The āOfficial LOTR Movie Guide,ā says Legolas is 2931 years old, although (as far as Iām aware) that number has no actual basis in the books. In the books, he says "Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then," so going by book canon alone, excluding any movie canon or alternative interpretations, itās safe to say Legolas is 500-ish years old.
But then I had a thought. What if he was lying!?! *
Imagine Legolas, whoās just turned 60 (basically an Angsty Teenagerā¢ļø by elf standards), desperate for independence and begging Thranduil to let him go to Rivendell. After finally getting permission from his father, who does he see when he gets there? Gimli. A dwarf. Not only that, but heās older than him, and heās! a! dwarf! Of course Legolas wonāt let Gimli feel superior so soon after meeting him, and so naturally lies about his age.
Originally he was just Not Gonna Mention it and hope that it doesnāt come up in conversation, but then he sees the other members of the fellowship and realises heās literally one of the youngest there, only a little older than the hobbits. So he makes a conscious effort to lie about his age and decides to pretend to be 500.
Keep in mind this is his first time outside of Mirkwood (at least for an extended period of time) so heās absolutely clueless about most non-elvish things. The company will walk past something completely normal (say, a cottage) and heāll start staring in wonder at while asking loads of questions - until Aragorn gives him a sideways look and he immediately shuts up. Then heās all: āYes, uh, of course I know what That Thing is, Iāve been outside Mirkwood... thousands of times, donāt you know?ā And so on.
Gandalf is the only one who knows Legolasās secret (Legolas doesnāt know he knows) and will discreetly chuckle whenever Legolas does something that could give away his age. Aragorn has always suspected, but could never really confirm it, UNTIL Sam and Legolas start panicking about whether Legolas might die from sadness. That time it was a little too obvious.
It is now an inside joke between Gandalf and Aragorn, both find it absolutely hilarious watching Legolas trying to conceal it. The best part is - Legolas still thinks that they donāt know about his age.
(*- yes, I know that canonically it is extremely unlikely that Legolas is lying about his age, and that Tolkien probably did intend for him to be about a few centuries old. I just had this idea and I found it hilarious so Iām gonna go with it for the sake of this post.)
