As always, spoiler warnings...

Together the Elf and the Dwarf entered Minas Tirith, and folk that saw them marveled to see such companions; for Legolas was fair of face beyond the measure of Men, and he sang an elven-song in a clear voice as he walked in the morning. (Book 5, The Last Debate)

We, along with the Hobbits and other members of the Company, have been traveling with Legolas for hundreds of pages when he enters Minas Tirith, but to the people of that city, he is indeed strange and wonderous. It is a reminder of his alienness but perhaps that would be true for any Elf. We do not get a similar report of the Gondorians' response to the arrival of the great party from the North with Arwen, Elrond, Galadriel, and others, but it too must have been 'marveled' at. The only trait unique to Legolas that Tolkien goes out of his way to point out is his friendship with Gimli, who was also marveled at, I suppose.

Here is list of the major 'strange Elf' threads about Legolas - and, by extension, perhaps, the strangeness present in Elves in general - that have come up so far in previous sections:

• A deep connection to nature in general, and with trees and horses in particular, verging on the magical in some cases; and, in one case (the forest of Huorns) verging on the dangerously obsessive.
• An ability to commune with rocks.
• An immunity to cold.
• An ability to tread so lightly as to not leave footprints or sink in soft snow.
• Vision beyond what can be explained merely by enhanced (compared to humans) physical traits; in particular, an ability to discern exceptional detail even at great distances.
• An ability to skip sleep, even while expending extraordinary amounts of energy; the ability to do something like sleep while active and 'open-eyed,' entering the 'strange paths of Elvish dreams;' an ability to refresh himself, similar to the benefits of sleep, just by being in nature; and what does get called 'sleep' for Legolas seems to be quite different from human sleep.
• A relationship to time which is very different from mortals, but difficult to describe: time moves swift and slow, and change is a grief.
• A susceptibility to a perilous sea-longing, a desire to leave Middle-earth and go into the West.
• No fear of the horrors of dead mortal spirits, who are powerless against Elves, but appropriately mournful on the passing of mortals, and respectful of their burial traditions.

Some of these abilities and senses (and whatever open-eyed 'sleeping' is) suggest we are using human vocabulary to describe aspects of Elves that are different enough from our human experiences that our words are only close approximates what an Elf experiences. I am reminded of the mid-century sci-fi short story masterpiece, the hilarious Ex Machina (Lewis Padgett, 1948), in which the vain robot Joe tells his hapless inventor Gallegher that he can varish and skren, but he can't explain either:

[Joe:] 'You've got to be able to skren to understand it'... Gallegher said: 'What's skrenning?' 'You'll never know.'

Legolas is not all superpowers, however. For example, both he and Gimli cede the tracking to Aragorn. Legolas is completely baffled by the evidence left behind from Pippin's and Merry's escape from the Orcs, and yet Aragorn guesses it pretty close to fact (Book 3, The White Rider). Legolas also says he sees only a 'strange tale' when they find only two boats on the shore above the Rauros (Book 3, The Departure of Boromir); again, it is Aragorn who figures it out. This does make sense; there are no indications that Legolas has had to develop tracking skills, whereas it may be Aragorn's most defining ability. It serves, however, as a good reminder that Elves are not naturally better than humans at everything.

I want to return now to the 'tra-la-la-lally' nature of Elves (Cory Olson's term), because while Legolas' abilities and traits are fairly easy to define and contrast with humanity, I contend that Legolas has a strange sense of humor.

Legolas does not participate in what is probably the most common form of humor in the LORT, namely the hobbits' affectionate kidding. This is common among the hobbits, most particularly between Merry and Pippen. We see Aragorn doing it pretty awkwardly, but Gandalf excels at it, and even Elrond seems adept at it; consider his good-natured dig to Bilbo: 'Come! Tell us your tale. And if you have not yet cast your story into verse, you may tell it in plain words' (Book 2, The Council of Elrond).

Gimli and Legolas' competition over killing Orcs could be placed in this category of humor. On Aragorn telling him that he is not sure what has become of Gimli during the Battle at Helm's Deep, Legolas is concerned, but seemingly not because this could mean Gimli is hurt or worse, but because 'I desired to tell Master Gimli that my tale is now thirty-nine' (Book 3, Helm's Deep). At their reunion: 'You have passed my score by one,' answered Legolas. 'But I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your legs!' (Book 3, The Road to Isengard). However, I find it hard to read this as joking. It certainly doesn't hit the mark like Pippin's 'There must be someone with intelligence in the party' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South) or his 'Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that' (Book 2, Many Meetings).

Speaking of Pippin, he's the one who protests the idea of sleeping in trees in Lothlorien, to which Legolas' reply ('Then dig a hole in the ground,' said Legolas, 'if that is more after the fashion of your kind. But you must dig swift and deep, if you wish to hide from Orcs.' (Book 2, Lothlorien)) seems less playful mocking and more of an honest warning based on his limited knowledge of hobbit holes. Is it meant to be funny? I do not think so.

Let's attack this from the other side of the problem. What does an Elvish joke sound like? In The Hobbit, the 'tra-la-lally' Elves of Rivendell sing some 'pretty fair nonsense' and they 'would only laugh all the more if you told them so.' Later, they call out more jokes (if jokes they are) like, 'Mind Bilbo doesn't eat all the cakes! He is too fat to get through key-holes yet!' (Are these funny to non-Elves?)

We have at least one clear example of Legolas making a joke, maybe even a series of jokes. His choice of timing is the first thing we need to consider, because all of this occurs while stuck on Caradhras, after having made the decision to abandon the attempt to go over the mountain pass after a horribly cold, windy, snowy night. First, we get this exchange between Legolas and Gandalf:

'If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might melt a path for you,' said Legolas. The storm had troubled him little, and he alone of the Company remained still light of heart.   'If Elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the Sun to save us,' answered Gandalf. 'But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn snow.' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South)

Gandalf's shortness is understandable. How does a 1,000-year-old Elf not understand how snow and fire work? But Legolas is going to pick up on Gandalf's comeback, so let's file that away for a second.

Boromir follows Gandalf's line above with 'When heads are at a loss, bodies must serve,' and he and Aragorn head off to muscle a trail through the deep snow.

Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow - an Elf... Farewell!... I go to find the Sun!' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South)

It's an odd time for a joke, and what an odd one at that. The parallelism suggested is that [ploughman is to plough] as [otter is to swimming] as [Elf is to running light over grass, leaf, or snow]. Boromir and Aragorn are the 'snow ploughs,' and the 'but' suggests that what comes after is different (but still parallel): otters swimming and Elves running are smooth, natural, effortless, unlike the awkward ploughmen ploughing. So, it 'works,' I suppose, but Tolkien is capable of better jokes, by far.

The callback to Gandalf's dig about fetching the Sun is pretty good, though, and that is expanded on when Legolas returns.

Well,' cried Legolas as he ran up, 'I have not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet.' (Book 2, The Ring Goes South)

Clever, even if a bit poetic, although one wonders if Legolas considers himself one of those 'doomed to go on feet' given his ability to float on snow, to remain untroubled by the storm, and to have a smile upon his lips.

These jokes are very different from Hobbit-kidding, but no complaint there. Tolkien's ability to represent different characters (and races) with different 'voices' is on display throughout the LOTR (see The Council of Elrond for a masterclass). Whether Legolas' jokes are actually funny to the other members of the Company is uncertain - heck, I'm not sure they're funny to Legolas - but I doubt they are funny to the others at this moment. If we conclude nothing else, we can be certain that Legolas really seems to fail to read the room here.

Continue on to the conclusion...