The One Ring Forums: Tolkien Topics: Movie Discussion: The Hobbit:
Did Legolas love Tauriel?



Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor


Dec 20 2014, 9:43pm


Views: 10296
Did Legolas love Tauriel?
Well I'm seeing the movie a second time tonight, and I will watch closer for this. I am not sure Legolas really loved Tauriel the same way Kili did. He was a bit dismissive when he told her to "take leave of the dwarf," but didn't seem overly upset about her apparent feelings for Kili. Later when he's told that Tauriel is banished, he does say if Tauriel can't go back to Murkwood then he won't either, and asks her to come with him to the North. I wonder if he would ask her that if he was all heartbroken about her preferring Kili. Maybe it was a strong friendship, and loyalty, and knowing he could rely on Tauriel - not "love."

But I could be wrong, after Kili's death and Tauriel's speech about "If this is love, I don't want it" he decided to leave. Was it because he knew he couldn't have Tauriel, or was it because he agreed with her that love was too painful? In some ways, Legolas is as distant as Thranduil (although not as cold). And Thranduil lets Legolas go, after telling him that his mother loved him above all others. (Maybe that's why Thranduil is so cold - because he, too feels that love is too painful.) Am I crazy here? What does anyone think?
Why yes, I DO look like Anna Friel!


Eleniel
Tol Eressea


Dec 20 2014, 9:50pm


Views: 9886
Doesn't Legolas say to Thranduil...
(after Tauriel has had her stand-off with the Elvenking, and decided to go to Ravenhill to warn the Dwarves, ) that he is going with her, and that Thranduil may be able to command him (as his king) but he doesn't command his heart? The inference being that his heart belongs to Tauriel...



"Choosing Trust over Doubt gets me burned once in a while, but I'd rather be singed than hardened."
¯ Victoria Monfort


DigificWriter
Lorien

Dec 20 2014, 9:59pm


Views: 9752
Re: Did Legolas love Tauriel?
Did Legolas love Tauriel?

I would say "Yes", even if it wasn't overtly spelled out.


Cirashala
Valinor


Dec 20 2014, 10:02pm


Views: 9774
I think he loved her
but, as with her, I think that he knew he could not have her, and accepted that fate.

Remember, Thranduil nixed that in the bud back in DOS ("You're right, I would not.") Elves require parental approval before marrying (much like my culture at least has tradition of asking the bride's father for permission to marry before asking her to marry him, though that is slowly falling by the wayside in some more "progressive" circles)- and if Thranduil said no, and Tauriel is, for all intents and purposes, his ward (and thus has no parents to speak on her behalf against him), then their relationship has NO chance at all unless Thranduil changes his mind.

And we all know how stubborn that elf king is!

Besides, there are many, many different forms of love, and not all of them need to be romantic. Someone in another thread a few weeks back (I think it was Darkstone) compiled many quotes referencing characters loving one another from the books, even male characters expressing their love for other male characters. Was that romantic love? HARDLY- but it was love nonetheless.

Legolas could (and does, I think) love Tauriel in several ways. He loves her as a friend, he loves her as a fellow soldier (comrades in arms), he maybe even has a bit of familial love (like brotherly) and he could also love her romantically.

So did he love her? Yes. Was it romantic? I think so, but honestly we'll need the EE (aka the complete story) to know for sure. Otherwise, all we have to go on is actor interviews, and what Thranduil implies in DOS.

"He's grown very fond of you." to which Tauriel replies, "I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan elf?"

Pledge himself- she clearly took it as he was romantically in love with her, because this is the same thing as betrothing or "plighting their troth"- it's Middle-earth speak for engagement. And Thranduil wasn't surprised in his reaction to her words- "No, you're right. I would not."

So he clearly saw romantic love there as well. Now, if two people who have known Legolas for hundreds of years (in Thranduil's case, his entire life) don't you think that they would know romantic love when they see it? Thranduil at least would, presumably, as he was obviously in love and married before his wife died.

So if Thranduil thought Legolas was in love with Tauriel, then that's good enough for me.


SirDennisC
Half-elven


Dec 20 2014, 10:31pm


Views: 9757
May not be romantic love
seemed more akin to fraternal love, the sort you lay your life down for.


mirkwoodwanderer
Lorien

Dec 20 2014, 10:34pm


Views: 9717
He is in love with gimli
Tauriel is like a sister.

Legolas even takes Gimli with him to the undying lands. Gimli is the first and only dwarf ever to go there.


(This post was edited by mirkwoodwanderer on Dec 20 2014, 10:37pm)


DigificWriter
Lorien

Dec 20 2014, 10:41pm


Views: 9684
Re: He is in love with Gimli
In Reply To
Tauriel is like a sister.

Legolas even takes Gimli with him to the undying lands. Gimli is the first and only dwarf ever to go there.
I'm an LGBT ally, but this is just a stupid assertion (assuming you were being serious).


cats16
Half-elven


Dec 20 2014, 10:42pm


Views: 9691
Agreed.
Although, I had the feeling it also had traces of a best friend whom you've known for a long time, but do feel some deeper feelings toward.

Quite realistic to me, when one isn't entirely sure what ones feels. I've been there!


Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!




(This post was edited by cats16 on Dec 20 2014, 10:43pm)


Bombadil
Half-elven


Dec 20 2014, 11:18pm


Views: 9653
Something to Consider..?
Immortals take years to decide anything
Their "TimeFRAME" is SSOoo.
SSOoo..Stretched out, Longer than Humans

Maybe the "Courting Process"
izz ALSO really SLOWED down too?

They've known each
OTHER for
ONLY?...

600 years & Maybe after a 1,000 years
DO they get SERIOUS? Romantically

AS an Audience it is REALLY hard to
THINK like an Immortal..

bom
Crazy
www.charlie-art.biz
"What Your Mind can conceive... charlie can achieve"


Laineth
Lorien

Dec 21 2014, 12:52am


Views: 9606
No.
I don't think so. At least, not romantically, like you're implying. You can love someone deeply and unconditionally in any type of love.

I said in another thread:
~*~
Personally, I've been skeptical of Legolas/Tauriel from the start.

In DoS, Legolas's attitude is *are you crazy? He's a dwarf!*; and he doesn't really know anything (he didn't know what the orc was talking about, and he tells Tauriel it's not their fight).

Here, he's followed Bolg and seen the symbol of Gundabad. When daddy's messenger comes and says Tauriel's banished, he realizes that Thranduil is not going to be open minded. Legolas says he has to follow his heart - and immediately launches into what he saw and how he wants to go to Gundabad.

Legolas loves Tauriel, certainly. He confides in her about his mother, and he won't let Thranduil kill her without killing him. Elves are deep wells of emotion, it's how they're made. But I haven't seen anything that implies romantic love.

I think Legolas leaves because he's finally aware. He's been disillusioned from everything he's known. He needs to 'leave the nest', and find himself.
~*~

I think Thranduil's wrong in the DoS - he even says he's "not so sure", so he's not completely convinced either way. Tauriel herself is shocked and disbelieving. Her jaw drops and she kind of has this 'I can't believe I'm hearing this' look on her face. Then she just looks disturbed (understandably so, since Thranduil is warning her off Legolas at the same time he is saying Legolas has feelings for her).

Another thing I've remembered is Legolas's conversation with Bard happens before he finds Tauriel. It's pretty established that Legolas is worried, with a capital W.

Also, with Kili's death, he leaves before Tauriel says anything.


mae govannen
Tol Eressea


Dec 21 2014, 3:32am


Views: 9487
Agree totally with you, Eleniel/
 
Quote
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)


mae govannen
Tol Eressea


Dec 21 2014, 4:32am


Views: 9479
You have spoken for me too!...
To me too, everything Thranduil has seen in his son is true: Legolas does love Tauriel.
But Thranduil is also the King and cares about his lineage more than about the feelings of his son, so he will find an undirect way to forbid that love: by not allowing Tauriel to respond to that love.
Just at that time she meets Kili, who has everything Legolas, too similar to his father in his coldness, has not: charm, seductiveness, fun, warmth, enthusiasm, childishness... Even though he is a Dwarf, he too loves the starlight... and he loves her, he adores her. They are kindred spirits, one in the form of an Elf, the other in the form of a Dwarf, but their souls recognize each other.
Legolas, I think, can feel that attraction between the two and at first tries to oppose it, but when he sees that their love is for real, he withdraws and accepts that his own love is unrequited. But that he shows nothing anymore doesn't mean he is not suffering or he doesn't love her anymore: every time he stands up to his father to protect her is a new proclamation of that love - lived unselfishly. Beautiful, I would say!...Heart
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)


mae govannen
Tol Eressea


Dec 21 2014, 4:40am


Views: 9491
But all you say shows his love for Tauriel in fact!!! //
 
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)


MouthofSauron
Tol Eressea


Dec 21 2014, 9:43am


Views: 9465
does PJ have a crush on Legolas ??
 

The flames of war are upon you..


Brethil
Half-elven


Dec 21 2014, 5:30pm


Views: 9379
I thought the same D.
In Reply To
May not be romantic love...seemed more akin to fraternal love, the sort you lay your life down for.
What is done for love of all types seem represented on and post- Ravenhill, including Thranduil evolving from bitter lost love to a sort of acceptance. Fraternal (with perhaps a touch of the unrequited), familial, doomed tentative romantic love - that seems to have been the theme to all the desperate action and subsequent loss that we see wrapping up the story lines.







mirkwoodwanderer
Lorien

Dec 21 2014, 7:17pm


Views: 9361
Well, not super serious, but it is free for all to fill in the blanks
In Reply To
In Reply To
Tauriel is like a sister.

Legolas even takes Gimli with him to the undying lands. Gimli is the first and only dwarf ever to go there.
I'm an LGBT ally, but this is just a stupid assertion (assuming you were being serious).


Bluewriter
Registered User

Dec 21 2014, 10:24pm


Views: 9360
No love triangle
After watching DOS and BOTFA all I can say is, I have yet to see this so called love triangle. I see the dwarf's love for Tauriel (DOS) and her slow acceptance in return (BOTFA) but not once do I see any emotion regarding love in how Legolas treats Tauriel. He does follow her and help her but that felt more like friendship. Even when he makes the comment about the king not commanding his heart, I still felt he meant that in the sense that his heart was telling him to do the right thing and help her.

That said, I felt that the Tauriel character was important in the storyline. Watching all the tidbits they threw out in the movie, you got the sense that after his wife's death, the pain of losing her at Gundabad (and his father many of their people at the battle of the last alliance earlier), thranduil shut all his people up in mirkwood in isolation. It gave the appearance that Legolas was young, as Thranduil had to tell him that 'she really did love you' at the end. Raised in the isolated atmosphere, it seems like no one disobeyed Thranduil. I got the impression that Legolas is impressed with Tauriel because she has this independence not seen by many in mirkwood. She is willing to risk the consequences of disobedience. She doesn't complain when the elf shows up and says she banished. Legolas follows her when she goes after Kili and experiences his eyes being opened to a much bigger world through everything that happens in BOTFA. She is his catalyst. He no longer relies on the 'world according to his father'.

Because of this, Legolas is changed. This is seen when he tells his father at the end that he 'can't go back'. To me, he is telling his father more that he can't go back to the way things were because we knows that he comes back to mirkwood at a later date. He's coming from mirkwood at the beginning of the LOTR.

I also thought the movie did give some explanation on Thranduil's coldness and withdrawl from life. It was painful to watch that last scene with his son when they tried to reach out for each other; like trying to watch two people who don't know how to show love to one another, try.

That's just my thoughts.


Laineth
Lorien

Dec 22 2014, 2:54am


Views: 9315
Yes,
Legolas does love Tauriel. But there is absolutely nothing romantic in the film. No comments about how amazing Tauriel is. No comments about him wanting her.

One of the things I love most about Tolkien is that his work shows that a relationship can be loving, deep, and eternal, without being romantic. Legolas and Tauriel have that type of relationship - like close siblings, you could say.


mae govannen
Tol Eressea


Dec 22 2014, 5:50am


Views: 9313
True love respects the other person's choice,
this is why Legolas doesn't insist or try to win Tauriel over; but at first he is jealous, it seems, and only later accepts that she loves Kili more.
But I think Legolas still loves Tauriel in a different way than a sibling. That's the beauty of it, I would add.
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)


Laineth
Lorien

Dec 22 2014, 5:25pm


Views: 9285
I agree
that healthy love comes with respect, but the he never even mentions the idea, or give her a longing look. For a choice to be made, the options have to be said first.

Don't get me wrong, I love romance. I just can't love triangles. It cheapens it emotionally for me. Having a best friend who opens your eyes to your society's failing and makes you question the world has a huge emotional impact for me.


mae govannen
Tol Eressea


Dec 23 2014, 8:26am


Views: 9301
His father doesn't communicate much at all,,
and particularly doesn't express love, even when he feels it inside. So my guess is Legolas has grown to be like that too, or at least to behave like that, and not express love or even tenderness. I think Gundabad is probably the very first time he speaks to her about such personal things as his father, and also his mother's death there. So I'm not sure "best friend" really applies here - except finally as a replacement for the more intense feeling he sees she has for Kili, but not for himself.
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)