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In the Lord of the Rings, no mention is made of Legolas' hair colour.

I think at the end of the Appendixes Tolkien stated (to the effect) " all the Eldar were dark except the Golden house of Finarfin"

Does this imply he had dark hair?

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The evidence is fairly neatly summed up here: http://www.tolkiensociety.org/faq01.html#legolas

However, in Quendi and Eldar (HoME 11) we read the following:

In general the Sindar appear to have very closely resembled the Exiles, being dark-haired, strong and tall, but lithe. Indeed they could hardly be told apart except by their eyes; for the eyes of all the Elves that had dwelt in Aman impressed those of Middle-earth by their piercing brightness.

But this should be considered indicative rather than conclusive, especially bearing in mind the points made in the Tolkien Society link, above.

In summary: we don't know and there are valid reasons to argue in favour of either fair or dark, so take your pick and form your own internal image.

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  • I disagree strongly! And during a spirited discussion with old @Richard have formulated a strong argument of my own. It is given below.
    – user38114
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 23:23
  • @GemmanAster - much of your argument is based on falsehoods; Thingol was silver-haired and Thranduil was golden-haired, per my comments to your answer.
    – user8719
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 1:03
  • Come on @Darth old son! In your reading of some equivocal evidence, in your opinion.. etc. There are other readings and other opinions.
    – user38114
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 1:21
  • @GemmanAster - did you not read the quotes I gave in my comments to your answer? There's no opinion there, it's what Tolkien wrote.
    – user8719
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 1:31
  • I did indeed @Darth! But it is all a matter of how you interpret it. Lets take the flies and spiders quote - on its face its hard to argue that Thranduil's hair is anything but blonde. But I take it the 'gold' is the yellow flames cast on his SILVER hair. That is how my understanding adapts to an equivocal situation - knowing Sindar are NOT blonde. But. The rest - no - I disagree with your reading and reasoning. That doesn't mean we either need to have a 'ZOMG flamewarz!!!!' or even argue at all. I think we are both pretty fanatical about Tolkien and are not going to budge anyway!!!
    – user38114
    Commented Dec 13, 2014 at 1:50

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