I’ve continued to see a lot of brouhaha over the character of Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and as near as I can tell, the objections to her presence in the movie fall into these general categories:
- “How DARE they put a character in this movie that Tolkien didn’t actually write!”
- “She’s only in the movie to pander to the female moviegoing audience–because god forbid that a woman would be seeing this movie without her!”
- “She’s a total Mary Sue!”
- “I don’t have a problem with her presence, but I don’t like what they’re doing with her, because putting her into a romantic triangle is stupid.”
As I’ve already stated in my review of the movie, I actually very much like the character. And while I do not expect to change the minds of anyone who dislikes her, I thought I’d speak a little more on the topic on why I like her, and yes, why even the romance angle she’s in works for me.
Needless to say, spoilers for the movie will abound behind the fold. So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might want to skip this post for a bit.