When the Fellowship formed in The Lord of the Rings, every member already had a rich history. Be it a simple Hobbit from a well-respected family or a Ranger with a kingly heritage, the Fellowship's members had a life they needed to drop to set forth on their quest. However, Legolas is one of the stand-outs, as his background is somewhat minimal throughout the trilogy. So, who exactly was Legolas before The Lord of the Rings?
Looking at the Peter Jackson adaptations, Legolas appeared in the last two movies of The Hobbit trilogy. While it could've just been a fun one-off cameo, many fans felt Legolas' prominence in the story was forced and unneeded, as the character never appears in the original novel. However, there are some things about Legolas' backstory that the trilogy did get right.
Legolas Was an Elven Prince in Lord of the Rings
Aragorn being heir to Gondor is made into a huge deal, so it's easy to forget Legolas himself was a prince. Born in the forests of Mirkwood, Legolas was the only son of King Thranduil, ruler of the Elven Woodland Realm. The year of his birth has never been given, so by the time of The Lord of the Rings, he could be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.
With Elves living an immortal life, being the son of a ruler was not as big a deal as it is with Men. Unless King Thranduil died or gave up the throne, Legolas would forever be named a prince, so he chose to focus on other needs for the kingdom. He trained to become a messenger and master archer, often venturing out into the wilds in hopes of gaining news.
How Legolas First Met Gollum in Lord of the Rings
In Jackson's Lord of the Rings adaptation, the time between Bilbo's birthday party and Gandalf discovering the identity of the One Ring only seems like a few months. But in the novels, this gap was close to 17 years, with much happening in between. Growing suspicious of the Ring, Gandalf and Aragorn worked together to hunt the creature Gollum, and together, they found him and brought him to the dungeons in Mirkwood.
Gandalf questioned Gollum while in the Elven kingdom, and it's highly likely that he and Legolas also interacted at some point. However, Gollum's capture was short-lived, as soon a group of Orcs attacked the kingdom, and Gollum took his chance to escape during the chaos. And because of this defeat, Legolas traveled to Rivendell to report what had transpired and happened to be present during the Council of Elrond.
Unfortunately, that's everything that is known about Legolas' backstory. For how much history Tolkien wrote about Middle-earth and all its characters, Legolas has surprisingly little lore for someone so important to the story. Only a few details leading up to The Lord of the Rings are known about him, but, at the very least, there's enough to paint a picture of who he was before embarking on his epic quest.