Legolas is declared as a defender. If I use swift strike to kill is attacker, does that count as Legolas' kill, in which case his progress tokens get placed? Or does swift strike *not* trigger Legolas' ability?

Likewise, if the defender has Blade of Gondolin attached when swift strike kills the defender's attacker, does the Blade of Gondolin ability kick in?

I also noticed a similar issue with Rain of Arrows.

Are these event cards considered actions on the part of the character that is affected? Or are they more like "acts of God"?

For Legolas, there was no 'attack in which he participated", so no.
For Gondolin, the answer is the same, but because it asks for the hero to 'attack(s) and destroy an enemy'.

Sorry, I didn't saw the Rain of Arrows question.
The rain is still not an attack.

Exactly. The question is the source of the damage. Is it from the card you played/triggered, or is it from the hero?

I agree with the above answers as well. Even to the point that if Legolas, or any hero with the Blade, 'defends' and kills the enemy - there is an event which allows a defender to do 2 damage - the progress ability doesn't apply as the hero didn't 'attack'. I hope this is correct, but my confidence in my knowledge of the rules has been severly dented this week. See the 'Forest Snare' thread. Cheers!

Hi

This just came up in my game now.

The way the cards are worded, it seems to me that you would be able to use Legolas' ability, but not the Blade of Gondolin.

Legolas' ability states: 'After Legolas participates in an attack that destroys an enemy, place 2 progress tokens…'

Blade of Gondolin states: 'After attached hero attacks and destroys an enemy, place 1 progress token….'

For me that seems to suggest that as long as Legolas is being attacked or is attacking, then he may place the tokens while defending an enemy's attack using Swift Strike. But the Blade of Gondolin clearly states that only when attacking he may place the tokens, therefore not after the use of Swift Strike.

I am new to the game so if you know any better please correct me.

Gronw said:

As stated above, the source of the damage is the event card and not Legolas, therefore it does not count as his kill, even if he is the defending character. Furthermore, his ability clearly states that he must participate in an attack. Since he is defending, this is not considered an attack, regardless of whether it killed an enemy or not. Defending and attacking are two completely different game actions and unless he is specifically declared as an attacker, he cannot take advantage of his ability.

Gronw said:

I do not agree. Legolas must be participating in an attack that destroys an enemy. Swift strike is a defensive event card and therefore progress tokens would not be placed on the quest/location. Also, Blade of Gondolin is only when participating in an attack. Legolas must be an active attacker for progress tokens to be placed on the quest. The reason Legolas's ability has the word participates is because of his ranged ability. This way the ability has flexibility when Legolas destroys an enemy that is not engaged with that player.

But there is no attack. You played Swift Strike while defending.

I think Gronw was suggesting that the enemy's attack that Legolas is defending is an attack in which Legolas is participating. I think this is stretching the literal definition of participating too far, but as I said I think that's what he was getting at. I agree, it has to be an attack the player is making for Legolas' ability to trigger.