Not all that glitters is gold

Action Figures Give Us Our First Look at Evangeline Lilly’s Hobbit Character Tauriel

by Susana Polo | 10:20 am, September 24th, 2012

1.
There are some folks out there incensed that Peter Jackson has added a character to The Hobbit, a sentiment I almost entirely lack sympathy for. In another case, I might understand, but unlike The Lord of the Rings, with its four women (three of whom appear in one scene each), The Hobbit has exactly zero named female characters. Jackson's inclusion of material from the LotR appendixes have already brought Galadriel into a story in which she otherwise does not appear, and that's about as far as he's likely to get with canonical characters, since Liv Tyler hasn't been hired on. So those of you who, like me, welcome the addition of Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, kickass commander of Mirkwood military forices, will be interested to see what her character looks like, as revealed by some action figures.
2.
Lilly had been quoted as saying that she'd appear close to the end of the first Hobbit movie, but we wouldn't be surprised if that changed now that there are three of them.
3.
Insert obligatory mention of how "Legolas" means "greenleaf" in elvish, so calling him "Legolas Greenleaf" is a bit like calling him "Greenleaf Greenleaf."
4.
This is the closest we've gotten to a look at Tauriel before: quick clips of Evangeline Lilly's stunt double from production videos.

TAGS: Evangeline Lilly | Peter Jackson | The Hobbit

Shannon Phillips

“The Hobbit has exactly zero named female characters.”

That’s not strictly true. To be a pedant for accuracy, you could say that there are zero named female characters who get “screen time” or lines of dialogue. However, The Hobbit does include a reference to Bilbo’s mother: “the famous Belladonna Took, one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took.” Belladonna is important to the story because she was Gandalf’s friend, and therefore provides the initial connection between Bilbo and Gandalf.

Tolkien indicates that Belladonna and Gandalf “had adventures” before Belladonna married Bungo Baggins and settled down–don’t you wish he would’ve told us what some of those adventures were?
http://twitter.com/Geekphoria1 Amanda B.

Galadriel refers to Legolas as “Legolas Greenleaf,” and I believe a few other characters do as well. It is redundant, but I guess there’s precedent.
Anonymous

“There are some folks out there incensed that Peter Jackson has added a character to The Hobbit, a sentiment I almost entirely lack sympathy for.”

That Jackson/Boyens/Walsh is adding a character is not the problem: that Jackson/Boyens/Walsh’s track record for female characters in the LotR adaptations, and the little we do know of this Tauriel making her an obnoxious fanfiction protagonist, if not full-on Mary Sue, is the problem. Eowyn was transformed into a lovesick puppy pining for Aragorn, Galadriel was an aloof ice-queen, and Arwen walked right out of a bad teen romance. I don’t have high hopes for any character made whole-cloth from this team regardless of their gender.
http://zadl.org/ Captain ZADL

I for one am happy with the way Jackson expanded the female characters in the movies. I’m happy for him to add characters and story for these movies.
heythereguys

Legolas Greenleaf, long under tree,
in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!
Omegasama

As long as they don’t randomly try to pair her up with the main cast. Just let her be a badass woman on her own merits, not as someone’s shag.
Anonymous

I was under the impression that Kili was going to have a Gimli-esque affection for her.
Also red-haired elf! awesomtastic.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003037095323 Jerilyn Nighy

“Las” also means “listen / hearing / ears.” The implication being the ears of the Quendi were somewhat leaf-shaped (pointed).