Elvish in The Hobbit Films: Thranduil, Tauriel and Every Line Translated

Quick Answer: The Elves in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy speak Sindarin written for the films by David Salo, not sentences from Tolkien. The best-documented lines are Thranduil's "Farn! Tauriel, ego! Gwao hi!" ("Enough! Tauriel, leave! Go now!"), Legolas's "Holo in ennyn!" ("Close the gate!") and Tauriel's healing blessing over Kili. The script was never published in full, so most transcriptions come from fan linguists listening to the films. We mark every uncertain line below.

The Lord of the Rings films have been studied line by line for twenty years. The Hobbit films haven't had the same attention. No full screenplay has been released, the subtitles often paraphrase, and a lot of the Elvish is spoken quietly in dark dungeons or shouted over battle noise. This guide collects what is reliably known, says where each line comes from, and marks the places where even the experts are guessing.

If you want the Lord of the Rings trilogy instead, we cover it in Elvish Words in Lord of the Rings Movies and Every Elvish Movie Quote from Lord of the Rings. This article only covers the three Hobbit films, so nothing here repeats those guides.

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Where These Lines Come From (and Why That Matters)

Three things are worth knowing before you read any translation of Hobbit Elvish, here or anywhere else.

1. Tolkien wrote almost no Elvish for The Hobbit. The novel has hardly any Elvish dialogue. The Wood-elves of Mirkwood sing in the Common Speech, and the Elvenking is never named Thranduil in the book (the name comes later, in The Lord of the Rings). Tauriel does not exist in Tolkien at all. She is a character invented for the films. So every Elvish sentence in these films is new writing.

2. The sentences were composed by David Salo. Salo, the linguist behind the Elvish of the Lord of the Rings films, returned for the Hobbit trilogy. He built the dialogue from Tolkien's published Sindarin vocabulary and grammar and coined words where Tolkien left gaps. Our house rule is simple: this is film Sindarin, never "Tolkien's Elvish." Some individual words are Tolkien's, but the sentences are Salo's.

3. Most transcriptions are fan reconstructions. The most careful work was done by the Gwaith-i-Phethain ("Fellowship of the Word-smiths"), with analysis by Hungarian linguist Gábor Lőrinczi. They published it on the Tolkien news site Elendilion after each film came out. They worked from partial script fragments and repeated listening, and they marked every word they were unsure of. We follow their transcriptions and keep their caveats. Where they wrote "uncertain," so do we.

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An Unexpected Journey: Rivendell and the White Council

The first film has the least Elvish. Most of it is spoken by Elrond's riders and in quiet asides at Rivendell. Most viewers remember one thing: Galadriel speaking to Gandalf without moving her lips during the White Council. Her words reach him by thought.

That telepathic exchange matters later. In The Battle of the Five Armies, when Gandalf lies imprisoned in Dol Guldur, he hears Galadriel's voice again. The fan transcription of that later line is:

The Rivendell scenes in An Unexpected Journey are otherwise short and fragmentary. We have not found a reliable, published transcription of the rest, so we haven't listed any. Filling that gap with guesses is exactly how false "movie quotes" end up on posters.

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The Desolation of Smaug: Mirkwood's Elvish

The second film has most of the trilogy's Elvish. Thranduil's realm, the spider fight, the dungeons and the barrel chase are full of Sindarin spoken between Legolas, Tauriel and the palace guards.

After the spider battle

The Wood-elves arrive in time to finish off Mirkwood's spiders. Legolas checks with Tauriel:

Yngyl is a plural of ungol, "spider." It is the same element found in Tolkien's name Cirith Ungol, the Pass of the Spider. The plural here is built with Sindarin's internal vowel change, the way Tolkien's plurals work (adan becomes edain), not by adding an ending.

Legolas examines Orcrist

Legolas takes Thorin's sword and recognises it:

The subtitle is loose. The Sindarin names Gondolin outright, the hidden city where, in Tolkien's The Hobbit, Elrond says Orcrist and Glamdring were made. So the Elvish is more specific than the English, and it is more faithful to the book too. Note that the subtitle's "my kin" is a film choice: the Wood-elves in Tolkien are not the Elves of Gondolin.

Disarming the Dwarves and closing the gate

Ennyn "gates" is a real Tolkien plural: annon becomes ennyn. You can see it on the Doors of Durin, whose inscription begins Ennyn Durin Aran Moria, "the Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria." It is one of the best examples of film dialogue reusing attested Tolkien forms.

The dungeon: "Why does the Dwarf stare at you?"

This is probably the best-known Sindarin exchange in the trilogy. Legolas notices Kili watching Tauriel:

Nogoth "Dwarf" and tîr "look, watch" are both Tolkien words. Nogoth is the Sindarin for a Dwarf, with the collective Nogothrim. The joke is the film's own.

The Feast of Starlight

Tauriel says this in English dialogue, naming the feast. Mereth "feast" and gil "star" are Tolkien vocabulary (gil is the star element in Gilthoniel, "star-kindler"). But the name Mereth-en-Gilith itself is the film's invention. In the book, the Wood-elves feast in the forest clearings, but the feast is never named.

Thranduil sends Tauriel away

Thranduil's clearest Elvish order in the whole trilogy:

It is short and sharp, which suits Lee Pace's cold Elvenking. Farn "enough" is a Tolkien word. The imperatives are film Sindarin.

Just before this, Legolas stops Tauriel from killing their captured Orc:

Dartho "wait, stay" is film Sindarin built on Tolkien's verb dar- "stop, halt."

Sealing the realm

When the Dwarves have escaped and Tauriel has gone after them:

Aran "king" is attested Tolkien Sindarin. It is the same element found in Aragorn.

By the river: "If I were an Orc…"

Legolas catches up with Tauriel. This exchange is often quoted, and with good reason: it is the emotional core of their story in the film.

The verb for "forgive" here comes from the same film-Sindarin root as goheno nin, "forgive me," which Arwen says in The Fellowship of the Ring. Our canon guidelines list goheno nin as Salo's, and the Hobbit films reuse his invention. If you want "forgive me" in Elvish, remember that it is a film phrase, not a Tolkien one.

Tauriel heals Kili

In Lake-town, Tauriel uses athelas and speaks over Kili. Fans ask about this line more than any other in the trilogy:

Gurth "death" is Tolkien Sindarin (it appears in the film battle cry gurth an Glamhoth, itself a Salo line). Here it is lenited to ngurth after o "from." Because several words are marked uncertain, this is not a line we would recommend for a tattoo or engraving. If you want a healing or blessing phrase in Elvish, use one from Tolkien's own texts instead. The AI Elvish tutor can help you find an attested alternative.

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The Battle of the Five Armies: War Orders and Exile

The third film has less Elvish than the second, and more of it is shouted under battle noise. The transcriptions are rougher as a result.

On the lakeshore and in the refugee camp

Hîr nín, "my lord," uses two real Tolkien words: hîr "lord" and nín "my." Be careful here. Some websites gloss nîn with a circumflex as "white," but in these contexts nín means my. Also note Naug "Dwarf," a second Sindarin word for Dwarves alongside Nogoth.

Legolas chooses

This is one of the trilogy's most-quoted Elvish lines. Keep in mind that the audio and the script fragment disagree, so even the transcription is a best reading.

In Gundabad

Thranduil's battle orders

Thangail "shield-fence" is a real Tolkien word. In Unfinished Tales it names the shield-wall formation of the Dúnedain at the Gladden Fields. Its appearance in Thranduil's mouth is a nice piece of film scholarship. His other shouted order in this battle is only partly audible, and we won't guess at the missing word.

Dol Guldur and the ending

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Tolkien Words vs Film Coinages: A Quick Table

Many of the individual words in these lines are Tolkien's even though the sentences are not. Here are the most useful ones you'll hear in the films:

To see how these words are pronounced, with trilled r and the ch as in Scottish "loch," read our Sindarin pronunciation guide. Legolas's lines from both trilogies are collected in Legolas's Elvish Quotes.

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Why Thranduil Sounds Different

Viewers often notice that the Mirkwood Elves sound different from Elrond's household. Some of that is acting: Lee Pace plays Thranduil slow and cold, while Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom speak quickly. Salo's own notes (cited by Elendilion) also mention a pronunciation detail. The Sindarin letter y is a rounded front vowel, like French u or German ü. Legolas and Tauriel say yngyl with that sound. Many English speakers flatten it to "i," and hearing it said properly is one of the easiest ways to tell careful film Sindarin from a rough imitation.

In Tolkien's world, the Wood-elves are Silvan Elves ruled by Sindarin lords. Tolkien says in Unfinished Tales that their own Silvan speech had largely given way to Sindarin by the Third Age. So Sindarin in Mirkwood fits the lore, even though the sentences are new.

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How to Use These Lines

• As a fan quote, any line in the tables is fine. Just attribute it as film Sindarin by David Salo.
• For a tattoo or engraving, use only lines marked "Transcribed" and never "Uncertain." Better still, pick a phrase Tolkien actually wrote. A line whose spelling is still disputed is a bad thing to put on your skin.
• To learn to build sentences yourself, start with real grammar, not film fragments. Our structured Elvish course teaches the Sindarin and Quenya behind these films, and the Elvish translator shows you how an English phrase maps onto attested vocabulary.

If you enjoyed the Mirkwood side of the story, the riddles in Gollum's cave are another Hobbit scene worth reading closely: see The Hobbit's Riddle Game Explained.

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People Also Ask

What language do the Elves speak in The Hobbit films? Sindarin, written for the films by David Salo from Tolkien's vocabulary and grammar. The sentences are not Tolkien's, so we call it film Sindarin.

What does Thranduil say in Elvish? His clearest line is "Farn! Tauriel, ego! Gwao hi!", subtitled "Enough! Tauriel, leave! Go now!" In the final battle he orders "Ribo i thangail!", glossed "Rush the shield-fence!"

What does Tauriel say to Kili in Elvish? She speaks a blessing that fan linguists transcribe as "Menno o nin na hon i eliad annen annin, hon leitho o ngurth", roughly "may the blessing given to me pass to him, may he be released from death." Several words are uncertain.

Is the Elvish in The Hobbit real Tolkien Elvish? The words are mostly Tolkien's; the sentences are Salo's. Treat them as film Sindarin.

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Related Reading

• Elvish Words in Lord of the Rings Movies: Complete Glossary
• Every Elvish Movie Quote from Lord of the Rings
• Legolas's Elvish Quotes
• The Hobbit's Riddle Game Explained
• How to Say Thank You in Elvish

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Learn Elvish with Tengwar

The Mirkwood Elves speak Sindarin, and you can too. Start with the free lessons in our Elvish course, or ask the AI Elvish tutor what a line from the films means.

Sources: Gwaith-i-Phethain transcriptions and analysis by Gábor Lőrinczi, published on Elendilion (December 2013 and January 2015), and film subtitles. Word etymologies are from Tolkien's published Sindarin (The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, The Etymologies).