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Romantic Moment of the Week: Tauriel and Kili

tauriel and kili

THE MOVIE: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

THE PAIRING: Tauriel (Evangeline Lily) and Kili (Aidan Turner)

THE MOMENT: After Tauriel had healed Kili, he wonders if she could have loved him.


Spoilers: Tauriel and Kili

Tauriel shooting a bow. Photo: Credit to Warner Brothers
Tauriel shooting a bow. Photo: Credit to Warner Brothers

I love everything about The Lord of the Rings from the books (except maybe some of those endless Hobbit songs), the wonderful appendixes, the film adaptations, to the more light-hearted children’s classic The Hobbit. Tolkien’s world is rich in history and the characters call out to me from his made up world of dwarves, elves, and amazing little creatures he called hobbits. But I’ll admit that I have a favorite character in both the movies and books: the compelling and complicated warrior Eowyn who held a torch for the handsome Aragorn who could not return her affection because of a prior claim on his heart.

Peter Jackson and his great team of writers (such as his wife) introduced a beautifully romantic story about two characters that unite as if through a poetic dream.

So going into The Hobbit movies, I was slightly hesitant at how long the story could be drawn out with no side stories like Eowyn to draw me even further into the tale. For it is true, that Tolkien’s main flaw (in my book anyway) was his lack of including female characters. Arwen was only an after-thought in the books after all (though her tragic story in the appendix did fascinate me). How could Jackson remedy the problem for the big screen? Peter Jackson could create a new female elf for the movies named Tauriel played by Evangeline Lily (Lost) as a way to not only give one of the dwarves more characterization but as a way to bring Legolas back into the story as well. Tauriel promised something similar to what Eowyn offered in the films: a female character with spirit and a warrior heart. Jackson gave us something extra to root for than just the destruction of Smaug; he gave us love in the star crossed romance between Tauriel and the dwarf Kili played by the always charismatic Aidan Turner.

Immediately, the connection between the two became evident, despite the uh, vast difference in size. Kili called out to Tauriel for a blade to kill a spider. Instead (because she couldn’t trust a dwarf of course), she was the one to slay the oncoming gigantic spider. There was almost a flirty banter right off the bat that continues even after the dwarves are led into the dungeon:


KILI: Aren’t you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers.


I could have anything down my trousers lighting


TAURIEL: Or nothing.


or nothing lighting

She walks away and Kili smiles.

smile sharpen

Clearly, there is an attraction here that even Legolas in his own jealousy notices. And, what could have become a grimace induced fest of a contrived love story between an elf and a dwarf never comes to pass. In its place, Peter Jackson and his great team of writers (such as his wife) introduced a beautifully romantic story about two characters that unite as if through a poetic dream.

tauriel hq shot

When Tauriel returns to visit Kili in his cell, Kili teases her with the promise of a cursed talisman. Tauriel smiles once she realizes Kili is only playing with her, but as Kili gets more personal, allowing her to know who he is as more than just a dwarf, their connection grows:


KILI: My mother gave it to me as a way to remember my promise.

TAURIEL: What promise?

KILI: That I will come back to her. She worries. She thinks I’m reckless.

TAURIEL: Are you?

KILI: Nah.


Kili throws his talisman in the air and it ends up outside of the prison bars. Tauriel catches it with her foot and picks it up. Soon, the conversation changes gears, creating the whimsical atmosphere their impossible romance offers as Kili comments on the elven party:


TAURIEL: It is the feast of starlight. All light is sacred to the Eldar. Wood elves love best the stars.

KILI: I always thought it was a cold light. Remote and far away.

TAURIEL: It is memory. Precious and pure. Like your promise.


She gives him back his talisman from his mother and he takes it from her hands.

takes it from her hand lighten


TAURIEL: I have walked there sometimes.


Kili looks up at her, his feelings becoming more apparent as she entrances him with her enchanting confession.


TAURIEL: Beyond the forest and up into the night.  I have seen the world fall away and the white light forever fill the air.


Kili becomes even more enchanted by her memory as he gazes up at Tauriel.

kili after fill the air lighting


KILI: I saw fire-moon once. It rose over the hill near Dundin. Huge. Red and gold it was that filled the sky…


 

Kili shares his own memory.
Kili shares his own memory.

The scene fades up above as Legolas stares on at this unusual exchange of starlight. Basically, if Legolas is worried about a dwarf, there REALLY must be a real connection between these two.

Legolas and Tauriel
Legolas and Tauriel

In many ways, Kili also plays the damsel in distress in the tale with Tauriel constantly saving him. But he isn’t helpless either, showing heroism when he bravely enters the orc battle to pull the lever and open the gates, thus allowing the hobbits to escape their prison. In the process, he is hit with a poisonous arrow in the leg. Then just when an orc is coming for him, Tauriel arrives to rescue him of course.

The poisonous arrow leads in to the romantic moment of the week. When the imprisoned orc confesses that the dwarf would soon die, she risks defying Thranduil to go and find him, meeting up with Legolas along the way (who has his own unrequited feelings for her of his own that his father disapproves of).

When Tauriel finally finds Kili, he is near death and she has a choice: she either continues on with Legolas to fight the orcs or stay with Kili and attempt to heal him with elvish medicine. She chooses the latter, Kili watching on in dreamlike wonder; she his guardian angel.

Tauriel as his guardian angel.
Tauriel as his guardian angel.
Kili stares back up at his 'angel.'
Kili stares back up at his ‘angel.’

It is after he is saved, they share a beautiful moment that emphasizes the strong chemistry between the two, even though a happy ending is inevitably impossible. It is as Kili states, “a dream.”

Tauriel tells Kili to lie still as he looks on it at her, not truly recognizing the reality around him, that she really had come back to save him.

Kili begins his speech.
Kili begins his speech.

KILI: You cannot be her. She is far away. She…she is far, far away from me. She walks in starlight in another world. It was just a dream.


 

Tauriel is clearly moved and looks down at Kili.
Tauriel is clearly moved and looks down at Kili.

Kili reaches for Tauriel’s hand and they barely touch.

Kili reachers for Tauriel's hand

She touches him back with her fingers, still barely touching.

tauriel reaches back with her fingers

“Do you think she could have loved me?” Kili asks:

do you think she could have loved me sharpened

Tauriel looks back in wonder.

after she could have loved me sharpen

Yes, in another world (and maybe even in this one), I think she could have. I loved this romantic moment shared between two individuals that have almost no hope of a future or anything other than a fantasy. I know I can’t wait to see what happens next in the final installment of The Hobbit.

EDIT: Check out our new Romantic Moment between Tauriel and Kili from The Battle of the Five Armies:  HERE

Did you love these two as much as I did? Or are you rooting more for Legolas? Sound off below…


Photo Credits: Warner Brothers

 

RELATED POSTS:

Check out our other Romantic MomentsWe put up a new one every Saturday.

Read another Romantic Moment of the Week: Luke and Jocelyn with Aidan Turner!

Don’t miss our review of  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

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By on December 28th, 2013

About Autumn Topping

In second grade, Autumn wrote her first story, “The Spinach Monster,” and hasn't stopped writing since. Intrigued by the tales her grandmother told of vampires, witches, and ghosts as a girl, she's always been drawn to the fantastic. Later, Autumn studied English and Creative Writing (continuing her love for classic literature and everything old-fashioned) and graduated with an MA in Children’s Literature and an MS in Library & Information Science from Simmons College. Currently, she co-runs this lovely site and works as a YA Librarian.

More posts by this author.

70 thoughts on “Romantic Moment of the Week: Tauriel and Kili”

  1. I am rooting for Kili. I love this unlikely romance. I think Peter Jackson should find a way to make it work. Kili didn’t deserve the end he got from Tolkien in the book anyway. I say let him and Tauriel ride off into the sunset after the battle of the five armies.

    • I like your ending better than Tolkien’s! I’m not looking forward to his ending from the book. I have a feeling that this unlikely romance will have a tragic ending for both of them and for Legolas as well in the process.

      • If Kili’s death in the book was some heart-wrenching emotional moment, then I would say it should be in the movie. But that’s not the case. He and his brother are barely developed in the book, and their deaths are overshadowed by Thorin’s death and his last words to Bilbo. So keeping him alive is something that I’m now rooting for.

      • I second it too. C’mon, Aragorn (a human) and Arwen (an elf) had their way. So should Kili and Tauriel before the battle of Five Armies. I ship them really hard.

    • I have to apologize for my bad English…

      Kili must die!
      If he survives, then he will be the King Under The Mountain, because he is the next in the bloodline of Durin, after Thorin and Fili. (In This case he will NEVER have a happy end with Tauriel.) Butat the end of the book Dain became the King. An so should it be in the movie too.
      BUT maybe Kili can FAKE his death? Perhaps with little help from Gandalf? And after a very touching burial ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after somewhere in the wilderness…

      On the other hand… the death of Tauriel and Kili may be the starting point of Legolas’ change from the arrogant son-of-a-king to the guy we loved in LOTR.

      • Yes, I personally think that Peter Jackson will keep Kili’s death (because of the King issue) and kill off Tauriel as well in order for Legolas to become the character we first meet in Fellowship. It makes the most sense.

  2. Please please PLEASE let them have a happy ending! Or else erase this romance from my brain so I don’t have to feel bad if it doesn’t end well.

  3. I’m not sure who I’m rooting for – Legolas is my favourite character (yes, I’m a typical fangirl!) whereas Kili and Tauriel are so amazing together! I’m just hoping that Peter Jackson will continue with his habit of changing things and keep Kili alive!

  4. I’m rooting for Legolas. Sure Tauriel and Kili are sort of a cute couple, I think it would be better with Tauriel and Legolas instead.

    (I know, typical fan girl)

    But I do hope that Pete finds a way to keep Kili alive seeing as he dies in the book. Pete always finds a way to change something drastically. But if Kili still dies, the more interesting of a love tangle it will be.

  5. This entire romance has me feeling really torn. See, Kili and Fili have to die, because it would influence the Trilogy if they did not. But now, with Kili and Tauriel, everyone is rooting for him to survive, for her to somehow save his life in the end. I just don’t want to be crushed. The worst part about loving a fictional character that dies is falling in love with him all over again before his death does actually come.
    However, we must also consider that Tauriel is not in the Trilogy at all, so surely she must die.
    OH I SHOULDN’T HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT.
    Crap;

  6. I LOVE this couple! But even I think that (very unfortunately) Kili can’t stay alive, or he would be the next king under the mountain. If he has to die, I hope Tauriel will die too: tragic but at least together!

  7. Elves can die of grief, Kili dies in the Battle Of The Five Armies…. I don’t hope that happens but probably will.

  8. Also, part of the reason Tolkien puts in so many depressing bits in his stories, is because of his own experiences. He was at the Somme, during World War I the Month long battle took the lives of two of three of his oldest and dearest friends, they had all known each other since boyhood and were planning on all becoming prominent writers. After the War things were never the same between Tolkien and the remaining friend. That is why he has his ability to convey grief so well, better than any author I know. But that isn’t his only talent in writing, I just hope he is somewhere where he is finally yunno… with them or happy again.

    • Yes, he does write death well because of his experiences. I particularly like Theoden and Boromir’s deaths. But I think what he did with Arwen in the appendix was just hauntingly beautiful and tragic.

  9. I feel that although i would love for them to have a happy ending I think both Kili and Tauriel will die in the battle. I think it will make Legolas grow into the character that we know from the LOTR movies. Though i am certainly a Legolas ‘fangirl’ I prefer Tauriel with Kili although i don’t feel its a love triangle maybe Legolas does have some feelings for Tauriel it is clearly not returned.

    • In fact, Legolas has been “Mellon” zoned in the movie. Mellon is the elvish word for friend and Tauriel uses it to address Legolas. So yes, her excuse was to hunt orcs. But once she finds Kili, Legolas understands her true intentions and leaves her to it. He loves her that’s for sure, but he is not one to beg.

  10. kili and tauriel will live to marry each other. they will get away from their respective kingdoms in order to prevent any conflict between the elves and the forthcoming kingdom of dwarves.the story of their son will come in the post-lord of the ring-1,2,3) sequels and they will live together happily..what say you. ladies ? savvy?

  11. kili and tauriel will live to marry each other. they will get away from their respective kingdoms in order to prevent any conflict between the elves and the forthcoming kingdom of dwarves.the story of their son will come in the post-lord of the ring-1,2,3) sequels and they will live together happily..what say you. ladies ? savvy?

  12. I love this romance!!! I know it can’t end well if Jackson follows the book – but my heart still has hope…

  13. I’m in love with this romance. I will not wish for a happy ending, but I will hope for a secret wedding before he dies. Perhaps even for her to sail away to the White Islands with her half dwarf son.

  14. As I doubt Kili’s fate will be changed, this love story is a foreseen tragedy,which I think it makes it even more memorable. We know how it’s going to end, but both Tauriel and Kili are so young and innocent that I can’t help to feel misty-eyed.

    In some aspects it reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, but without the dumbassery and highlighting the aspects I did like of the story. The fleeting, dreamlike impossibility of their romance is almost like a sweet pang.

    As it is, I wonder what will happen with Tauriel; will she die in the battle? will she get to see Kili before he perishes? Personally I think she will leave Mirkwood in grief and disappointment, maybe even banished by Thranduil; and if so, I do think that in the following 60 it will help change Legolas’ mindset enough to aid the Fellowship.

  15. Yeeesss!! I love them!! The vest part of the film, and I’ll never forget that words:
    ‘You cannot be her. She is far away. She…she is far, far away from me. She walks in starlight in another world. It was just a dream….’

    I feel the same way as him… Sigh..

  16. After reading all the dilema of whether Kili must live or die, and sharing also the passion for his and Tauriel’s romance, I decided to come with a not so happy medium for an end…

    Tauriel knows Thorin disapproves her relationship with his nephew, so she tries her best to make him like her. During the battle of Five Armies, she keeps shooting arrows to any Orc that comes near Thorin. Earning his trust is the key to Kili’s Heart openly. In doing so, she forgets Kili for a moment, even tho he is the reason she is defending Thorin so much. Kili gets shot by an arrow to the stomach, and two more to the heart. He slumps slow motion on his back.

    “KILI!!!” shouts Tauriel, running to him and defeating orcs on her way to him. She kneels before him, and right then an orc stabs her back with a sword. her body slumps over Kili’s agonizing body. They hold hands, interlacing their fingers like they did when she was healing him.

    Kili stares at his angel, whose head is leaning against his chest. A blinding light engulfs them both. She smiles at him and rises, offering her hand for him to take it. He takes her hand, smiling back at her and rises too. They walk to the sunset. His exhausted struggling voice whispers in the background, describing the scene;

    “She is close, very close to me. She walks in starlight, headed to another world. And I go with her. I know now that she loves me, because we lived that dream”

    The blinding light fades, and they both lie cold on the battlefield. His lifeless hand on her pale cheek, while his other hand is interlaced with hers, holding the talisman in between…

    The end.

    Darn it, I’m crying now…

  17. Elves and Men are both the Children of Illuvatar, meaning they were both made by Eru Illuvatar. Dwarves on the other hand, were made in secret by the Vala Aule. Because of this, Arwen and Aragorn can have a relationship, whereas for the same reason I don’t think Tauriel and Kili can. That’s how I see it anyway. I don’t know too much about what Peter Jackson has done with the end of TABA but I think both Kili and Tauriel will die in some sort of romantic death.

  18. I love Kili and I love Tauriel. But I dont like them together, it seemed too quick and forced to me….It seemed to me she had a thing for Legolas when she talked with King Fabulous. Plus i dont think Kili would abandon his kin even for love. Dwarves are proud people, so i dont think Kili would betray his Uncle in such a way because he loves him a great deal. Like a father since his and Fili’s died when they were young. Plus i think the whole Kili/Tauriel messes with the relationship of Legolas and Gimili. They were the ones to rekindle the friendship that dwarves and elves had once. So if Kili and Tauriel run off together it makes that friendship moot. 😐

  19. Hannon le, Silver Petticoat Review!
    I personally think Kili’s death is inevitable, but I’m hoping that Tauriel doesn’t die. She could bring the Runestone back to Dís (Kili’s mum)

    • This is probably a very late post, but I’ve been busy.
      Anyway, I’m thinking of that too.
      I’m also thinking, that maybe Tauriel can find out something to do with the rune stone to bring back Kili.
      That is a potential for a great adventure. Of course, Tauriel can’t do that alone and I certainly don’t want Legolas around her.
      I love Legolas in LOTR, but he annoyed me so much in The Hobbit especially the part Tauriel is going to respond.
      Ugh! He’s got such a wrong timing there. I flinch every time, I watch that part.

  20. If they don’t live…. At least let them have another romantic moment, pleaaase!! I don’t care if it make it hurt even more when they die. My broken heart will need it.

    • They have one last moment when Tauriel is on the ground with blood running down her face and Kili is in Bolg’s hands mummies from death

  21. I really like your rendition of what occurred. To me it was the most romantic and poetic scene ever filmed. My heart skips and my eyes fill up every time I watch it (which is every night!). Of course it helps that they were so perfectly cast and two of the most beautiful people in the world. A perfect match. I also can’t wait for the next film – I hope that their story doesn’t end here….

    • Thank you. It really was a beautiful and poetic scene. I love how the words were written and how they were spoken. Really great casting choice because their voices really suited the scene.

  22. I thought Legolas was quite the little prick in this movie, but I actually prefered him pre-personality change. As for Kili and Tauriel, I hold out hope for them even though everyone knows it was doomed from the start (ie.: read the book). But you do see an affection growing right from the start and their banter helps sells everything. The conversation in the cells is what convinced me. I adored it. Now, I know what happens to Kili (sadly) but I believe (headcanon-wise) that Tauriel does respond to the way he feels about her so by the time we get to the BOFA and after, she’s heartbroken when he dies. So it’s entirely possible for her to fade away from a broken heart (which elves can die from) and thus, it explains why she’s not in LotR and perhaps Legolas’s personality change.

    I don’t want Tauriel to die. I really don’t. And if Jackson can kill off a canon character who wasn’t supposed to die (i.e: Haldir) then he can make Tauriel live. While the fangirl in me would love for Kili to survive, the Tolkien purist in me knows that won’t happen and Jackson has been pretty good about remaining faithful to the source material since LotR. But we all know that Kili’s death will be the hardest to swallow because of his character’s build up on DOS. I will bring tissues when I see TABA for sure.

  23. can some one give me the name of the track which was being played when Kili was saying she is far far away … ie after he was healed?
    i did a cursory check on the OST i coundnt get it … may be i ve missed it

  24. I kind of feel like kili will die saving tauriel because she has saved him so many times. I don’t want thorin, fili, or kili to die but the last of thorin’s kin has to die so dain becomes king. It would be nice if they all died saving each other though, like thorin saving fili and kili and fili saving kili or something like that.

    I am going to cry so much.

  25. I want kili and Tauriel to be together so bad!! I never tear up in any movie but that scene made me tear up so much and i was over filled with joy. I want them to end together and make weird but cute half elf half dwarf baby’s lol

  26. PLEASE , let it be legolus . just let it had be a fantatsy for kili and tauriel. she needs to be with legolus.

  27. The conversations assured me it is a “mother and son” relationship.
    Tauriel is Kili long lost mother.

    Tauriel remembers the history of that stone and the sharing of memories from the stone Kili owned has assured that Kili is her grown-up son. They have been through those together when Kili shared his childhood memory.

    Tauriel has seen the world fall away and white light filled the sky. She is an elf now.
    Kili wouldn’t have believed as his mom is somewhere far away from him.
    Only Tauriel knows Kili is her son, Kili is still doubting if Tauriel is really his mom.

  28. Here’s what I believe about the relationships between Tauriel and Kili, and Tauriel and Legolas. In my analysis, I will allow myself to overlook most of the conflicts between the film version and Tolkien’s canon.

    First, I will start with Tauriel and Kili. I do agree with what others are saying about the idea of them as a couple being a bit awkward. She is an immortal elf and he is a dwarf, who would have eventually died anyway if he survived at the end of the third film. However, my reasoning for the seemingly fast-developing feelings between the two is that the length of time the dwarves spent in Thranduil’s prison might have followed Tolkien’s canon. It’s been such a long time since I read The Hobbit, but I am certain that the dwarves were locked up in Mirkwood for months, which is something the movie does not confirm (though I forget what Bilbo was doing the entire time). If Tauriel visited Kili fairly often, I could see some sort of romance forming between the two in that time period. Also, Tauriel is around 600 years old (since it appears that she was taken in by Thranduil as presumably a child when her parents died 600 years prior to the events in The Hobbit). While yes, she has arguably had far more time to mature than any human/dwarf/hobbit, she is still very young compared to other elves. It may be that she has never experienced romance up until her meeting with Kili, so even though she has had time to acquire a lot of knowledge and skill in healing and fighting, she is still quite new to love. Kili’s advances, then, probably left a huge impression on her since it is likely she has never been pursued in that way, which caused her to be interested in him in the first place.

    The fact that romance existed between an elf and a dwarf may also stem from how young they were. Sure, they’ve probably heard stories about the rift between dwarves and elves, but neither were old enough to witness the war between the two races (forgive me if I am wrong, but from what I understand, the war happened thousands of years earlier), and as a result, they did not harbor that same hatred, which was another factor in how they seemed to overlook the racial boundaries. Also, we learn that Tauriel is more open minded than the other Mirkwood elves anyway in that she cares for the fate of all of Middle Earth, rather than just for her own people.

    Kili’s death hit Tauriel pretty hard because she may not have yet experienced losing those she cared for, considering that she probably stayed in or near Mirkwood all that time.

    Though Tauriel’s character isn’t canon, my headcanon for Peter Jackson’s version is that after the events in The Hobbit, she either died from grief, or, she most likely felt a dire need to get out of Middle Earth from her pain and sailed to the Undying Lands to seek emotional healing before the events of LoTR happened. She was also exiled from Mirkwood, so she really didn’t have a home to go back to, unless Thranduil eventually forgave her. Even then, it doesn’t seem like she would even accept his offer due to her disapproval of his “I don’t care much about the other races” mindset. I don’t believe that Peter Jackson would have kept her in Middle Earth, considering how her close relationship with Legolas would probably have caused her to be at least mentioned sometime in LoTR given that they are both outcasts and there is no way he is remaking that trilogy just to include her. Safest bet is to either let her die or send her out of Middle Earth. I was surprised that she didn’t die in battle with Kili at the end of the movie because I totally expected her to be mortally wounded and dying beside him.

    In regards to the relationship between Legolas and Tauriel, I don’t think that they ever saw each other as more than close friends. There isn’t a way to know this for sure since we weren’t given direct insight into his thoughts about her, but I interpret this ambiguity as a non-romantic relationship. I get the impression that Legolas was more of a “big brother” figure to her and that he was protective over her. Tauriel grew up around Legolas and came to admire him for his leadership and loyalty to his people while he admired her skill in battle (as stated by Thranduil). He probably saw her as a little sister since she was a child who grew up in, I assume, their household. The two also have good chemistry as fighting partners. While Legolas is the voice of reason, Tauriel is more strong-willed and impulsive, which, in my opinion, influences Legolas to stand up to his father and decide to leave Mirkwood. It was Legolas’ brotherly love for Tauriel that drove him to follow her and he obviously cares about her protection, when he tracked her down told her she could not take down the Orcs alone after the dwarves escaped from their prison.
    The scene between Thranduil and Tauriel about how he didn’t want her to encourage Legolas to romantically pursue her doesn’t change my position on the relationship between Tauriel and Legolas. Sure, Tauriel smiles when he says Legolas complimented her fighting. I’m pretty sure any elf in her position would, considering that the praise comes from not only royalty, but an incredibly experienced warrior. When the king then tells her Legolas seems fond of her, she just seems shocked more than anything. In fact, she quickly tells him that she believes he doesn’t have romantic feelings toward her. My theory about this scene is that Thranduil used their close friendship to put Tauriel in her place. Earlier in the conversation, she reveals that she does not agree with his decision to not care about the rest of Middle Earth. He might have attempted to tease her with Legolas’ “fondness” just to crush her (he may believe she is actually the one with feelings toward Legolas) to and remind her of her inferiority and that she is too low an elf to dispute her king.
    There is a part in BotFA when Legolas watches Tauriel speaking with Kili when he is locked up and again he watches them interact just before he sails off to Thorin and the other dwarves. I watched both of those scenes a couple of times, but I don’t think Legolas appeared jealous. Sure, he seemed concerned, but wouldn’t that be natural? He understands that Kili’s mortality would eventually tear the two apart and he wouldn’t want Tauriel’s heart to be broken. Maybe he just didn’t have it in him to talk about it with her, hoping that she’d eventually get over her attraction to Kili in time. That’s probably why Legolas cut in when Kili confessed his feelings to her and told her that they needed to go. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also assumed that the dwarves couldn’t survive against Smaug anyway and that Tauriel would never see Kili alive again.
    Lastly, I didn’t see anything in the films that suggested that Legolas regarded Tauriel as more than a friend. He never made any advances and seemed pretty content to remain by her side as a loyal companion. While the ending of BotFA remains ambiguous in regards to further interaction between the two after the battle, I believe it is possible that Tauriel did not accompany him to find “Strider”.

    I’m interested to know what you guys think about this. I confess, I have only read The Hobbit and none of Tolkien’s other books, and everything else comes from internet research binges. If any information I provided is incorrect, please let me know. Thank you all for reading. 🙂

  29. I liked it, even if it’s not in the books. It occurs to me that there are a lot of period dramas that feature (various levels of) hypogamy (although not as many as feature hypergamy – think Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet), but I’ve started a list and my favorites so far: North & South, Under the Greenwood Tree, The Illusionist, Catherine Cookson’s “The Moth”, Persuasion, Far From the Madding Crowd, Her Majesty Mrs. Brown, Wuthering Heights (The one with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche is my favorite), A Room With A View (although I’m not sure how poor George Emerson actually is, but I think Cecil is richer), and Our Mutual Friend (i.e. the heroine who sets out to marry money winds up throwing it all away on a man she thinks is dirt poor, but who is actually the heir to a large fortune). I suppose an elf falling for a dwarf is definitely “marrying down” (although he did die a bit too soon for that), but still, I think I will add the Hobbit to my list. Are there others I don’t know about or have forgotten about?

  30. Beautiful senses
    Wish kili was alive
    And they could be with each other.
    Their story was so sad
    Also Thorin’s … he died
    And both his niece. His line was ended .wish Fili became king .

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