EW.com: First look: Evangeline Lilly’s elf warrior in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’

SPOILER WARNING. Entertainment Weekly has a new shot of Tauriel from ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.’ In the accompanying article, Evangeline Lilly, who will play this completely PJ-created character, talks at length about her role. Since this is EW’s scoop, jump on over to the article for all the juicy details! And of course, share your comments below! We’d love to know what you think of these new details.

When The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits theaters on Dec. 13, there will be a fresh face among the residents of Middle-earth: Tauriel, an elf warrior played by Evangeline Lilly ofLost fame. “She’s slightly reckless and totally ruthless and doesn’t hesitate to kill,” says Lilly. She’s also not found anywhere in J.R.R. Tolkien’s original fantasy novel, or in any of Tolkien’s other writings for that matter.

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TORn staffer Demosthenes writes:

A coupled of things worth mentioning regarding this still.

The first is a technical observation: I do feel that red hair in this new still has been bumped compared to the video images of Lilly (or her double?) what we’ve previously seen in the production diaries — the new image has a quite intense copper colour. But bright sunlight will tend to make colours seem warmer, so that could be the explanation.

The other is regarding a spoiler, so highlight the text below to see:

Although EL is staying mum on who the romance is, it’s been previously hinted at by Aidan Turner in Total Film late last year. Personally, I suggest a “meeting of minds” type of romance revolving around the duo’s shared interest in archery culminating in a very tragic ending at BOFA. Any romance with Legolas has been categorically ruled out by Peter Jackson himself. So no need to get worked up there.

But we’ll see.