The Hobbit: 10 Deaths To Expect In The Battle Of The Five Armies

8. Tauriel

Tauriel is the trilogy's biggest original creation. A point of much contention for diehard purists before The Desolation of Smaug arrived, her presence turned out to be refreshing, injecting a badass female presence into an otherwise completely male-dominated state of affairs that seemed like only a natural extension of the world she's a part of. Evangeline Lilly made the most of what she was given in her first appearance and we're already looking forward to seeing what she brings to the final film. Though her budding love story with Kili is bound for an unhappy ending -- a point we'll be getting to soon enough -- Tauriel's ultimate fate could swing either way, with her potential death underlining the already inherent tragedy of this romantic subplot. Her death, too, either fighting with or to avenge Kili, could easily help pave the way for developing Legolas' growth from staunch dwarf-hater to the character he becomes in The Lord of the Rings. While she neither appears or is mentioned in the original trilogy, her absence, should she survive this film, could easily be glossed over as a choice to stay and help defend her home, even if such an excuse would go against the characterization we've seen of her thus far as one willing to fight and die to protect a larger world. As such, rather than her living on to be an inevitably perceived loose end, we're expecting her to meet her demise, even if we may not want it to happen, at some point during the Battle of the Five Armies.