Tauriel

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Non-canon alert
The subject of this article originates from non-canonical sources.
To learn about what is considered "canon", see LOTR:Canon.

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Tauriel was a Wood-elf of Mirkwood, and captain of the Elven guard of Thranduil's Woodland Realm.

Tauriel is a non-canonical character; invented for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, and not by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In adaptations

The Hobbit film trilogy

The Desolation of Smaug

"I do not think that you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan Elf."

—Tauriel

Tauriel first appears in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as a captain of the Mirkwood Elven Guard. Throughout the film, a subplot develops involving romance between her and Kíli. She rescues Kíli after the Dwarves are ambushed by Giant Spiders as she leads a series of missions to clear Mirkwood of their growing presence. Under Legolas's orders, she and the other guards take the Dwarves back to the Elven cavern fortress and confiscate their weapons. There, Tauriel becomes curious of Kíli's talisman and they talk for a while. Legolas watches them talking from a distance.

Later, Thranduil confronts Tauriel, telling her that, as a captain of the guard, she must drive the Giant Spiders out of Mirkwood. She explains that new spiders continually enter the kingdom after the previous ones were wiped out. She suggests sorties to destroy the spiders' source outside the kingdom's boundaries near Dol Guldur, but this idea is quickly dismissed by Thranduil. When she asks what will happen to other lands after the spiders are driven from Mirkwood, Thranduil says that the other lands are not his concern. He mentions then that Legolas, his son, has grown fond of her but that she should not give him hope where there is none, because Thranduil would not allow his son to pledge to her being she is a "lowly" Silvan elf.

When the Dwarves escape, Tauriel and Legolas lead a band of Elf-guards in battle as Bolg and his troops arrive to attack the Dwarves. During the battle, Kíli is injured and is saved once again by Tauriel. She and Legolas take Narzug, an Orc soldier to the palace for interrogation. Narzug mocks Tauriel about the impending death of Kíli from a Morgul arrow, which enrages her. When she tries to kill the Orc, Thranduil orders her to leave him be. She then leaves the palace without the permission of the Elf-king to search for the Dwarves. Legolas confronts her and asks her to come back with him so that Thranduil may forgive her. But Tauriel insists that the fight also involves them, and argues that the king's isolationist policies blind them from larger issues affecting the entire world, and that since Kíli will die from the poisoned arrow if he is not helped, she must find him and tend to the wound. As a result of his growing affections for her, Legolas agrees to accompany her.

In Lake-town, the house of Bard is attacked by Bolg and his troops. Tauriel and Legolas arrive to rescue the Dwarves and kill the Orcs. As Legolas runs after Bolg, Tauriel takes some athelas obtained by Bofur and uses it to heal Kili's wounds, while chanting in Sindarin. Half in delirium, Kíli speaks of her beauty and wonders aloud whether she might someday love him. Tauriel tells him to lie still but is obviously affected, and Kíli moves his hand to hold hers.

BOTFA - Tauriel mourns for Kili — Tauriel mourns Kíli's death

The Battle of the Five Armies

"If this is love then I do not want it. Why does it hurt so much?"

—Tauriel

Tauriel admits her love for Kili in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Tauriel leaves Thranduil and accompanies Legolas and Bilbo to Ravenhill in order to warn Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kíli of an upcoming attack led by Bolg. She successfully finds Kíli and the two battle against Bolg together. She is overpowered and almost killed by Bolg, but Kíli sacrifices himself to save her. Tauriel mourns over Kíli's body and kisses his lips, thus showing her fondness for him.

Tauriel's fate

Tauriel was banished from Mirkwood by Thranduil, so what happens to Tauriel after the Battle of Five Armies remains unknown, although actress Evangeline Lilly stated in an interview that Tauriel returns to Mirkwood.^[1]

Voice dubbing actors

Foreign Language	Voice dubbing artist
Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD)	Sylvia Salustti
Spanish (Latin America)	Jessica Ortiz
Spanish (Spain)	Eva Díez
French (France)	Laëtitia Lefebvre
French (Québec)	Catherine Proulx-Lemay
Italian (Italy)	Daniela Calò
Czech (Czech Republic)	Andrea Elsnerová
German	Ranja Bonalana
Polish	Lidia Sadowa
Slovak	Andrea Somorovská

Video games

Tauriel appears in The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age as a hero in the Elven faction.
Tauriel is a playable character in LEGO The Hobbit: The Video Game.

Behind the scenes

Even though Evangeline Lilly, who portrays Tauriel in the trilogy, expressed some trepidation at the reaction of Tolkien purists to a character that does not appear in Tolkien's written works, she stated that for her, creating the character for the adaptation was justified: "I believe she is authentic, because Tolkien refers to The Woodland Elves, he just doesn't talk about who they are specifically… [Peter and Fran] know that world so well. They’re not going to create a character that is not true to Tolkien's world."^[2]

She also stated that she signed on under a stipulation: “For the record, when I took this job, in 2011, I made one stipulation. That’s it. I just said… I swear to God, I said, ‘I will not do this film if you will not guarantee me one thing. You have to guarantee me there will be no love triangle.’ And there wasn’t. For the whole time I shot. For a year of shooting there was no love triangle, And then, I came back for reshoots in 2012 and they were like, ‘Well, we made a couple of alterations to some scenes and we added a couple more scenes,’” the actress continued. “And all of a sudden manifested a love triangle before my very eyes and the film was shot and I’m in and there’s no getting out and there was no escaping it.”

Controversy

Many Tolkien fans, and even average moviegoers, have expressed dissatisfaction with the character on social media, stating that including a character that didn't exist in Tolkien's work so heavily into the movie is a disrespect to Tolkien, and is just an attempt to appeal more to female audiences, and to those who have complained the small amount of female characters in the book and the Lord of the Ringsfilms.^[3] Tauriel's love-triangle with Kili and Legolas has been described as "forced," "cliche," and "unconvincing."

Character

A captain of Thranduil's Elven Guards, Tauriel is a professional in the military and leads the Woodland Realm's armed forces. Her parents were killed by Orcs when she was younger and it is hinted that Thranduil looked after her since then. She is a young elf, around the age of 600 (however in some documentaries Peter Jackson said she would be around 1000, in fact giving a specific age of 1,347), and is insightful into the changing nature of Middle-earth. In contrast to Thranduil's portrayed isolationism, Tauriel is interventionist and recognizes the growing evils of the world and the need to eradicate them.

Moderately effective in infantry combat, she is proficient in both archery and hand-to-hand combat. Her primary weapons are a reflex bow and two long daggers. She is shown to be an adept archer and marksman, with elvish reflexes and accuracy. She can simultaneously wield her bow and knife in combat, and can fire an arrow quick enough to intervene with the passage of a slower Orc arrow. She is also shown to possess some medical knowledge, being able to treat wounds from poisoned weapons. As a native of the Woodland Realm, she is also a capable tree climber.

Etymology

Tauriel means "Forest maiden," from the Sindarin words taur ("wood, forest") and the feminine suffix -iel ("daughter, maiden").^[4]

Trivia

Despite the establishment in the film that Tauriel is meant to be around 600-years-old, there are disagreements with her age. Her actress, Evangeline Lily, stated in an interview that Tauriel was 600 years old, Legolas was 1,900, and King Thranduil was 3,000.^[5] However, as mentioned above, Peter Jackson stated that Tauriel is meant to be around 1,347-years-old; but in the same interview where she mentioned that Tauriel was 600 and Legolas was 1,900, Evangeline Lily states that Tauriel and Legolas have known each other since they were both children and grew up together.^[6] However, the official movie guide for The Lord of the Rings, states that Legolas’ birth occurred during TA 87. This would make him 2,931-years-old by the time that the War of the Ring occurs, and 2,871-years-old during the events of The Hobbit. This means that Tauriel herself would have to be around 2,800-years-old herself for her to have known Legolas when he was a child. In short, there is possibly no actual canonical age that all of the filmmakers have agreed upon, meaning that Tauriel's age open to discussion and personal interpretation.
The character Tauriel was originally given the name Itaril. Saoirse Ronan was one of the actresses who were up for the part. This was the original casting call: "FEMALE, A WOODLAND ELF, this character is one [of] the Silvan Elves. The Silvan Elves are seen as more earthy and practical. Shorter than other elves, she is still quick and lithe and physically adept, being able to fight with both sword and bow. Showing promise as a fighter at a young age, ITARIL was chosen to train to become part of the Woodland King’s Guard. This is the only life she has ever expected to live, until she meets and secretly falls in love with a young ELF LORD. This role will require a wig and contact lenses to be worn. Some prosthetic make-up may also be required. LEAD. AGE: 17-27. ACCENT ’ STANDARD R.P."