Thranduil
[T 2] Later writings in Unfinished Tales make Thranduil's father Oropher the founder of the realm, which originally included the southern portions of the forest of Greenwood the Great, later known as Mirkwood.
[T 5] Hearing word of the Disaster of the Gladden Fields shortly after their return, Thranduil set out to aid the Dúnedain; he arrived too late to save them, but was able to finish the destruction of the Orc horde and prevent the mutilation of the dead.
[T 7] Being far in the north, and on the eastern edge of an increasingly perilous Mirkwood, Thranduil's realm was somewhat isolated, but he traded with the Dwarves and Men who lived nearby in Erebor, Dale, and Esgaroth (Laketown).
– The Hobbit: "Barrels out of Bond"[T 9] After the death of Smaug, Thranduil along with the people of Esgaroth demanded a share of the treasure of Erebor, beginning a confrontation with Thorin's company, who were reinforced by an army from the Iron Hills, that nearly led to war.
Having routed their foes in the north, Thranduil's forces moved south, and joined with the armies of Lorien under Celeborn and Galadriel in destroying Dol Guldur, cleansing Mirkwood of Sauron's taint of evil.
[3] The New Zealand screenwriter and film producer Philippa Boyens, a co-writer of the screenplay for The Hobbit, noted that Tolkien only revealed further detailed information about the character, including his name and backstory, in the book's sequel.
[4] In an interview with The Georgia Straight, Pace explained that Thranduil, unlike other villainous characters he had played like Ronan the Accuser, is morally ambiguous, as he is only at odds with the Dwarves.
[4] Pace praised the rest of the cast and crew members of The Hobbit film project as inspirational, noting that they were collectively telling a big story which was intended to be fully fleshed out on the green screen and which they had no idea how it would ultimately turn out.
[10] In 2020, Weta Workshop released a limited edition of a statue featuring The Hobbit film series iteration of Thranduil, depicted seated on his throne with a guard standing in attention before him.
[11] In an article published by Tor.com as part of a bi-weekly series titled "Exploring the People of Middle-earth", Megan N. Fontenot found it surprising that in The Fellowship of the Ring, none of the attendees at the Council of Elrond pays much attention to Legolas' status as Thranduil's heir.
[12] Tom Loback, writing in Mythlore, attempts to evaluate the strength of the orc forces that attacked Thranduil in the battle under Mirkwood's dark trees (Dagor Dauroth).
[14] Business Review praised Pace's "aggressive" Thranduil as one of the better performances of The Battle of the Five Armies, and said that the movie gives audiences a better insight into the Elvenking's motivations as well as the reasons behind his isolationist outlook.
[4] In a review of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray edition of The Desolation Of Smaug, M. Enois Duarte from High-Def Digest wrote that the confrontation between Thorin and Thranduil was one of the more interesting aspects of the expanded material introduced by Jackson's vision of Tolkien's original narrative for The Hobbit.
[16] Conversely, Kirsten Acuna from Business Insider found the depiction of Thranduil's motivations in the film series contradictory; she observed that he repeatedly stresses the prioritization of his people's lives to justify his unwillingness to help other communities in The Desolation of Smaug, and yet in the sequel is willing to risk the same over a war for the White Gems.
