fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2541 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2541 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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(Sorry this is so long. I pretty much see red whenever I read the words "Mary Sue.")

Yes, Tauriel did not exist in the books. This is a fact brought up by the creators, who admitted to bringing her in to avoid having Fellowship 2.0 (or Fellowship 1.0 since the LotR trilogy take place later storywise, IDK) be entirely male. And I'll admit that some of this is going to be biased because hello, Tauriel's existence improves the survival chances of the guy in my icon. (Oh, come on, the books have been out for decades.)

But my expectations for Tauriel were incredibly low going in, because I knew she was brought in to appeal to a female demographic, and seeing previous Hollywood attempts to "appeal" to a female demographic made me weep harder than someone who cuts onions for a living. And then I actually saw the movie and I was blown away by most of her scenes.

[THE REST OF THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ACTUAL MOVIE!]

She comes in kicking asses (well, spinnerets) and saving lives. She's a lower-class elf who was never supposed to lead an elf army platoon, but ended up proving herself up to it. And she's never presented as perfect, or even two-dimensional (one-dimensional objects exist only as a mathematical concept). She shows the same racist (speciesist? I'm not really sure what it should be called) prejudices that Legolas has by not giving Kili a weapon even when there were a shit-ton of spiders coming at her and it would have made her job easier (remember, she didn't go to that little area for Kili, she went because her trope of elves were ordered to kill every spider). She doesn't help Kili escape even after she hears about their mission and they bond. In that room with the captured Orc, she almost kills him and gets (rightfully) rebuked for it because she was acting stupidly. And she even takes advantage of the fact that Legolas in love with her to risk both their lives to find Kili and thanking him for that by leaving him to fight a couple Orcs alone without telling him while she saves Kili (which only she could do at that particular moment, yes, but after he was healed, surely she could have left to make sure the guy she unexpectedly abandoned wouldn't fucking die?)

You don't have to like her, but she's one of the most interesting characters in the movie and I can't wait to see how her storyline plays out. Not just with Kili (oh, man, Kauriel/Tili/whatever was definitely the worst part of that movie), but everyone.

(oh, man, Kauriel/Tili/whatever was definitely the worst part of that movie)

That makes me unreasonably happy, because I want to ignore the whole concept of that pairing. (My OTP for Kíli is with Boromir. Or a Silmaril. Fanfic and RP is to blame.)

I was actually pretty happy with it, until the angelic lighting scene. It could've been a tenth as long and been equally if not more effective, yeesh.

I am not sure what I think of that, and probably won't know for sure until I see the movie myself, but right now I keep thinking "What? They gave a Silvan Elf under 1000 Arwen's shtick?". Because Arwen is not only nobility and a descendant of some damn good bloodlines, but she's also almost 3000 years old.

But I want to wait until I see it before I finalise my opinion on it.

I don't know if I see Tauriel as improving Kili's survival chances. I actually tend to think if anything he's worsening hers. Fully agree with everything else you said, though. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Tauriel.

-gulp-

I'm going to start making some sacrifices to Sauron. Maybe he can bring her back even if she does die?

I agree with your points, although the Kili/Tauriel line didn't bother me at all. He's a very young dwarf (sooo beardless!) and she's a very young elf (isn't she like 600 or something when most of the others we've met are 1,500+?) and so their mix of prejudice and curiosity worked really well for me. He has a bit of a puppy-crush on her 'cause she's a badass who kills giant spiders like a boss and she was the only one to be nice to him in Mirkwood, and I didn't see her as 'in love' with him at all, more curious (we already know she was frustrated with being all insular in Mirkwood) and friendly.

This this this

Well said

I see red too when I see "Mary Sue"

I agree so hard with this. Tauriel definitely has her flaws and I really don't think she has Mary-Sue qualities (well, any more than most elves. I'd argue that most elves are a bit Sueish).

I thought I'd dislike her, but the trailers started winning me over and so did the movies. The first few scenes between Tauriel and Kili almost managed to sell me on Tauriel/Kili, which I really hadn't expected (the later scenes with them ended up ruining the ship again, but yeah...) And I definitely dislike the love-triangle stuff. I definitely see Tauriel and Legolas more as step-siblings.
That doesn't stop me from appreciating Tauriel as a character, though.

To be honest, I will be mad if her presence (or anything else) changes who survives the third movie and who doesn't. I want to go out of that movie crying, dammit! XD

the fact that Legolas in love with her

Really? They're going there? Did they seriously not want to give this character a fighting chance with the fangirls, Jesus.

I didn't see him as in love with her, just admiring and a little over-protective in a fraternal way. Thranduil says "my son is very fond of you" but I saw that as more of nipping it in the bud--"He likes you, make sure he doesn't start to like-like you."

I hope so. My distaste for love triangles aside, I shudder to think of what the Leggy fangirls will do in reaction. Am I the only one who remembers this guy's absurd popularity back in the day?

...I had a poster of him on my wall.

But don't you know, the girls need a love triangle!

That actually pissed me off even in the original trilogy. Hey Jackson, Eowyn is actually an extremely layered, complex character and her feelings for Aragorn are nuanced and deeply tied with her psychological issues and NOT AN EXCUSE FOR YOU TO INSERT CHEAP DRAMA.

Love triangle, please.

Reverse harem or nothing.

She's Kate from Lost, she didn't have one in the first place.

[ SECRET POST #2541 ]

Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

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Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?

Re: Can we stop with the Mary Sue sh*t now?