The Hobbit's Tauriel is "Not An Elf Guard to Be Messed With"

While some information has started to trickle out, information about Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, leader of the Woodland Guard in the forthcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is still somewhat rare. Peter Jackson, though, spoke a little about the character during his Q&A with fans today. "Tauriel is like a bodyguard of Thrandril's. She's part of the Elven Woodland Guard, we call them. They're not the high elves; they're a more lowly form of elf. She hasn't got the status of, say, Legolas, who's the king's son," the director explained. "Evangeline Lilly plays Tauriel and we're quite excited about the storyline that we have created for Tauriel." While Jackson's fidelity to the source material has created an environment where readers generally know how things will pan out for the characters, Tauriel is a wild card, never having appeared in the books, and therefore has taken on a mystique among fans. Screening a few seconds of footage that sees her in battle, and then menacing a captive orc, Jackson added, "As you can see, she's not an elf guard to be messed with."