[Boromir88]

I was thinking about Nimrodel when I first read this thread. Although I would need to go back to the Lothlorien chapters and refresh my memory since the only thing I can remember is she's mentioned as Galadriel's handmaiden.

As Tolkien said about orcs, of course there are orc women, but LOTR being primarily a tale about war, they weren't going to get mentioned.

I'm not sure what Jackson's going to do with the character, but I don't see a reason to get bent out of shape over it before hand. This is not different from what we do with RPGs in creating characters and trying to make them as accurate as possible. It certainly can be done in a way that won't destroy the story or the experience of the movies.

What is Jackson's track record for the characters he invented? They really don't serve a purpose other than to fill in for minor plot reasons. If the same treatment is done with Tauriel, or Itaril, or whoever than it'll probably be accurate from a canon perspective. In the "there must be elf women in Mirkwood" sense.

And I do apologize if this isn't the response you were looking for mark, because generally I agree, this can be done and still be respectful to the books. But it's more because Tauriel will probably be a very minor, and limitted character who isn't "active" in the sense that Arwen or Eowyn or even Galadriel were in the movies. Because Jackson's track record says the characters he invents serve little purpose other than to move along the plot with some dialogue, like Figwit. Or for some baddie orc boss for Aragorn to kill, ala Lurtz.