10 Worst Changes Peter Jackson Made To The Hobbit
7. Adding The Legolas, Tauriel, Kili Love Triangle
Perhaps the most egregious mistake Jackson allowed to happen, was the love triangle that killed the second and third movies' momentum. He essentially reduced one of the more interesting characters, to nothing more than a damsel in distress.
Tauriel was invented for the movies, and she was a welcome addition. Up until her appearance, Middle-earth had been a sausage party. Not only was it refreshing to have a female character slaying fools, but Jackson set up the potential for an interesting examination of elven hierarchy.
Legolas and his father are both Sindar elves, ruling over the Silvan elves like Tauriel. We get a brief mention of this, but rather than letting it be a source of friction between the characters, Jackson instead focused on an incredibly surface level love story.
Instead of Tauriel's character having any real weight, she ends up serving as the love interest for the 'sexy' dwarf of the film. And apparently all that was required for her to fall for Kili, was him delivering the line, "I could have anything down my trousers". Nice.
We didn't even get any real friction from it. Legolas just mopes around looking stern, but at no point does he confront Kili for trying to get it on with his girl. This could have set up Legolas' distain for dwarves, making his future relationship with Gimli all the more poignant.