One of my favourite Legolas moments in the book was how he brought down a flying mount of a Nazgûl with a single arrow, in the middle of the night, completely nonchalantly.
While the Fellowship was travelling down the Anduin, Legolas spotted a dark, winged creature approaching from the south. Armed with the bow gifted to him by Galadriel, he fired into the night sky and sent the creature crashing down near the eastern shore.
Legolas couldn’t even identify what he had shot. When Gimli praised his shot, Legolas responded merely that he didn’t even know what he had hit. It was only in The Two Towers that Gandalf revealed he had killed the winged steed of a Nazgûl. The Ringwraith itself had survived.
This event may have completely altered events had that Ringwraith continued pursuing them. Frodo would soon put on the One Ring to escape Boromir, while Merry and Pippin would fall into the hands of Orcs. Imagine a Nazgûl overhead during either encounter.
(Art by Ralph Damiani)