Eowyn, Galadriel, and Tauriel

I am generally in favor of scriptwriters and directors taking liberties with books. I get annoyed when the scriptwriter clearly doesn't appreciate or understand the book's original version (far too many Agatha Christie remakes). But I also expect to see some creative, "between the lines" readings. 

Consequently, the introduction of Tauriel in Jackson's Hobbit trilogy never bothered me. In a recent re-watching of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I came to appreciate that Tauriel is thematically in-line with Tolkien's approach to many characters, male and female, including Eowyn. 

Eowyn is a fantastic character in the book and film trilogy. As John Howe states about Kili and Tauriel:

The relationship between Tauriel and Kili is like one of those love stories where people think they are falling in love when, in fact, they are actually falling out of love with everything else around them, and the only sympathetic face is someone they would never choose in other circumstances...

Likewise, Eowyn is attracted to Strider because of what he represents and because of the "cage" in which she sees herself. She is rushing away from a life that confined her, especially as her uncle appeared to sink into despondency. She craves more opportunities, a bigger canvas. 

She isn't ambitious for the sake of ambition. She doesn't want to be the queen of Middle Earth. Her marriage to Faramir is entirely believable. Because although she isn't ambitious, she truly can't go home again. 

In a similar way, Galadriel leaving Middle Earth is perceived by the lady herself as a loss. She would stay if she could--instead she will "diminish" and leave those shores. She can't return to an earlier Age.

In many ways, Tolkien--and C.S. Lewis--understood the female spirit better than later writers who more noisily proclaim themselves feminists. 

Eowyn, Tauriel, and Galadriel (and Lucy and Jill) are, foremost, people with strong characters residing in a messy world. They make choices that send them into battle or into exile or into a new state of being. They enchant the reader and the viewer because their emotional reality is a open book, not because it is carefully labeled and boxed.