Tauriel and Legolas: In the Hobbit or Out?

*sigh*

Yes. Sort of.

Tauriel is the captain of the guard. Right? And Legolas is the son of Thranduil? Right? And we know Legolas isn’t only 100 years old in The Lord of the Rings, which takes place (the main storyline, I mean) about 80 or so years after the events of The Hobbit. So we know that Legolas was alive during the events of The Hobbit. So…

1 - Thranduil had a captain of the guard during The Hobbit book.
2 - Tauriel is the captain of the guard in The Hobbit films.
3 - There is no gender bias in Elven society, so a woman could be anything.
4 - The guard captain in The Hobbit isn’t described at all - gender, age, name.  There is no information to go on. Just that there is a guard captain.

Which means that the guard captain in The Hobbit novel could very well be a Sylvan Elf woman with red hair named Tauriel, without in any way breaking the canon rules. Tauriel herself may not be specifically by name in the book, but the captain of the guard was, and that is who she is.

As for Legolas, they mention Thranduil’s kinsmen in The Hobbit, just (again) not by name. So there’s no reason to assume that Legolas wasn’t there when we know he’s Thranduil’s kinsman and was alive and patrolling/defending Mirkwood during the events of The Hobbit.

So yeah, just because they weren’t mentioned by name doesn’t mean their characters weren’t in the events of The Hobbit.

Tales of the Shire: Shadows of Yellow

Just an exercise in topical drabbles, revolving around Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton in the Lord of the Rings.

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Buttercup Blossoms

Perhaps she was fussing too much.

After all, they were such nice, warm yellow flowers.

But buttercups... you could never have too many buttercups at a wedding.

That's what Mum had always said, and Daisy Gamgee lived by it.

The little golden blooms were too sweet for words.

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Cream Silk

The cream colored silk dress fits like a glove.

He cannot take his eyes off her as she approaches.

Heart hammering, he gulps.

The dress flows like water, sparkles like diamonds.

Like a cream colored rose, just the palest yellow blush to its creamy white petals...

Oh, Rosie...

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Honey Eyes

No other Hobbit has eyes like her brave, dear Sam - none.

Only his sweet eyes like dark, honeyed mead-

Like bumblebee candy in winter-

Keep Rosie from stumbling as she comes, accompanied by father and mother, brothers and sisters.

Only Sam's eyes like warm, liquid sweetness, bright with love.

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Yellow Roses

Velvet sunshine, just like his little girl.

In her hair, sewn into her lovely wedding gown, all those lovely, fresh summer roses the color of light and joy, she is a beautiful girl.

That Samwise Gamgee is marrying a Queen of Hobbits today. He does not deserve her.

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Amber Jewels

He gave the jewels as a wedding gift when Sam told him the wonderful news.

He gave Sam cufflinks, and Rosie earbobs and a bracelet of polished amber stones.

Like her hair, like Sam's eyes, they glow with their own inner light.

They are a gift of love.

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Gold Bands

Where on earth Sam got them, no one knew.

They fit perfectly, each to the other's ring-finger.

They gleam, polished bright as glass, but real gold, never doubt it.

That night, a Dwarf comes to the family wedding feast at Bag End.

Tales of the Shire: Waiting

I thought Rosie (you know Rosie - Sam's wife) needed someone to take her part. She waits for Sam so faithfully, so....

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I had been waiting for over fifteen years. Pathetic, I know. Why should I wait for a simple, lowly gardener? My father demanded the answer to that question hundreds of times during those years, and I could never give him a satisfactory answer. He didn't understand about Sam, how special he was.

We'd never gone courting- of course we hadn't. My father would never have allowed that, Sam knew. But my father had died two years ago, and still Sam never spoke a word to me, or to my mother, about requesting permission to take me courting. I never received spring violets. I was never given one of the customary, hand-carved wooden love-spoons. He never escorted me anywhere or danced with me. But once... that once...

I'd tripped over my own two feet and right before I'd fallen in the mud and ruined my best dress- it was at Mr. Bilbo Baggins' own party, don't you know- I felt the gentlest hands in the world catch me and set me right back on my own two feet. He looked me right in the eyes- the first time he'd ever done so a-purpose- and asked me earnestly if I was all right.

"Indeed I am, Master Samwise," I'd said. And I was. He'd spoken to me. He'd taken my hands in his when he'd realized I didn't need any help keeping on my feet. Of course I was all right then.

But not now.

Now he's leaving me. I was out milking our cows with my sister when I saw him in the dawn light, him and his Master, Frodo Baggins. They had packs on their backs and walking sticks in their hands.

I didn't know where they were going, and it wasn't any of my business anyways. But I knew, somehow, in my heart I knew, that there was a mighty chance my Samwise wasn't coming back to me. He was off on an adventure, but not the grand, high, old kind that some young Took lads have every handful of years. This was a quest, the kind they tell stories of. And Samwise was caught up in it somehow, stuck good, and he was in great danger.

I didn't know what to do. I still don't. I guess I'll do what I've always done when it comes to Master Samwise Gamgee, gardener extraordinaire. I'll wait for him.

I'll wait.

Tales of the Shire: Dishes

Set in the movie-verse of the Lord of the Rings, during the Party in the first film, not the book-verse.

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It had been worth it.

Most Hobbits would consider Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrine Took mad to have gone up against Gandalf the Grey. They'd stolen one of his great fireworks, for pity's sake. Not only had they stolen it, they'd lit it. They'd lit the fuse – inside a tent, mind you – and then let it go off instead of putting it out like sensible Hobbits. That's what everyone in Hobbiton was saying. How such down to earth Hobbit folk as Saradoc Brandybuck and Eglantine Banks have spawned those two hooligans, was almost impossible to comprehend. Decent Hobbit folks blamed the Took siblings, Pippin's father and Merry's mother, for their foolishness.

But Merry didn't consider it foolishness. It had all been worth it. Being covered in soot, thinking he was going to die when the firework went off and the great dragon of light and fire had come swooping low upon them, being forced to wash all the party dishes after the great prank by the crotchety wizard.

It had all been so very worth it. Estella Bolger had helped him wash the dishes.

He'd tried to focus on his task, tried to ignore the slim arms, the adorable dimples in her elbows, the way the wash-water made the supple skin of her wrists and hands gleam. After all, he'd been scrubbing grimy plates and mugs sticky with ale. That was hardly a suitable breeding ground for romance. But the rainbows thrown off by the bubbles floating up to her cheeks from the washtub, the sweat-dampened curls plastered to her forehead... these mundane things turned her into a vision of loveliness that he, Meriadoc Brandybuck, alone had the privilege to see.

"Pass me that plate, Merry," she said, gesturing with one dripping hand. He handed it to her as if it were made of glass. "Thank you."

His heart thumped, and a blush flew across his face. He ducked his head to hide it, thinking all the while that out of all the lads forced to wash the party dishes this night, the beautiful Estella Bolger had only offered to help him.

Oh, yes, it had most definitely been worth it.