And no, it’s not going to be Smauglock. Nor is it going to be Fili/Kili, I just put the brothers up there because one of them will be involved. Fili and Kili are the youngest dwarves of the thirteen who hire Bilbo Baggins of the Shire to be their burglar, so young that in this movie adaptation their beards have barely come in yet. This has lead to some documented joshing amongst the cast that Fili and Kili (Kili in particular) are putting together Middle Earth’s first boy band, and it looks like Kili is going to be something of a hipster, in that he was interested in elves waaaaay before Gimli met Galadriel.
Oh, and if you’re still fuming over the introduction of Evangeline Lilly into the cast as new sorely needed female character Tauriel, you might just want to skip this post entirely. And then get over it.
The news comes from a feature in Total Film magazine with short interviews with Aidan Turner, Evangeline Lilly, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Turner and Lilly play Kili (the rightmost dwarf above) and Tauriel. Tauriel has been confirmed to be a high ranking and combat-ready member of the elven Mirkwood army.
Kili’s part has been expanded from the novel; as well as chasing treasure, he’s also pursuing female elf Tauriel. But is he setting his sights too high? ‘I guess he knows nothing can ever happen,’ he explains. ‘She’s about 20ft tall and he’s only two!
It sounds less like a romantic sub-plot to me, and more of a humorous diversion, possibly with a tragic ending, considering that neither Fili nor Kili survive the Battle of Five Armies. (I placed it in The Hobbit‘s second installment above because Lily has confirmed that other than a small part at the end of the first movie, her role is primarily featured in the second.) But there’s plenty of precedent for it in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkein treated Gimli’s fascination with Galadriel like chaste Lancelot pining for Guinevere. I’d ask why male dwarven romance only seems worth mentioning when elven ladies are involved, but then again, Tolkein’s dwarf women are indistinguishable from the men. Kili and Gimli could be women!
Think about that one, ‘shippers.
(via Blastr.)
