These are the same gesture (love), but done in vastly different ways. One gesture is up-turned, and wide open, meant as a warm, loving greeting that takes in everyone. Haldir is gesturing more specifically, so his fingertips point right at the true recipient, by the end of the motion.
Then there is Thranduil and Legolas.
Look at the major difference here.
A deeper head-bow with eyes closed from both of them.
Thranduil’s motions are smaller and slope downward.
Legolas has the most motion. He half-turns and reaches straight out for his father. His hand isn’t cupped upward at all.
I find this really revealing. What we seem to have here is Thranduil saying ‘I love you’ and ‘Goodbye’ to the little child Legolas that still exists in his heart.The motion is slow, almost a scoop motion like taking something out of himself and offering it to Legolas.
Legolas is really heartbreaking. His ‘I love you’ gesture to his father loses all formality. In other words, his hand just begins to go slack and reach out the way it would if he were going to take his father’s hand. To me this is a very deep revelation of love, in a way, it becomes a ‘Don’t leave me’, or ‘Will you come take my hand’. It truly seems to be the son in him reaching to his dad, while his father struggles with letting him go.
Make no wonder this scene makes me teary-eyed.
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