#anti-tauriel

[olderthannetfic]

I know about the origins of the Bechdel Test, but I do think it's inaccurate to say it's not meant as a criticism of movies that don't do that. I think that when people stop thinking in binary terms of "is this feminist?" or "is this anti-feminist?" and instead look at things more holistically, that you can recognize both that a character like Mako Mori is great, a step in the right direction for female characters in action movies and especially WOC, go forth and stan her and write all the fanfic you want.... but yeah, it is also a valid criticism of the movie (and many others like it) that she doesn't talk to or have relationships with any other woman in the film.

I think one thing to help people realize just HOW much of women's lives are being left out of media representation when we never talk to other named women about something other than a man in movies, is to just think about your own life. I talk to my mom every day, and if we are not talking about my stepdad or my brother-in-law (and I don't think we've ever had a conversation that wasn't at least IN PART not about them or another man), then it passes the test. I'm a professor and when I talk to a female student about her homework or project (which is, again, something that happens pretty much every day I teach), that's passing the test. If I order food from a female cashier and she has a name tag, that's passing the Bechdel Test! It's literally just constant for the vast majority of women on the planet, and that's what's being left out of our stories.

Like, I like the takes I've seen about how part of the joke in Dykes to Watch Out For is that this is *particularly* alienating to lesbians - as a lesbian myself I agree - but I also think it should be frustrating to straight and bi and ace women as well, because like unless you are like exclusively interacting with your husband or male relatives every single day + you work in a workplace where you are literally the only woman, you are almost certainly passing the test constantly. That's a pretty big part of women's lives that Hollywood is leaving out!

But I think it's important to view it as just one piece of the discussion about feminism and women's representation in film, not the final judge on if a film is feminist or not. Which it wasn't intended to be - as you said, it was mostly a joke on the extreme maleness of 80s action movies. Honestly, I do not miss those days on Tumblr where people were obsessed with declaring certain movies/TV shows/other fandoms they liked as "feminist" or "anti-feminist" and the really bizarre granular discussions people would have between two works that BOTH had a long way to go in terms of representing women. I remember people in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom would use this to argue about if the original anime or Brotherhood/the manga was better - when both have some fantastic female supporting characters, but are ultimately male-centered stories where even a lot of those women's lives and stories are centered around their male love interests and family members. It's better than a lot of shounen, but if that's your bar for feminism - either version - you have a long way to go (and need to watch WAY more anime because there's sooooo much of it that is female-centric). I also remember people coming up with other tests that were blatantly silly: like I thought the Mako Mori test about "if a woman has a motivation/story that isn't centered on a man" was fair because it did point out a legitimate criticism, but there was that ridiculous "Tauriel Test" where it was "a woman who is good at her job." And it was entirely about someone just disliking that movie critics and feminist commentators alike were down on the Hobbit movie trilogy, which a) were bad movies, sorry you have bad taste, b) are absolutely not where you should focus your attention if you're so concerned about women's representation in film, Tolkein has always been a sausage fest! And her big thing was being mad that people thought Judi Dench's M in Skyfall was a better female character, and so she arbitrarily decided she was "bad at her job" and Tauriel was "good at her job" even though that's completely subjective and can be challenged in both cases.... but also, once again, why are you looking to the fucking JAMES BOND franchise for movie feminism! There's nothing like comparing the relative "feminism levels" of JAMES BOND and LOTR to make it obvious that this is 100% about validating your subjective taste preferences by giving it a "progressive" excuse, not actually about feminism and not actually caring about women's representation beyond how it makes you look good. And yet SO many people took that transparently stupid post seriously. I'd see professional articles mention the Tauriel Test as "one of the new tests" like there was anything serious about it.

And then on the flip side, over-reliance on the Bechdel Test alone led to some clueless conclusions especially in anime fandom, given that anime has an abundance of shows that exclusively feature female characters in school clubs being cute, where those characters are nonetheless two-dimensional archetypes designed for the male gaze. Someone like fandomsandfeminism did a presentation at an anime con that called one of those types of shows "feminist" and some Japanese user eviscerated it, but that just led to the equally shallow fandom analysis of "everything a Japanese person says about anime is automatically more valid" and "any Westerner who wants to criticize anime on feminist/progressive grounds is culturally appropriating and ultimately coming from a place of ignorance, even if they literally have a degree in Asian studies."

Wow, this turned into a rant about the history of bad "feminist media criticism" on this website. Sorry about that, I think I had a point in here somewhere. I guess that the Bechdel Test is indeed a joke and those origins should be understood, but also, I don't think it's wrong to say that it identifies a real problem and one that people could probably take MORE seriously than they do - but as just one part of the conversation, not the Feminism Litmus Test, and certainly not as a dick-measuring contest about whose fandom gets them more progressive brownie points.

--

I think as long as we grasp that the joke is "The bar is so far under the ground that we might as well go home and eat popcorn there", it's fine.

The real issue with the test is that people started thinking a pass was meaningful.

If you say something like "X% of 2020s movies can't even manage this weaksauce level of women existing", that's a meaningful statistic. Even if you got a couple of data points wrong, you're not factually wrong enough for it to matter because X is going to be some massive, massive percentage, and the overall trend is so clear.

But a pass is nothing to celebrate, and that's where we went wrong.

Like you say, litigating which of two big franchises that barely do anything with women wins on tumblr points is idiocy.

I think people are so unaware of what media that genuinely centers women even looks like that it's hard for them to even begin having a discussion.

I personally have been a massive fujoshi type from adolescence, and media that centers female characters isn't actually what I typically want. (Though media that is by and for women and that doesn't give a fuck what men think of this is.) I am also not much of a fan of slice of life in general...

But when I was coming out and figuring my shit out, being able to go buy collections of Dykes to Watch Out For was incredibly valuable to me.

Ditto the other lesbian comic books that were just sitting there in the bookstore. I'm sure if I went back and reread them all now, I could find things to nitpick or ways they were more for lesbians and less for me as a bi girl, but the really distinctive thing they did was let me exist in a world where media isn't all 80s sausagefest action movies where women are not people.

In fact, they were a world where men don't matter terribly much—not because they're dramatically rejecting men in some facile and reactionary way but because... who cares? They just had other priorities... and this was normal.

It feels like people who've never taken a vacation from really mainstream media just have no concept of what it would feel like to exist in some other space.

And I think that's a pity even if, like me, they later choose to go read mostly BL later instead of focusing on female characters or they genuinely love trash 80s action movies despite everything wrong with them. It's not just sexist media that's the issue: it's that feeling like the fish can't see the water it's swimming in.

[sasquapossum]

I've been part of a big discussion elsewhere about Rings of Power and the liberties they've taken with Tolkien's canon. As part of that, I posted this timeline (SA = Second Age, TA = Third Age).

To be clear, I don't particularly care about the timeline itself. I have never been one of those to say that nobody can change canon at all. In fact, I haven't seen anyone take that position. Here are some things that are fine with me, and AFAICT with most other hard-core Tolkien fans.

I welcome changes that improve representation of women (Arwen, Tauriel, Galadriel) or Black people (Arondir), gay people, whatever. Tolkien was a man of his time, but also a decent man. I believe that, had he lived longer, he might well have approved such changes or even made them himself.

I also don't mind if characters are omitted (Glorfindel and especially Tom Bombadil) or added (Adar) or given new names/identities (Halbrand, The Stranger) in ways that don't significantly affect the history of Middle Earth as already known.

I don't even mind some kinds of timeline changes. Should Elendil have been alive at the same time as Celebrimbor? Well, no, but it doesn't really matter.

What I do mind is changes that harm the narrative - either Tolkien's or their own or too often both. Some events have a cause-and-effect relationship, so reordering them leads to a nonsensical result. Some characters have thematically important natures, so putting them in situations contrary to that nature is also nonsensical. It's particularly crazy to be bringing in Third Age elements when the Second Age is already far too big and busy for a single series (what I consider to be RoP's "original sin" from which most others flow). Here are some more examples.

It doesn't make sense for Gandalf or Saruman to be in Middle Earth before the events that caused the Valar to send them (Sauron's Third Age rise in opposition to Arnor and Gondor).

Ditto for barrow wights in this time period (hinted at in teasers for episodes I haven't seen myself yet). The wights were canonically princes of Cardolan, reanimated and/or possessed by the Witch King of Angmar. Cardolan didn't even exist until the Third Age, and even in RoP's own timeline the Witch King doesn't (can't) exist yet, so again this makes no sense.

Portraying the Fall of Numenor before the creation of the rings is not only gratuitous (just an excuse for some CGI) but it's also going to make it very difficult to tell the full story - which BTW includes Sauron as a prisoner - later even in RoP's own timeline. I'd like to see that story, so that's a loss.

Having Tom Bombadil tutor Gandalf (also hinted at in spoilers) changes both characters into something else entirely. Gandalf was already thousands of years old and should need no such tutoring; his amnesia was already an unnecessary creation within RoP. Tom, to the extent that he's anything more than a last vestige of the Hobbit writing style, is an enigma intentionally placing himself above and beyond such worldly concerns. He is almost the anti-Istari so having him help one is just silly.

By making these changes, and many more, the RoP folks have made a muddled mess. It's the same mistake David Lynch made in his 1984 version of Dune, which was widely and rightly panned for ham-fistedly trying to cram much into too small a space. Amazon's changes not only do a disservice to Tolkien's canon, but they're degrading their own as well.

Another thing that infuriates me about this is the hypocrisy of the Tolkien estate. For decades, Christopher (Rot In Piss) and his successors have ruthlessly quashed any retelling of stories in Tolkien's world. I used to play LotR Online, which suffered under this yoke for years. I'm aware of multiple fanfic authors who were legally threatened for having dared to mention one thing in that canon. Then the estate turns around and approves a project that puts the entire history of Middle Earth in a blender? No, I do not accept such double standards. This is all a huge money grab, pure and simple.

I know that other people would draw the lines differently than I do. They would accept things that I don't, and vice versa. That's all fine. Live and let live, as I always say. I'm watching and enjoying the series, just as I have enjoyed others (e.g. Wheel of Time) that are inspired by Tolkien but not set in his world. But I also think I should be allowed to notice and have my own opinions about those things too. Apparently the RoP stans disagree. Literally all of the gatekeeping and all of the vitriol in these discussions have come from that direction. Even the worst Tolkien purists I've ever met accept that he had his flaws as a writer, and that adaptation to a new medium in a new time means some changes. They're not the problem; it's the people who think RoP takes precedence over Tolkien's own vision who are the problem.

[noweakergirl]

The way they have made the last hobbit movie so brutal and violent it feels like it should be in hunger games and not lotr 😭😭 The way they killed Fili 😭😭. And of course perfect Tauriel threatened to attack Thranduil and he is shown as some anti love guy. Why is there still 40 minutes left 🫡

"Why is there still 40 minutes left" is so funny hsshdjdjdkks

Battle scenes in general are a snooze fest to me but for whatever reason movie directors love to make them last for eternity. I'll never understand the appeal. The best part about the third movie was the final moment when Bilbo *finally* returns to The Shire <3 partially because it's Shire (<333) and partially because the end is near LMAO

[i-am-still-bb]

No. 19

“I’ll take one final step, all you have to do is make me.” | Floral Bouquet | Psychological | “I’m not as stupid as you think I am.”

Alt. No. 3

Brass Knuckles

Characters: Kili, Bolg, OCs Rating: T AU: Fast Car (formerly Dead Batteries) Words: 1619

Direct continuation of No. 18 - “I tend to deflect when I’m feeling threatened” / Blindfold (Tumblr)

I feel like the prompt gives you all the warning you need?

--

Kili watched his back after that. He took the long way home. Walked past his apartment building to circle back. He did not know how much information Cameron had shared with them. Kili had moved since he had called the agency that Cam worked for. But Kili knew that it was not hard to find someone if you put your mind to it. There were property deeds, accident reports, alumni newsletters; all of which were easily accessible. 

He had thrown that post-it note away in the nearest trash can after he left the El. 

But he remembered all of the listed medications. Some he could have just purchased. He could have taken the medicine to the counter, presented his driver’s license, paid, and left the pharmacy with a little plastic bag containing medicine that could either be used to treat cold symptoms or to make meth, buyer's choice. 

But he didn’t.

And then there were the medications that were harder to acquire.

And he did not even think about ways to get his hands on those in a way that would not get him fired and arrested.

And he did not see anybody who seemed to be watching him. He did not see the man with scars again.

By Thursday he had relaxed a little bit, only to wake up Friday morning full of tension and nerves. He went to the gym early and spent more time zoning out to an audiobook and following the workout that an app had generated for him. He felt better afterwards, but still jumpy and nervous. 

And it was getting noticed. 

Tauriel and Ari had noticed when he was out their place for their biweekly Wine Wednesday where they ate disgusting amounts of takeout, drank wine, talked, and maybe watched a couple episodes of whatever show they were currently binging as a group. 

Kili brushed it off. Said that there were talks about a union walk out and he wondered what would happen to the people that needed their medication if that happened. That quickly led them down a well trodden path of arguing at each other about insurances, unions, nonsensical laws, and poor working conditions in a variety of contexts. 

And Kili’s ill mood was forgotten. 

For the first time he wished he worked for a large pharmacy. The chances of some remote CEO caring about Kili’s sex life were lower. And even if the CEO cared Kili would likely never have to see the person who had been on the receiving end of those images and that video. 

Kili worked for a family owned pharmacy that was nestled into the corner of a suburban neighborhood. He knew many of the customers. He asked how people’s babies were doing. And he knew the owner, he attended the Christmas parties, and enjoyed any of the “team building” weekends. So even if he kept his job he would probably quit and seek employment elsewhere, probably in a different city, very likely in a different state. 

On Friday his miscounted pills, almost gave Mr. Peterhof Mrs. Peterson’s prescription for blood pressure instead of his anti-rejection medication. He was distracted at best. He thought about leaving early, but decided against it. He did not know these men well enough to know if they would stop the store manager, Rebecca, who would be closing up if Kili was not there.

“See you on Monday!” Rebecca said cheerfully, waving to Kili as he was finishing up the last of the prescriptions that were slated for pick up over the weekend. 

He worked slowly. 

In November it got dark early. The large windows that faced the street now just reflected the dimmed interior of the store. Instead of letting him see the rest of the world they let him see double of the rows of pop, candy, snack foods, and baby diapers.

The hair on his neck stood on end. He felt like he was being watched. He watched his reflection as he got closer to the front doors. Locked. Just like they should be. Walking back to the pharmacy counter he stiffened; that sense of being watched had only increased. 

He paused when he was filling a prescription for Oxycontin, the Albrecht kid had just had surgery on his ACL, what if he just…

No. 

Kili recounted the 15 pills. Sealed the bottle. Put it in the little plastic bag and sealed that bag with its tamper-evident seal. And hung it on the rack with the rest of the As. 

The stack of orders was completed.

Kili sighed. He hung his white jacket up, pulled on a bulky denim jacket and a beanie (a half-assed attempt at altering his physical appearance along with the scruff he had let grow over the last couple of days). He pulled down the metal gates, locked them, checked the front door again, before exiting into the back alley. That feeling of unease did not fade. He kept thinking that he saw things over his shoulder, or reflections in the mirrored glass windows while he did these final few tasks. 

The lock clicked in place when he shut the door.

The alley was dark, red brick and dumpsters barely visible. He fixed his gaze on the light of the street where cars and people would be. 

The voice was low, but clear, “Working late?”

Kili startled, hands going to the strap of his cross body bag. He felt the brief flash of a desire for something to defend himself with. 

“No,” he said curtly. 

“You’re normally off by 6:30,” the shadow separated from the wall between Kili and the warm glow of the streetlights. “And it's nearly 8.”

“Busy weekend,” Kili said brusquely. “Lots of work to do.” He did not stop moving. Hoping that he would just be allowed to keep going. 

Then another shadow was there. This one was even larger and standing directly in front of Kili. 

“Do you have my order?” the first man said, now behind Kili. 

Kili turned to keep both of them in his sights. “I… I do not.”

A speculative noise, “Why?”

Kili swallowed and tightened his grip on his bag. “It’s not possible.”

“There’s always a way.” He walked behind Kili, forcing Kili to keep turning, now only seeing one, now both, now one. 

“There’s not. I’ll get caught.”

“But I’d still have my order.”

Kili wanted to ask, “And what about me?” But was sure that he already knew the answer. 

A distinctive click. Kili’s blood ran cold. He had not heard it in years, but he knew the sound of a pocket knife blade flicking open and locking out. A sound he knew well from years spent in the club house. Nori had a habit of flicking open a knife, closing it, flicking it open, again and again. A nervous tick, a habit that always made him seem a little menacing. He would be talking with you about different motor oils, the movie he saw that weekend, the video game he was currently playing through, but that blade would be be going snick, click, snick, click, like a metronome. 

“I hate having to ask for things twice.”

Kili’s whole body tensed. Waiting for contact.

“But I will.” 

Click. 

The blade closed. 

Kili exhaled. Relieved that he would have maybe another week to figure out what to do. 

And then he was dropped to his knees. A blow slammed into his lower back, angling up under his ribs. And he forgot how to stand. 

“But Jean here is going to make sure you remember to fill our prescription next time.”

Another one made his vision flash and spin. 

Kili fought to throw off his back. And when he was pulled over onto his back to another fist raised, light flashing on the brass knuckles he was able to throw up an arm, blocking the blow. Kili kicked Jean’s inner thigh, just above the knee.

Jean grunted and dropped to one knee. 

Kili grabbed for Jean’s arm, pulling it close, pulling Jean off balance so that Kili could flip them, giving him the upperhand. He straddled Jean’s waist grappling to get an arm around the other man’s neck. The martial arts classes he had taken for years at the suggestion of his college therapist were finally coming in handy, but his hands did not quite remember the move. His hands slipped, and Jean’s hands were free. Kili fought for control again. He was sweating and cursing the heavy jacket. His hat had fallen off. He grunted in effort as he forced Jean’s arm flat. Before he could take the hold further though, an arm wrapped around Kili’s throat, applying expert pressure, enough that Kili was lightheaded in moments, weak in a few more, but not enough that he lost consciousness. 

“That was not a smart move, Kili,” the voice growled in Kili’s ear. His hot, rancid breath was the last thing that Kili remembered before there was the glint of the brass knuckles again and his vision went dark, then his hearing stopped and he knew no more.

—

Kili was stiff and cold when he woke up. He was still in the alley. He fumbled around for his bag and found his phone. It was just past midnight. He shivered and collected himself. Everything hurt. His face felt swollen. He gingerly felt for the margins of the swelling, wincing as he pressed more firmly, trying to ascertain the level of damage. 

He winced, pulling his bag over his head. That was when he saw the note pinned to his chest. It was another post-it note, with a handwritten list and another date—next Friday.

Kili straightened. He had earned a reprieve of one week.

--

Taglist Everything@silvermoon-scrolls @metztlilua @i-am-pinkie

Fili/Kili @dubhlachen

[streets-in-paradise]

I feel there is something else that needs to be explained, because double standards are the thing I hate the most in the world:

Yes, I am aware that Troy involves a romanticised abduction plot. This is a cliché as old as cinema for the sort " expensive costumes movie" that imagines a scenario away from modernity, just look at Valentino in The Sheik.

Troy is also a movie that never had any progressiveness associated with its marketing, if you exclude the anti imperialist metaphore.

Before anyone can go like " Ohh, you like it in Troy because it is straight but you hate it in Chucky! #homophobic", there are few things to considerate:

-Modern world has no legal slavery.

-Chucky is proud of its progressive marketing, so it should do better. Troy knows it's problematic and doesn't give a fuck.

-In terms of story bulding, a serial killer is the opposite of an epic hero.

-A war in the middle makes the circunstancies quite different, they were written in a way meant to be read as the Kili and Tauriel of the film.

-The harsher edges of Achilles were polished in romance scenes, the danger Tiffany represents is lampshaded trough comedy and this doesn't have the same effect.

-Achilles didn't chop off Briseis' limbs and dressed her like a doll.

-In fact, he let her go willingly when he realized he had hurted her by killing Hector, while Tiffany was crying like a whiny bitch as Nica escaped. She also never gave a fuck about Alice.

-Is it gross for our current standards in both cases? Yeah, but i'm not here pretending Achilles and Briseis are not problematic, while if you go to Twitter, you will find people saying Tiffany did nothing wrong.

[morianar]

Tauriel is so cool and her stuntwoman is so cute- too bad Evangeline Lily is a raging anti vaxxer 😒

[lazywolfwiccan]

This was not sexual tension. This was Legolas breaking his father’s heart by stopping him from hurting Tauriel by saying the one thing that would make Thranduil stop

[victoriannarwhal]

I still really hate the hobbit movies but at least they were aesthetically pleasing, and gave me Lee Pace's Thranduil, but people saying that rings of power makes the hobbit trilogy look better are off their rocker, it really doesn't and I hate them both for the same reasons. ❤️

[ivecaughtawritingbug]

You don’t have to like Tauriel, you don’t have to include her in your stories, but please, please, the alternative does not have to Durincest. I would rather not have any side couples at all than see that in the middle of my Bagginshield.

[elenyafinwe]

Hi again! Sorry to bother you with another ask! :D

Did you see The Hobbit movie? If so, did you like it? And did you like Smaug, if you've seen it? :D

Ohhhh! Don't get me started here! I transform into Gollum every time this topic is brought up, it's such a deep hatelove I have for the trilogy. It got a bit longer than expected, the rest is under the cut.

First the most obvious: Making the Hobbit into a second LotR can't fucking work. It's a children's book with only a forth of the lenghth of the Lord of the Rings and the tone is completely different. It's much more light hearted and the conflicts are solved much quicker. Sure, we still have dark themes, but Bilbo comes out of his adventure mostly unscratched, where Frodo suffers heavy ptsd due to the war trauma. LotR has a much more bittersweet ending than the Hobbit, who ends in a quite funny manner with the looting, so to say, of Bag End. (Never forget Lobelia's face of pure displeasure.)

The Hobbit has many great moments and some of the additions they have are indeed good. One of those is definitelly the White Council. (Not only because we got more Elrond content.) It was only vaguely mentioned in the books, but I'm glad they elaborated on that in the films and used materials from the Appendixes. Not to be a lesbian, but Cate Blanchetts performance was just GREAT! Generally, the cast was overwhelmingly excellent. I mean, we have Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Lee Pace, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch and so on. Awesome!

But good actors can only do so much if the script sucks. Tauriel just doesn't exist for me. She just does not. She's only in there for a fucked up love corner and I hate it with a burning passion. Also the whole relationship of Thranduil and Legolas feels more like a bad Wattpad fanfiction to me than a real and good addition to the story. I was so exited, when I heared that they add Legolas to the story because it makes sense. Aragorn was at this time still a tiny boy and Arwen currently simply not in Rivendell, tho this might as well be a good chance to give us Elladan and Elrohir. They didn't. But hey, at least Legolas. I liked much of the stuff that didn't involve Tauriel and most of the stuff involving Thranduil, but Thranduil's overall character arc felt so out of character for me. Yes, he's an asshole, but he's an racist asshole who at the end of the story drops his racist manners and honors Thorin. That whole "ohh woe, this wifey died, he's now lord stoneheart, pitty upon us all" thing was just ... lame.

A general weakness of the films are their pacing. The first part did a rellatively good job during the first half of the movie, but then gets stuck on Goblin Town for the entire second half and boi, this is lame. Second part was super rushed and every part of it felt more like advertisings. First for Beorn's honey, then for Thranduil's wine, then for a holiday trip to Laketown. You get the point. And what's about the third movie, the fuck? A whole ass movie for one battle, what the fuck. And Smaug dies in the title screen??? Hello??? Even I can write better screenplay and I've never done it before. Also, Azog was so pointless. Why not just stick with Blog? The book already gave a good antagonist. Why letting Azog stick around? He's fucking dead!!

GCI use: Absolute overuse. What I liked so much on LotR was the fact that many of the effects and scenery was real. Those were props you can touch and feel and it looks soooo much better on screen than this whole artifical GCI shit despite lotr being 20 years old now (the fuck). Also the lightning was totally off and looked too artifical.

The movie makers had an eye for details and at the same time ... not. Tolkien descriped all the dwarves in such details and I miss the colored hoods and scarves so much :c On the other hand the darf designs are indeed unique and give them all much character. Just imagine some nice dwarf moms who knit all this for their boys before they head out for their great adventure <3

What they incoroprated directly from the books was executed mostly quite well. I was SO hyped, when I first went into my local theatre in 2013 (on the first day the movie was played, I had a free school day) and there was this awesome dialogue between gandalf and Bilbo and Bilbo tried to get rid of him with a good morning and Gandalf doesn’t have any of this shit. I could speak along, it was great!

Finally Smaug. That was your initial question, lol xP This ended up in a tiny film review, oops. Smaug is great. Not as great as Drogon but great. Cumberbatch did such a great job in playing and voicing him, his manerism are top notch and I appreachiate his snake like looks that resembles his appearance on Tolkien's drawings (tho I miss his front legs). That whole "Revenge! Revenge!" moment and then Golden Boy flies into the night "I am fire. I am death." was AWESOME! That's what I want from my dragons <3

And then he gets killed in the title screen. The whole climax is ruined. They really should have made only two movies.

Overall the movies have their good moments. Not everything carries itself with the gravity lotr does and there are more lighthearted scenes (imagine the dwarves taking a nice bath in Elrond's fountains). But there are also really, really bad takes (Tauriel still doesn't exist for me, hissssss).

[peregrintookold]

pls reblog this or comment on this post if you blog mainly lotr/silmarillion/hobbit content and are 100% tauriel free bc i hate her with a passion and don’t want to see her on my dashboard but i want to follow more tolkien blogs <3

[thelordsoftherings]

I have walked there sometimes, beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen the world fall away and the white light forever fill the air.

For @skywokers♥

[araeph]

What do you think about Tauriel and her bond with Kili in The Hobbit films?

I think it was there just to have any romance at all, I guess to appeal to a female demographic that, by all fanfiction standards, would have been much happier with a greater focus on Bilbo and Thorin than on Kili and Tauriel. Just sayin’.

I’m curious, though, what kind of bond they were actually supposed to have. What did they have in common, exactly? Kili thinks Tauriel is beautiful, and Tauriel … I have no idea. I mean, they’re both archers, but they never even talked about archery! I just was not sold on the strength of their ‘relationship’ (or Tauriel’s place in the film at all).

[brynnmclean]

I, for the record, love that Arwen is here instead of Glorfindel. I adore Glorfindel, but Arwen though, man. Give me Arwen on patrols, Arwen as a warrior in her own right, Arwen Arwen Arwen.

Forever bitter that she gets reduced to a fainting damsel later.

This was such a good start.

[rxdscarf]

sometimes i remember that taur!el exists and then i want to write an essay about how her existence and the way she was written/portraied doesn't make any sense and how they could have actually turned her into an amazing character instead of a horrible mary-sue from a self insert fanfic

[ariminiria]

Listen, I try not to automatically dislike a character based on who the actor is and I'm usually successful but

The gal who plays Wasp in Ant Man pisses me off

And I want to like Hope, I really do

but then I remember that Evangeline Lily played a character that doesn't even exist in the books in The Hobbit series and completely ruined the last two movies for me and I just...

can't