As always, spoiler warnings...

'You have the keen eyes of your fair kindred, Legolas…and they can tell a sparrow from a finch a league off. Tell me, can you see anything away yonder towards Isengard?' (Book 3, Helm's Deep)

Tolkien's default seems to be silent about the physical characteristics of his characters, at least in the primary text. It is sometimes astonishing how little Tolkien tells the reader about what people look like. We are never told Legolas' hair color, for example (although his father, long before he got a name, is described as golden-haired in The Hobbit). But then again, we are never told many things about the appearance of many characters. Our imagination is engaged.

There do exist descriptions of Arda's Elves more generally, particularly in J. R. R. Tolkien's posthumously published writings. For example, while they look much like humans, they are typically taller. Appendix F gives us only 'tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark.' Most of the Elven 'groups' that enter into Tolkien's tales are generally dark-haired, so much such that exceptions are noted. (Both Glorfindel and Galadriel have golden hair, and their names refer to this uncommon trait.)

Regardless, I'm more interested in how Legolas' physical being interacts with the world. In the LOTR some aspects of the physical nature of Elves are revealed through Legolas, although we are not always told explicitly that they are general to all Elves (as Gandalf's quote above does make clear). Like his tendency to give us little information about what these characters look like, there are some aspects of Elfness (or Legolas-ness) which Tolkien raises, and then fails, to answer directly.

For example, are Elves immune from the ill effects of the cold and can they change their mass or density?

When the company, caught by the snow on Caradhras, decides to turn back, Boromir and Aragorn go to break a path. Legolas, however, makes a joke - sort of (more on that later) - and 'with that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South).

We are confronted with two super-human traits, if you will, in one sentence. Unlike the rest of the party, who have been freezing in the cold and wet, Legolas apparently is unfazed by the cold - clearly his feet are unfazed, but we are also told 'the storm had troubled him little, and he alone of the Company remained still light of heart' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South). But these 'light shoes' Frodo notices are the light shoes he 'always' wore, and the company has been hiking for more than two weeks in at least somewhat harsh terrain. They just spent the day before climbing a mountain pass. He apparently doesn't need the same kind of foot-protection everyone else does. (And yes, the hobbits are wearing boots.) It seems Elves have at least some ability to resist the cold, and to tread so gently that light shoes are adequate, regardless of the terrain or temperature. In fact, they tread so lightly that they can somehow keep from sinking in deep, soft snow. And yet these things are barely remarked on! Frodo, standing in for us, notices all this in one observation, seems surprised, and it never comes up again.

The ability to step lightly over the ground comes up in Book 3, The Riders of Rohan as well: 'Only Legolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass, leaving no footprints as he passed.'

Legolas' sight also seems to be super-powered. There are a number of examples, but most striking, perhaps, is this:

'Riders!' cried Aragorn… 'Yes,' said Legolas, 'there are one hundred and five. Yellow is their hair, and bright are their spears. Their leader is very tall' Aragorn smiled. 'Keen are the eyes of the Elves,' he said. 'Nay! The riders are little more than five leagues [more than 25 km or 17 miles] distant,' said Legolas...'There are also three empty saddles, but I see no hobbits.' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan)

Eagles can see about four times better than humans, in regards to distance (20/5 vision, instead of 20/20). If Legolas' vision is eagle-like, these riders would look to him as riders more than 6.25 km (about 4 miles) distant would to us. We can therefore assume that Legolas' vision is significantly better than an eagle's, as I don't think any human could perform Legolas' detailed count and description at that distance. And notice how easy this is for him, so much so he shakes off Aragorn's compliment about his 'keen eyes,' with the equivalent of 'Really, it's nothing - the riders aren't that far off.'

Attempts to explain this feat through conventional means, calculating the size of Elvish pupils and such, produce ridiculous results (and freakishly huge Elvish eyes). Therefore, it is clear that Elvish sight is fundamentally different from human sight. Just as Legolas can commune with rocks and resist the cold, some aspect of Elvish nature allows Legolas to 'see' far more detail and far greater distances. Perhaps the relationship he has with Arda, a kind of in-tune-ness that we cannot begin to approach, provides information we cannot access.

While the uniqueness of Legolas' sight is called out elsewhere (such as in Book 5, The Black Gate Opens, when we are told that the Nazgul 'still flew high and out of sight of all save Legolas'), there are limits. Legolas sees a 'great company on foot' but he cannot provide more details. 'They are many leagues away: twelve, I guess; but the flatness of the plain is hard to measure.' (Book 3, The Rides of Rohan). And Gimli points out that even Legolas cannot see the far-off Orcs until the Sun is up, and Legolas does not contradict him.

In addition to distance, Elf eyes may also be more acute, more sensitive, than others. Gimli notes 'I have not elf-eyes' when he cannot see a figure Legolas describes as 'passing from tree to tree' in the forest, a figure who turns out to be Gandalf (Book 3, The White Rider).

Unlike some of the other strange abilities Legolas seems to possess which come up and then are never mentioned again, his long, detail-rich sight is one that we are shown multiple times. In addition to the examples above, there is the detailed description he gives of Edoras and Meduseld from afar, down to the 'men in bright mail' who stand guard (Book 3, The King of the Golden Hall). However, magic, or whatever skill in concealment Saurman possesses, can be used to limit his sight. On Gandalf asking what he can see towards Isengard as they ride to Helm's Deep, Legolas notes that 'Many miles lie between... I can see a darkness. There are shapes moving in it, great shapes far away upon the bank of the river; but what they are I cannot tell. It is not mist or cloud that defeats my eyes: there is a veiling shadow that some power lays upon the land, and it marches slowly down stream' (Book 3, Helm's Deep).

While there is much about the 'keen eyes of [Legolas'] fair kindred' (Gandalf in Book 3, Helm's Deep), there is very little about other senses. The Elves of Lothorien say the Company breathes so loud 'they could shoot you in the dark' (Book 2, Lothlorien), but it is Aragorn who thinks to do the ear-to-the-ground thing when the Orc party has passed out of Legolas' sight-range (Book 2, The Riders of Rohan). I cannot find any passages related to smell, taste, or touch, to round out the classic five-senses. I contend we may not be able to fully understand how Elves perceive the world through the traditional five senses, but only Legolas' exceptional visual perception is illustrated.

There are hints at other senses, beyond the traditional five, but none conclusively establish extra sensory abilities. Chasing the Orcs, Aragorn notes there is 'some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in the limb.' But even though it is Legolas who has 'known since first we came down from the Emyn Muil' and pinpoints it as coming from Saruman because it is 'not behind us but before us' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan), he doesn't seem to have much more insight than Aragorn about what it is. Speaking of Aragorn, when he declares himself to Eomer, both of his fellow runners look 'at their companion in amazement, for...he seemed to have grown in stature,' but only Legolas sees an image of something else: 'For a moment it seemed to the eyes of Legolas that a white flame flickered on the brows of Aragorn like a shining crown' (Book 2, The Riders of Rohan). Is this a kind of special sight, or just the result of Aragorn's presentation of himself?

It seems clear that Elves have excellent proprioception, beyond the norms for mortals. This is played up excessively in the movies, but is present, if more understated, in the LOTR books. After a thousand years or so (we do not know Legolas' age, but 1,000 is quite reasonable, and he may be significantly older) one should be masterful at many skills, including having mastery over one's own body. This is most clearly demonstrated in his nearly vertical shot at a Nagul's winged beast of burden: 'Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang. Shrill went the arrow from the elven-string. Frodo looked up. Almost above him the winged shape swerved. There was a harsh croaking scream, as it fell out of the air, vanishing down into the gloom of the eastern shore' (Book 2, The Great River). His hands can also move 'quicker than sight' when fitting an arrow to his bow (Book 2, The Riders of Rohan).

And then there's sleep. (Do Elves dream of serially longeval sheep?) Tolkien again provides us with quite a bit of information, which is again conveyed without comment. We have to draw our own conclusions. We have the quote above, about a green smell being better than sleep. Much later in the book, Gimli goes off to bed, with a directive to Legolas to do the same, but Legolas replies, 'I will walk in the woods of this fair land, which is rest enough' (Book 5, The Field of Cormallen). Are these statements to be taken literally?

Sleep first comes up in Book 3, The Riders of Rohan:

[Aragorn:] '...Shall we rest by night, or shall we go on while our will and strength hold?' 'Unless our enemies rest also, they will leave us far behind, if we stay to sleep,' said Legolas. 'Surely even Orcs must pause on the march?' said Gimli. 'Seldom will Orcs journey in the open under the sun, yet these have done so,' said Legolas. 'Certainly they will not rest by night.' 'But if we walk by night, we cannot follow the trail,' said Gimli. 'The trail is straight, and turns neither right nor left, as far as my eyes can see,' said Legolas. [Aragorn and Gimli raise the possibility of losing the trail or missing signs the hobbits escaped.] 'The Orcs will be doubly on their guard since then, and the prisoners even wearier,' said Legolas. 'There will be no escape again, if we do not contrive it. How that is to be done cannot be guessed, but first we must overtake them.'

Notice how Legolas finds all the reasons against stopping to sleep. Gimli seems tired; Legolas not at all. Aragorn is in the middle, and eventually makes the hard choice, choosing sleep. After, when he wakes before dawn, he notes 'Gimli was still deep in slumber, but Legolas was standing, gazing northwards into the darkness, thoughtful and silent as a young tree in a windless night.' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan). Did Legolas sleep? Does he even need to? (I remember wondering at this moment, maybe on my third reading of the LOTR: 'What are Elves, exactly?' much in the same way Pippen wonders what Gandalf is, but, similarly, it took us both a while. For Pippen, it's not until they sit in throne room with Denethor.)

Back to the three runners. At their next sleep break, Tolkien seems to be doubling down on the possibility that Elves don't need to sleep: 'As before Legolas was first afoot, if indeed he had ever slept.' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan). The next night, 'Aragorn and Gimli slept fitfully, and whenever they awoke they saw Legolas standing beside them, or walking to and fro, singing softly to himself in his own tongue, and as he sang the white stars opened in the hard black vault above. So the night passed' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan).

In between these two nights, we get the clearest passage about this, an uncharacteristically explicit statement for Tolkien, frankly, that stands out more so as a consequence. We first hear how lightly Legolas stepped ('leaving no footprints'), and his energy is contrasted with the others ("'Let us go up on to the green hill!' he said. Wearily they followed him.") We are then told how 'in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his mind in the strange paths of Elvish dreams, even as he walked open-eyed in the light of this world' (Book 3, The Riders of Rohan).

Note that we again have Tolkien using the word 'strange' in connection to Elves.

Now, it seems odd that given the chance to sleep in the more traditional way over these nights with Aragorn and Gimli, he appears to choose not to, even as he expends maximum energy during the day. He seems to need less (less sleep, less food) in a situation where his companions need more. He gets by on 'resting his mind' while running, taking in the 'green smell' of nature (better than 'much sleep'), and eating only waybread. Given all this, it is fair for us to assume he not only doesn't need to sleep (conventionally), but, perhaps, he cannot. Maybe he can only enter the 'strange paths of Elvish dreams' while 'walking open-eyed.'

And yet, it appears that is not entirely true. He can sleep. Tolkien writes, 'Legolas and Gimli slept' the night after they reunite with Gandalf (Book 3, The King of the Golden Hall). More specifically, on the night when the horses will run off and Gimli will be startled by Saurman while on watch - before all that - Aragorn falls asleep, but 'Legolas already lay motionless, his fair hands folded upon his breast, his eyes unclosed, blending living night and deep dream, as is the way with Elves'(Book 3, The Riders of Rohan).

Again, some rare detail from Tolkien. This last bit suggests that to say an Elf is 'asleep' is to say something different from saying a human is asleep. The word 'sleep' itself may be inadequate, trying to capture something that similar to human sleep, but quite distinct from it. The idea of a having deep dreams and another sleeping state (whatever 'living night' is supposed to mean – maybe we lack the vocabulary to explain what this state is like for an Elf) may remind us of our own cycles of REM and deep sleep, but with Elves these two states are blended, not alternating.

Would it be better to call this something other than 'sleep'? It appears we lack the right vocabulary.

Continue on to Part 4...