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I just want to give a short perspective on just how long Elven lives are.
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5382:
The minimum age for Thranduil at the time of the Hobbit
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2952:
Years Thranduil has been ruling the Silvan Elves of the Woodland Kingdom, after his father was killed fighting against Sauron.
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2434:
Minimum number of years he would have spent with his father. Just imagine what losing a loved one is like for Elves... (When Elves die, their spirits are transported to the Halls of Mandos in the undying lands, and after some period of time, are reborn in bodies just like their old ones, but only can live in the undying lands.)
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1891:
The years since some sort of evil presence has been messing with the Greenwood, eventually retitling it Mirkwood. (though the movie messes with this timeline) This means as king, he is relocating his people, dealing with dark monsters, etc. As if to shove it in his face, the original capitol founded by him and his father (which they abandoned partly due to agressive dwarves in nearby Moria, becomes Dol Guldur)
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1020:
Years ago that the Erabor was reestablished as a home for the dwarves and the Arkenstone was found. The movie claims Thranduil came/is asked to pay tribute.
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A mere 171:
years since Smaug took the mountain. Meanwhile the shadow over Mirkwood is growing ever more intense.
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1:
number of confirmed children, and thus heirs Thranduil has, though he may have had more. This one son he sent to Rivendell as a messenger, not as a potential member of the Fellowship. it's unclear if Legolas volunteered or was volunteered, but Thranduil did not send him with the expectation that he was going to be taking the ring towards Mordor.
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500:
The supposed minimum age for said son, Legolas, though he could have been born as early as the first age. Most estimates place him between 800-1000 years old.
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4th:
The Age into which Thranduil stayed in Middle Earth, helping repair his Kingdom, while Legolas founded a new Elven kingdom, helped rebuild two dwarven kingdoms and the newly reunited kingdom of Man. This is instead of sailing into the West right away like most Sindar elves.
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Takeaways:
Thranduil isn't really that much of an ass for not fighting that dragon for the Dwarves or really caring about their plight. His armies were needed in Mirkwood, and really, from an Elvish view of time, their whole issue isn't as big of a deal as they make is sound. (Granted, Dwarves only live 250 years).
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Elves live for an insanely long time. Their whole perceptions of time, of what matters, of the world, must be so different from the rest of the races. The stretch of imagination from 80 years to 250 is one thing. But thinking in Elf time is... hard.
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I have not dug very deep into the LOTR fandom (thar lies balrogs, I assume), but I wonder how they handle things like this.
