, so I will be mentioning her name quite a few times on here.Recently, Fae and I had a talk concerning a situation that was revealed during the recent release of the Hobbit BOTFA Appendices and I felt like I should express my thoughts on the matter here, so I will basically be repeating everything I said to her.
Being an avid fan of the Kili/Tauriel pairing that she is, Fae talked to me and vented her disappointment, anger and frustration towards the particular issue involving something that could have happened in the film but never really did:
The Kiliel Kiss.
If you've seen the final film you basically know that they didn't allow Kili and Tauriel to kiss at all while Kili was alive. It wasn't until after his death, while Tauriel was mourning for him, that she finally leaned down and kissed his lifeless body.
Unfortunately, this was the closest thing to a kiss that they gave the fans, even though it wasn't much.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of the whole Kili/Tauriel romance; I didn't really think it was all that necessary. However, ever since I first saw the movie back in January 2015, there was always something about that post-mortem kiss that really bothered me, and still does. I could never quite put my finger on what it was about it that did.
It could have been because she was kissing his corpse, which is kind of gross when you think about it (necrophilia, anyone?).
Or it was most likely because it was an unsatisfying kiss. After all, what's the point of her kissing him if he isn't even alive to enjoy it?
However, after I saw the appendices for the final film, I discovered yet another reason why that post-mortem kiss bothered me. The answer came with the explanation Phillipa Boyens gave as to why the kiss happened when it did, where it did and for the reasons it did, as shown in these gifs taken from the appendices themselves:
Now, I'm not a huge fan of the whole Kili/Tauriel romance; I didn't really think it was all that necessary. However, ever since I first saw the movie back in January 2015, there was always something about that post-mortem kiss that really bothered me, and still does. I could never quite put my finger on what it was about it that did.
It could have been because she was kissing his corpse, which is kind of gross when you think about it (necrophilia, anyone?).
Or it was most likely because it was an unsatisfying kiss. After all, what's the point of her kissing him if he isn't even alive to enjoy it?
However, after I saw the appendices for the final film, I discovered yet another reason why that post-mortem kiss bothered me. The answer came with the explanation Phillipa Boyens gave as to why the kiss happened when it did, where it did and for the reasons it did, as shown in these gifs taken from the appendices themselves:
(study gifs closely, from left to right).
So basically the kiss was supposed to happen on the shores of the long lake, when Kili called Tauriel "Amralime" (my love). However, Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel) protested against it, saying that "it was too soon and that they hadn't earned the kiss yet" (Fae is angry at her now because of it). So obviously they chose to have the kiss happen later, and for some reason have it happen after Kili's death when Tauriel "understood that what she had felt for him was real and she was able to let go".
Now, I actually agree with Evangeline that the kiss on the lake-shore was too soon, so I think they made a good choice by waiting until later. However, whether it was Phillipa's idea or Evangeline's idea, whoever decided to have the kiss happen after Kili's death for that reason clearly did not think it through.
Allow me to explain why.
By placing the kiss where they did for the reason they did, the writers pretty much just rendered the entire romance completely pointless!
Because even if in the end, Tauriel understood that she did love Kili after all, KILI BASICALLY DIED WITHOUT EVER KNOWING THAT SHE LOVED HIM! BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T FREAKING FIGURE IT OUT UNTIL AFTER HIS DEATH!
And that makes me wonder; what was the point? What was the point of having this canon characters, who's doomed to die, might I add, fall in love with a non-canon character if they weren't even going to at least allow him the joy and satisfaction of discovering that she loved him back before his destined death?
What was the point, and for that matter, how was it in any way fair to Kili to do it like that?
After all, between the two of them, Kili was the first to admit his feelings for Tauriel; first in Lake-town with the whole "she walks in starlight" speech then later on the lake-shore. That being said, I think that even if he didn't earn the kiss on the shores, he at least earned the right to know how she felt for him before he died. It was just so unfair that they denied him that! After all, it was bad enough that Tolkien had already sealed Kili's fate in the Battle of the Five Armies by having him meet his end there, but now the screenwriters just added insult to injury by doing this to him!
On top of that, it made the entire romance seem pointless and anti-climatic!
I mean, even when Disney inserted that non-canon romance between Susan and Caspian in their adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia (not a fan of that romance, by the way), they still allowed Susan and Caspian to kiss at the end.
And these two only had one movie for their love story to unfold, while Kili and Tauriel had two! Again, I was not a fan of the Susan/Caspian romance nor the kiss. However, the kiss was somewhat deserved, especially since (SPOILER) those of us who have read Lewis's books know that Susan never returns to Narnia again, even though Lucy, Peter and Edmund do eventually return in the last book; because she stops believing in Narnia. As a result, she was forbidden to return. In that sense, she was "doomed to die" so for that the kiss was earned, even though I didn't really care for it.
This was obviously something that the writers for the Hobbit completely missed!
It really wouldn't have been too hard to get around the issue with the kiss in the final battle. They could have had Tauriel nearly get killed by an orc (not Bolg) and have Kili save her, after which she realizes that she loves him and kisses him as a confession. Then, when Kili realizes her feelings he sacrifices himself to save her from Bolg when he attacks. Or, better still, have Fili still be alive at this point so he can save Kili from Bolg and he and Kili can then run off to help Thorin (and die defending him like in the book) while Tauriel stays behind and holds off the orcs. That way they could have the best of both worlds!
(hint: something like this might happen in The Healer's Student)
SERIOUSLY! IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, PEOPLE! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOOOO EASY TO REMEDY THIS ISSUE AND MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY! THINK THIS STUFF THROUGH A LITTLE MORE!!!
Ahem, sorry!
Oh, and let's not forget that on top of all this, the dialogue for the scene when Tauriel mourns Kili is freaking atrocious!
Tauriel: If this is love, I do not want it. Take it from me, please! Why does it hurt so much?
Thranduil: Because it was real.
This was obviously something that the writers for the Hobbit completely missed!
It really wouldn't have been too hard to get around the issue with the kiss in the final battle. They could have had Tauriel nearly get killed by an orc (not Bolg) and have Kili save her, after which she realizes that she loves him and kisses him as a confession. Then, when Kili realizes her feelings he sacrifices himself to save her from Bolg when he attacks. Or, better still, have Fili still be alive at this point so he can save Kili from Bolg and he and Kili can then run off to help Thorin (and die defending him like in the book) while Tauriel stays behind and holds off the orcs. That way they could have the best of both worlds!
(hint: something like this might happen in The Healer's Student)
SERIOUSLY! IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, PEOPLE! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOOOO EASY TO REMEDY THIS ISSUE AND MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY! THINK THIS STUFF THROUGH A LITTLE MORE!!!
Ahem, sorry!
Oh, and let's not forget that on top of all this, the dialogue for the scene when Tauriel mourns Kili is freaking atrocious!
Tauriel: If this is love, I do not want it. Take it from me, please! Why does it hurt so much?
Thranduil: Because it was real.
My brother's reaction in the theater:
My reaction:
(In case you guys haven't noticed, I love using Supernatural gifs! The faces those guys make and their dialogue is golden!)
Well anyway, back to the matter at hand.
So yes, I am not a huge fan of the whole Kili/Tauriel romance and considering how much screentime was dedicated to it, how many characters were ignored as a result (Fili!) and how unbalanced and anti-climatic it became due to that poorly planned kiss, I think it would have been better if they had not included it at all.
Either that or they should have thought that kiss through a lot more than they did.
Because I really don't recall hearing Tauriel ever admit to Kili that she had feelings for him, there had better be a deleted scene where she does. Otherwise that post-mortem kiss is going to bug me for the rest of my life!
