Thranduil: Biography

King of the Silvan Elves in northern Mirkwood. Often referred to as 'King under the oak and the beech'.
Thranduil was the son of Oropher and thusly of Sindarin descent. After his father's death in the War of the Ring he became King of the Silvan Elves. He was leading his war-scarred army home when he received a report of the Orcs onslaught upon Isildur's march. Yet, all he could do was to prevent the dark creatures mutilating the dead men's bodies - Isildur was slain and the Ring lost.
Thranduil established the realm in northern Greenwood the Great (later referred to as 'Mirkwood'). Though barely a third of his people had survived the war, his subjects soon grew numerous again. They dwelled not only in the halls of their king (built after Thingol`s example) and in the forest surrounding them, but also in the woods near the Lonely Mountain and along the west shores of the Long Lake. This changed when about 1000 TA a shadow fell upon the forest and in 2770 TA the dragon Smaug invaded the lands. Thranduil, expecting Sauron to grow in strength again, foresaw that dark times would come. He alone still kept evil at bay in the northern part of the forest, for the magic of his people was strong even in those days.
We next hear of the king in 'The Hobbit': The dwarves and Bilbo, starving in Mirkwood because they had gotten lost, disturbed the festivities of the Silvan Elves. They were caught (with the exception of Bilbo) and Thranduil questioned them about their motives for wandering his realm without leave. When they refused to answer he kept them prisoners in his dungeons, though let them be treated very well. After Bilbo had managed to free the dwarves with the help of the Ring, Thranduil gathered a host to follow them, because he feared bad things may come to pass -he had already guessed that they meant to steal the treasure from Smaug. Soon he was met by messengers from lake-town Esgaroth which had been destroyed by the dragon. Hearing of the humans misery there, Thranduil changed the direction of his march to supply them with things most needed. Later he joined Bard, new leader of the men, to march towards the Lonely Mountain and ask the dwarves for recompense (after all, they had woken Smaug). Thranduil met Bilbo who came to offer him and Bard the Arkenstone, a big beautiful jewel, to aid them in their bargaining. But, before the situation was solved the Goblins and the Wild Wolves attacked and thusly the famous 'Battle of five Armies' began (Goblins, Wild Wolves, Elves, men and Dwarves). Finally, the Goblins and wolves were defeated with the help of the Eagles. Dwarves, Elves and Men were reconciled. Thranduil became very fond of Bilbo and gave him the title 'elf-friend'.
Years later, Aragorn brought Gollum into Thranduil's realm for safe-keeping, where he was questioned by Gandalf (who was a friend of the king). In 3018 TA Sauron ordered Orcs to assail the realm to recapture Gollum in which they succeeded. To give the White Council notice of these events Thranduil sent his son Legolas to Imladris. The last we hear of Thranduil is that he had to battle hard to defend Mirkwood during the WotR and finally met with Celeborn in the heart of the forest. They divided it into three parts: the whole north to be ruled by Thranduil, the south to be under Celeborn's leadership and it's center part for the Beornings. Thranduil and Celeborn were probably kin or at least close until the latter married Galadriel -Thranduil didn't like her. He thought her golden trees and her whole way of living to be artificial.

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