#the mirkwood elves are delightful in their openness
thinking about how comparatively unisolationist the mirkwood elves are to some other ones we see (e.g. lothlorien) & them just being like. the weird neighbors and sometimes coworkers of the men that live nearby. like I can’t overstate how delighted I am by the idea of them just being a boring (but weird) part of everyday life. there’s groups of men in lotr who’ve never even seen an elf, meanwhile the lake men/men of dale are presumably like “yeah I know an elf. he stole my sandwich last thursday when we were clearing that fallen log & then lied about it :/”
I hope it’s okay to add this on but honestly thinking about the relationships between men, elves, and dwarves in the North delights me so much all the time. I think one thing the Hobbit reveals to us is that they are actually very intertwined politically, economically, even socially! One of my dear headcanons is that Legolas and Gimli have a moment of bonding in the Fellowship’s early days journeying over something cultural they have in common that the others in the group don’t get - like maybe Gimli mentions some very specific barman in Dale and Legolas jumps in with a perfect impression of the guy and they both crack up while everyone else stares at them blankly. I don’t mean to hijack your post but I love thinking about this!
