Evangeline Lilly (above) is playing a Woodland Elf named Tauriel in The Hobbit, a character created by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens for these two Hobbit movies. I was hoping, when they added a female character, she wouldn’t have to be anybody’s love interest. It is possible, after all, for a female character to remain single and, oh, I don’t know, have interests beyond existing only for a male character.
Well, it turns out at least one of the dwarves couldn’t resist Evangeline Lilly’s charms when she commands us in Elvish to “come now“. Aiden Turner (on the right side of the inset picture) says in the recent issue of Total Film magazine that his character of Kili the dwarf has a thing for Tauriel:
“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!'” [Total Film magazine via Blastr]
To their credit, Gimli had a thing for Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings, so at least this isn’t some unprecedented subplot shoehorned into the movie. Considering how difficult it is to tell a Tolkien dwarf’s gender, it’s no wonder they find elven women fascinating. For all we know, Kili could be a female dwarf. Hmm, a female dwarf pursuing a female elf? Now that’s what I’m Tolkien about.