, “It’s a little early for trimming the verge.”, don’t you think?
a little late...just sayin. I've got all six episodes on DVD, LOTR and the Hobbit.
"Drawing out their adolescent years right through their twenties..."
Right, so every Hobbit is a Millennial then?
No... don’t you dare
Actually, Milliennieals are about 40.
@@the_darkborne5440 the older ones are, I'm pushing 30. Shh
@@MollyFC I am to.. :/ a firm 27 here...
@@the_darkborne5440 sucks doesn't it. Lol
With all those years living even in just physical form, I'm surprised gandalf didn't try to max out his stats. Sure he had maxed out wisdom knowledge and magic power, charisma, but he could have worked on physical power, speed, and physical defense
That wasn't why he was in Middle-earth. He and the other Istari were forbidden to use their full power (as Maiar) to directly attack Sauron and his minions. This is why they took the form of old men. The Valar and Maiar had entered Middle-earth in their true forms during the War of Wrath and unleashed their full power against the armies of Morgoth. They defeated him, but open warfare between demigods was terribly destructive to that part of the world. That's why the entire region of Beleriand no longer exists; by the end of the War of Wrath, it had sunk beneath the sea.
The other Istari strayed from their mission, but Gandalf stayed true to it, and he knew that he was in Middle-earth to support, advise, and inspire the elves and humans in their fight against evil. (He made a point of including the dwarves and hobbits, who were probably not considered when the Istari were sent.) This meant serving as a member of the White Council and doing his best to discover what Sauron was up to so that he could provide accurate intelligence to the Council.
He also spent a lot of time traveling around Middle-earth to learn as much as he could about the various Free Peoples, what problems they were facing, and how they might be able to help oppose Sauron. This is why he had so many names: he had been everywhere and was known to everyone except in the far east. In particular, Gandalf was the only one of the Istari who ever visited the Shire and got to know the hobbits, who turned out to be far more important that anyone realized.
So he was very busy gathering intel, forging alliances, advising leaders, and doing what he could to help people who needed it. This didn't leave him any time to visit the gym and build up his physical strength, speed, and dexterity. As for his physical defense, he was far tougher than anyone knew. He only LOOKED like a frail old man, but he fought at least six of the Nazgul (and possibly all nine of them) ALONE at Weathertop and drove them away. Then he went toe-to-toe with a Balrog and held his own against it for SEVERAL DAYS, finally killing it and throwing its body off the peak of the mountain Silvertine. (He then died from his wounds, but only after the Balrog was already dead.)
Gandalf was already a powerful and dangerous warrior. But he only fought in self-defense, or in the defense of others. He was not there to attack and destroy Sauron's forces directly. And, in truth, the good guys had plenty of valiant warriors, such as Glorfindel, Boromir, Eomer and Eowyn, Dáin Ironfoot, King Brand of Dale, Grimbeorn the Old, Treebeard and the other Ents, and of course Aragorn and the other Rangers. Even Merry and Pippin became fearsome warriors, as Saruman's minions learned during the Scouring of the Shire.
The Free Peoples didn't need Gandalf to become Conan the Barbarian and fight for them. They were quite capable of fighting for themselves. What they needed was wisdom, guidance, and above all, hope. And Gandalf gave them all of that. It made all the difference.
Next time tell us that Frodo waited a full 17 years before he left with the one ring.
Did he? Like in the book?
@@lissifajen185 He had no idea what the Ring was for 16 1/2 years of that time. In the book it took Gandalf all that time to figure out exactly what it was, track down Gollum, find the scroll in Minas Tirith, and return to test the Ring in the fire. Gandalf warned Bilbo from the start that the Ring might be dangerous but it wasn't until he returned for Bilbo's birthday and saw the effect the Ring had had on him - the extension of his life and the hold it had gained on him - that he really started to suspect it was something more than a dangerous trinket.
I came to say the same thing
He did say it in the video, albeit not directly. At 6:00, the video said Frodo was 33 at Bilbo's 111th birthday and 51 when leaving the Shire with the fellowship. I think the correct age is that Frodo was actually 50 when he left, but this is a pedantic difference.
Which means Pippin was 11 or 12 at Bilbo's party if my maths is right.
One does not simply butcher character names like it’s no big deal
Elves, Dwarfs, Hobbits, talking trees.. what a world that would be. Here in 2020, humans can't get along with each other.
Well I mean Elves and Dwarves have never really gotten along with each other, but I get what you're saying.
we basicly have Denethor as a president, go figure.
@@timcorey8474 Trump was once a great man who looked into a Palantir and went mad from Sauron’s influence? Go figure
Well, antifa sure reminds me of the orcs...
@@Trid2bnrml1 True, they are both horrifyingly ugly.
In the official movie guide for The Lord of the Rings, a birthdate for Legolas is set to TA 87. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring.
"Correctly predicts Gollum's treachery"
No, he causes it, Tolkien himself said that if they hadn't been so hostile that Smeagol would have willingly destroyed the ring, and potentially himself
Where did he say that? I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious as to the source. Was it in a letter?
I've read that Legolas is about 2931 according to google. And that since Aragorn is born in 2931 he's birth year is the same as Legolas's age. Though idrk it's just what the internet says. :)
"One does not simply..."
Mum, I'm in love with a "much, much older than 500 years old" man!
So awesome that the creators of this video truly put in the time and effort to thoroughly research the background and the true, Canon 'facts' to back up the content of this video! Super work!
Olórin/Gandalf was created by Ilúvatar before the Music of the Ainur. Ilúvatar's creation of Ea marked the beginning of time; sometime thereafter began the Years of the Lamps.
Adding together the passage of time of the Years of the Lamps, the Years of the Trees, the First Age, the Second Age, and the Third Age (to TA 3021), reveals that Gandalf was older than 54,673 years of the Sun old, at his sailing into the West.
... How would Pippin looking into the orb have prevented Gandalf from doing so? Not a thing lol.
I don't think Gandalf looking into the orb would have revealed everything he was thinking either. Frodo put the ring on which allowed Sauron to spy on him but he didn't instantly know everything that was going on with Frodo.
@@MannyBrum Sauron probably would have manipulated what Gandalf saw like he did with Denethor
regardless whether its tv / films or real life this proves age is really just a number
Of the 4 Hobbits Pippin is the youngest, but of the 4 actors playing the Hobbits Billy Boyd is the oldest. And Elijah Wood is the youngest of the 4 actors, but he's playing the oldest of the 4 Hobbits.
It is a little-known fact that Pippin went on to have a second career as a helmsman in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. He served on the same ship as Caesar Augustus.
@@brucetucker4847 Master and Commander is one of my favorite movies ever! And Russell Crowe was a Roman general, not Rome's first emperor.
@@Tar-Numendil Max Pirkis played Lord Blakeney (the young midshipman who loses his arm) in Master and Commander and the young Octavian in HBO's Rome. Sadly for the rest of us, he retired from acting after that.
@@brucetucker4847 I forgot about that. I wasn't thinking of him because he only played Octavian in the first half of Rome.
Sean Astin is 10 years older than Elijah Wood.
For the movie cannon Legolas' date of birth is given as T.A. 87. Which when you compare his father's age to that of Elrond makes sense.
Elrond was born in F.A. 532, Thranduil was born in ~F.A. 457. Elrond's twin sons Elladan and Elrohir were born in T.A. 130, so T.A. 87 is a fairly reasonable date of birth for Legolas.
That makes him 2,932 years old at the time of the Rings destruction.
There's no textual indication, but it would make sense. Tolkien said that Elves generally only had children when they were fairly newly married, and preferably in times of relative peace. Presumably a number of Elves were born in the first century or three of the Third Age, when Sauron was thought to have been destroyed and, as Elrond said in the book, evil of that sort was thought to have been banished forever.
@@brucetucker4847 That makes sense. Legolas was born in the first century of the Third Age, Elladan & Elrohir in the second, and Arwen in the third.
"who in spite of his years still possess a youthful amount of vigour". Yes, Boromir is many years old, but he has Numenorean blood, so his age is quite young.
Watching these movies in a sold out theater was an experience like nothing else.
...every time he pronounces Merry’s name “Mary” I want to stab my ears...
They’re pronounced the same in most American accents. Linguists call it the Mary-merry-marry merger. I might have gotten the order wrong since I myself have the merger and cannot tell them apart.
How else would you pronounce it?
@@lissifajen185 the way it’s spelled
@@debatenstein6565 I've always just heard them pronounced the same way
@@lissifajen185 then have a Mary Christmas
Pretty much flawless casting. 👍
Tolkien picked 33 as the coming of age for the Hobbits as that is the age Jesus is thought to have died and risen
and St Thomas Aquinas says we will be that age at our resurrection.
It's, actually, the purported age of the archetype that the story of Jesus, and many other similar characters, that experience similar situations and character arcs, are based on. Many of these stories predate Christianity.
@@andrewmcgregor6507 yes, but St Thomas Aquinas, who Tolkien would be very familiar with also said it of Jesus.....so perhaps with it being the archetype it is also a truth...but we won't know until the Age ends and the Resurrection of the Dead occurs.
@@andrewmcgregor6507 The Christian explanation is that those earlier stories were incomplete prophetic foreshadowings of Jesus. That's almost certainly what Tolkien believed.
Aragorn doesn't just live long from his half elf ancestor that chose the life of man. All men that helped the Valar defeat Morgoth were given Numenor and longer lifespans. All Dunedain lived extra long, but only the royal lines have elf blood. The elf blooded royal lines don't seem to have a major life span advantage over normal Dunedain.
Not only elf blood. Elros, the first king of Numenor, was the son of the elf Elwing, who was descended from Luthien. Luthien's parents were the elven king Thingol and Melian, one of the Maiar. So one of Aragorn's ancestors was a Maia, the same kind of eternal being as Gandalf, Saruman, the Balrog, and Sauron himself.
I wished i lived in middle earth :(
That is why I play LOTRO, I can pretend at least, and when the mood hits I can go get drunk at the green dragon listening to hobbits talk about the crops, the scandal of the tainted pies, or how Flowerdumpling is worried about some upstarts taking his cushy job as mayor.
Me too
I think it's sad: Legolas had such deft hands, poise and skill enough to grab hold of a rope to swing onto a charging horse, but ages later his descendant was injured trying the opposite maneuver in a Black Hawk helicopter.
Good thing the orcs and Haradrim didn't have RPGs. Although according to Tolkien RPGs may well have been invented by the descendants of orcs.
"Maria-Dock"
" Young master Gandalg, i'm uhmm,.. glad you came"
Lol thank you for the reminder of how old I've gotten, I was in the 4th grade when my first Favorite movie ever came out.
I was So obsessed with that movie, when I had the vhs,I watched to the point where the magnetic strip was warped and I memorized every single line, scene. I would play it my head before I'd go to sleep.
Lol now,not so much. But the impact wi never leave me
Galadriel being 7000 years old:
Hello there!
Wait, I heard Frodo was Bilbo's cousin? Frodo is actually the nephew of Bilbo.
Actually bilbo and frodo's are cousins but since bilbo is so much older frodo calls him uncle
@@willpeur8360 was it stated in the book or something, cause I don't recall that detail.
@@nekoempress1 yes it says so in the book bilbo adopted frodo even though there cousins
@@willpeur8360 better re-read then, thanx for info.
Wow. I haven’t read the books in ages and being reminded of the age difference the hobbit’s friendship seem weird put in a normal human context.
Imagine a 50 year old man’s best friends being a teen, a 20-year old and his very best friend 10+ years younger than him and they all grew up in the same small area. Relatively small.
I guess they truly grew close during the journey but Still.
1:36 um what? Marry-a-doc? More like Merry-attic.
Meriadoc is his real name.
@@threadracer6076 I was talking about the pronunciation. They said it really weird in the video and completely differently than the movies and British accents.
no way I didn't think actors aged as the years rolled by, wow thanks for this informative information I feel so much wiser now, lol
Wow!!!! 3 ads in an 11 minutes video?
I see 8 ads, you lucked out.
"300 lifes of man I have lived, and now I have no time" - Gandalf, The Greatest
Just the Josh Gad’s Fund Raiser event with the LOTR cast, i was like shouting “Wow” for 50 mins, full of surprises, and i love how they all arrive via Zoom..Watch it too after this!!
DAMN!!! I didn’t know that. I feel like Legolas and Gandalf could be close in age. Anyway, wow didn’t know any of this. Great Video.
No way. Legolas is an elf. He was also considered a teenager among the elves whereas Gandalf was there before time. He is a maiar
@@md.ahnafmoin9706 Yes thank you. The video already explained what you just said LOL.
Gandalf is ancient. He existed even before Arda/Earth was created.
As one of the Maiar, yes, but the Istari Gandalf avatar is only his latest avatar incarnation and I think that's what they are measuring the age of. In that case, he's been around for thousands of years (and yet is still considered young by Treebeard :D ), but IIRC the Maiar didn't take the form of the Istari until the end of the second age/early 3rd age
Is this on the silmarillion? I just started it
@@Felyx90 Yes, it is. Enjoy it.
@@bojanfilipovic3760 cool, thanks 🙏
@@Felyx90 I found the Silmarillion as good as the books
Looper, great video! Enjoy your Friday!💯🙏👐
“MARIA-DOC” ?? I mean the least you could do is learn how to pronounce the name properly.
This means Legolas is older even than Tror, grandfather of Torin. So he should know all the rivary between gnomes and elwes.
Ned Stark is always getting himself killed. Oh wait, wrong fantasy series. 😩
Sean Bean always dies lol
@@jaimelannister1797 IKR??? LOL ☺
@@jaimelannister1797 Dying is his thing
Sean bean does the voice acting for martin septim in the elder scrolls oblivio. And guess what. His character is scripted to die in every playthrough... Poor sean cant even survive a video game
Sometimes he gets ambushed with a cup of coffee, but manages to survive.
("WHAT COLOR IS THE BOATHOUSE AT HEREFORD?")