Is Legolas really a blond?

< extreme geekiness >
While browsing the “important posts” at Quenta Nârwenion, I came across a curious bit of Middle-Earth science: Hair color genetics for Tolkien’s elves. It looks like Peter Jackson probably got it wrong:

Unfortunately, there will never be proof, one way or another, to Legolas's hair color because there is too much ambiguity.  His father is said to be golden haired in The Hobbit, but this book's assertions to anything were pretty much amended by Tolkien himself in later writings, when he began to seriously world-build for LotR and TS.  Legolas's people were of a huge branch of Elven folk who never left Middle-earth for Valinor, called "dark" Elves, but this is a misleading nomenclature. They are only "dark" because they have not seen the light of the Trees of Valinor, not due to coloration.  Certain sections of these people, the Teleri, were silver-haired (ie. Thingol and Celeborn), but here again there is much to debate, since the parts that seem to support the silver genome are a distinct section of the Teleri in Beleriand and Doriath, and these are not the people from whom Legolas descended. 

Legolas's people have been somewhat isolated over the generations, which could allow for any number of dominants and recessives to take hold.  Having established our genome, however, the most likely explanation is that he is dark-haired and gray eyed, like most of his kind.  If he were a recessive, the odds would be more in favor of silver than gold. 

Tolkien's vagueness can be interpreted in other ways, as well.  Tolkien was always very quick to point out golden and silver-haired Elves, and anywhere where the coloration was not to the dark-haired standard.  If one is to go with this interpretation, then once again, we would have to bet on Legolas's hair being dark.
< /extreme geekiness >

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