Is Thranduil villainous or evil?
Thranduil does not have a villainous or evil reputation in Tolkien literature. BUT: There are a lot of fan fic stories with our noble King being presented as sadistic, brutal, or at the very least unmannerly. Mostly I think this has to do with Bilbo’s description of how the Elfking treated the Dwarves who were lost in his forest as related in the book ‘The Hobbit’. In the story, the lost and hungry Dwarves are captured by the Elves and brought before Thranduil for questioning. After refusing to give adequate answers about where they are going to and why they are traveling through his realm without asking permission, they were all put into separate prison cells in the lowest depths of the Mirkwood halls until ready to talk. The fact that Mirkwood seems to be the “Elf-Prison Realm” of Middle-earth does not help. Thranduil appears to be the only Elflord who has a dungeon-like area with prison cells. I think that fact alone gives some people the impression that the Elfking must be severe o
