With extreme prejudice so far. I did like the LOTR movies (though, how you get a trilogy out of The Hobbit other than by showing all of the walking or going into random flashbacks from the first war or the Silmarillarion is beyond me,) and sort of understand some of the casting decisions, just based on the marketing and not wanting more minor characters running around than there strictly needed to be. I actually thought it was kind of interesting that they actually tried to show Arwen when they were in Rivendell, but that quickly became an extraneous romance shoehorned into the movie with a cattle prod. Can't Arwen and Aragorn be secure enough in their relationship and their knowledge of that what needs to be done in Middle Earth will occasionally separate them for a while? It's not like they were attached at the hip while Aragorn was walking about in the north.

All I can think about the new character Tauriel is that hey, you want to cast some women as archers in Mirkwood? Be my guest. A bow makes a lot of sense for a female warrior: for one, a short bow is not made for a large physique. The fact that she's packaged with Legolas probably says more about the actress who plays her having eye-candy status than about her actual role in the movie. I just can't think of anything - other than a throwaway line or being one of many warriors to round up the dwarves - for her to do in the movie. Whatever she does won't pertain to Bilbo, or to the Ring at all. And while I can accept that PJ really wants to stage Gandalf throwing down the Necromancer in order to tie this all in to LOTR on a more visible level for the audience, and elaborate more on the information that Gandalf gathered before the Ring was passed to Frodo, I just don't know what purpose this new role serves yet.

Also, can we, pretty please, have a movie that doesn't have a romantic subplot squeezed into it where it doesn't fit? I thought that there was certainly nothing they could do to The Hobbit in that regard, but reading the other comments, I'm getting a bit worried. I'm not against romantic subplots, but I wish they weren't practically required for multi-demographic appeal.

But I don't see any problem with adding a few OCs to flesh out the story and give the gals of LotR some more roles - even if they aren't canonical gals. I'm not saying I have a problem with anything in the books - because, honestly, even if I did disagree with the canon in any way, Tolkien was the author/creator and I don't feel I have any right to say 'NO HE DID [insert whatever] WRONG!' - but it's kind of nice to see an extra girl added to the story here and there, and I think people should wait to get a more complete picture of Tauriel's character and involvement before they go off damning her or PJ to every hell that comes to mind.

(On the topic of Arwen replacing Glorfindel in the LotR movies, 1) Legolas did the same thing in the horrendous animated version, so I'm really not sure why Arwen gets so much bull-poo over it and Legolas gets ignored. 2) Yes, that was annoying, but only because Glorfindel seriously needs some movie love. And an actor who doesn't look like George from BBC's Being Human.

Maybe Glorfindel will show up in the Hobbit trilogy? Since it's three movies of one book...)

TLDR Version: As long as she doesn't turn out to be a ginormous Mary-Sue who steals lines from Thranduil, I don't really have any problem with Tauriel showing up in any of the films.

And Legolas is a scene-stealer just as much as Arwen is, just not in the live-action movies. :D

They can be pretty much summed up like this:

1. Who the heck is Tauriel?

2. Why is an elf warrior being made a big deal of in The Hobbit at all, regardless of sex? No warriors have names or speaking parts in the book that I recall, unless you count Thranduil, and he wasn't even named at the time.

3. What does Peter Jackson have against leaving well enough alone? Can't he make a pie without feeling the need to stick his fingers in it and smear it all over?


I'm not offended by the idea of female characters doing more stuff in Middle-earth, for the record. I got over being thrown for a loop when Arwen turned up in Glorfindel's part. I get not wanting to introduce an extra role for that one thing, that's fine. (Her later appearances were mostly pointless and irritating, however.) We could've had more of Eowyn, that would've been awesome. No—I'm offended by the idea of inserting entirely non-existent characters and/or plot points where they don't belong, to the point where the story's been stretched out to three films with uncanon nonsense—because look, really, even with the elaboration upon Gandalf's doings, it should not take three movies to tell The Hobbit. Seriously, if you can do The Lord of the Rings in three, you ought to be able to do The Hobbit in fewer.

And wait, if all we know for sure so far about Tauriel is that she's in a toy set with Legolas, how do we even know it's a strong female role? Leggy isn't a particularly strong male role, let's not forget. For all we know, she's gratuitous eye-candy. Oh, and an excuse for more merchandise, obviously.

I don't understand what you're calling an evolution of Tolkien's legendarium. The only person entitled to develop or add to Tolkien's body of works is Tolkien, and seeing as he's deceased, that's pretty much not possible. Adaptations of it are possible. Spin-offs, perhaps—you know, if PJ just wanted to tell the tale of Tauriel, Warrior Maid of Mirkwood, that could be fine on its own. The fandom and its perceptions can evolve. But Tolkien's legendarium can't evolve without its creator.

Heck, what's Legolas doing in it, for that matter? I mean, if we're just going to get a glimpse of him in Thranduil's hall, okay, he'd logically be there, but surprising as this may be, I don't trust Peter Jackson that much. -_-;

... Although, there is one thing that might make me excuse Tauriel's presence. It would amuse me greatly if she turns out to be Legolas' wife. Just imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth among the fanbrats, and the exultation of movieverse agents with an all-new reason to persecute Legomance Sues with extreme prejudice. *eg*

But really, I think PJ should just write his own original story and make a movie of it, since he clearly isn't interested in making movies of Tolkien's works. He could make an all-female quest-based fantasy epic, even. Or would that have to have a Token Strong Male Character thrown in to be marketable and show that gender equality is a thing in the Real World?

... I'm going to be lynched for that one. Unless, of course, I miraculously get across my point that throwing in a Token Strong Female Character where the plot doesn't call for one is pretty silly, since it isn't going to do the character or women in general any justice at all.

... Nah, I'm gonna be lynched. It'll be my punishment for breaking hiatus again before I'm ready, and late at night, too, when I can't keep myself from train of thought rambling that probably doesn't make any sense.

Look, I just want to watch Bilbo the Hobbit get dragged along on a Quest with a bunch of silly Dwarves and have Adventures and find a Magic Ring and save Everyone's Butts, and I know that isn't what I'm going to get, because PJ already proved he can't be trusted with the LotR movies. And now I have to worry about being judged insufficiently feminist because I don't want gratuitous non-existent elf characters thrown in, too. I'm not looking forward to this, you guys. {= (

~Neshomeh