hattedhedgehog:

I think one of the big reasons I ship Kiliel, even if I’m not a fan of everything that happened with them in the movie, is because in the movie, he never showed her anything but respect and devotion? Like, they didn’t fall into the negative hollywood hetero-trap of Kíli starting out as a douchebag who got into her space and tried to intimidate or belittle her, and Tauriel having to prove her worth to him to get him to change his opinion of her. No, he got fucking star-eyes from the moment he saw her impale a giant spider with a dagger.

You don’t have to like the ship but you have to admit that, cheesy as they played it out to be, a relationship based on mutual respect and willingness to understand each other is important.