Nathan Caddell from "The Georgia Straight" observed that Pace "tried to stay as loyal as he could to the source material that he loved, using any small crumbs to try to gain more information about his role", and noted that while it is debatable as to whether Thranduil is an evil character, the "vindictive elf" is a departure from Pace's previous roles, which reflected his warm personality. In a review of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray edition of "The Desolation Of Smaug", M. Enois Duarte from "High-Def Digest" wrote that the confrontation between Thorin and Thranduil was one of the more interesting aspects of the expanded material introduced by Jackson's vision of Tolkien's original narrative for "The Hobbit".