". Perhaps the real issue is the absence of any strong female characters (indeed the absence of any female characters of note at all)."
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SPM has hit on a key point, one I was probably subconsciously debating.
All of the films he cited are predominantly male, but they all have one or
more strong females, usually with a love interest connection, except for
(believe it or not- Ripley). But how to incorporate such a figure
in The Hobbit? Have some female dwarves? (Hey, they're so similar to
non-Khazads that perhaps Bilbo didn't notice.
A partial solution is Galadriel and the White Council.
And perhaps Bard has a girlfriend in the Home Guard. Galadriel and
Bard's fiance would bracket the movie(s) but wouldn't be a movie-long
presence, perhaps G is back at Rivendell on the return.
And why not have Legolas as a major figure? As the king's son he would
probably have been there if he had been invented, and there's nothing in
The Hobbit to contradict it, such as a naming of Thranduil's lieutenants.
The general principle I'd like to see followed by screenwriters is to try to
not contradict the book but rather make use of ambiguities and/or
areas not covered, such as the exact nature of the attack on Dol Guldur.