The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films are some of the most beloved and popular fantasy movies of all time. The books were rather iconic in how they created and defined the fantasy genre as we know it today.
In both the books and the movies, there are many characters that had interesting arcs, but there are also those who didn’t really get what they deserved. For some characters, this means that they deserved more time devoted to them and for others, it means they should have had better endings.
Bard’s Daughters
In The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, Bard is shown to have three children including two daughters, Sigrid and Tilda. While Bard’s son, Bain, has more of an active role in helping his father fight Smaug, both of his daughters seem like very stereotypical damsels.
Given that the franchise has so few female characters as it is, this was an unfortunate choice.
Rosie Cotton
Once again, one of the biggest flaws with The Lord of the Rings franchise is the lack of female characters. Rosie Cotton is one of the few women who have a role in the books, and she has a small role in the films, too. However, in both versions, she’s merely just a love interest for Sam.
We barely ever get to see her talk, and she doesn’t really have a personality of her own.
Tauriel
Tauriel is another female character who didn’t get her due. While she might be a controversial figure to include on this list as she was a character made up for the movies.
The reasoning behind this was to include more women, but then she was made into a character whose sole function was to be in a love triangle. This was a very disappointing and stereotypical way to include a female character.
Kili
Kili is a character that mostly didn’t get his due in the movie version of the film, and this is because of the filmmakers' decision to focus on a made-up love triangle.
While in the book, Kili’s story is more about his familial bonds, in the movies it’s all about Tauriel. He died protecting her from Bolg, and many fans were upset by this.
Merry Brandybuck
Merry is a character who goes through a lot during his time as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring. He starts out as a rather young, immature Hobbit who has known a rather comfortable, easy life.
He then sees the horrors of war, and he is greatly changed by them. While this is realistic, it’s definitely sad to see what he, and also Pippin, have to go through.
Gimli
Gimli is a character that many people love, and it’s easy to see why. He’s rather hilarious and interesting. However, it’s unfortunate that the movies mostly used him as somewhat of comic relief.
While this made sense in a lot of ways, it would have been nice if the movies could have explored more facets of his backstory and personality.
Legolas
Legolas is another character who gets sort of cast into a certain kind of role in the movies. As the films went on, he was mostly just used for ridiculous, acrobatic skills in battle and little else.
However, the real reason he deserved better was because of how his character was handled in The Hobbit films. The love triangle with Tauriel was just ridiculous.
Faramir
Faramir is a character who gets treated really poorly in his life, but he does at least get a pretty good ending. The way Faramir is treated by his father, Denethor, and told that his own father wished he had died instead of his brother was really depressing.
But, at least in the end he found happiness with Eowyn and kept his role as a Steward of Gondor.
Arwen
There aren’t very many women in the series, but Arwen is one of the main women who has a role, especially in the movies. While it was good that the films expanded on her role and gave her more scenes, she purely functions as a love interest, and her entire story revolves around Aragorn and being a bit of a damsel.
While she does have a cool moment of rescuing Frodo, it would have been nice to give her more independence.
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins might be the protagonist of the series, but he definitely didn’t deserve all of the awful things that happened to him. The impacts of the trauma he goes through as Ring Bearer scar him so much that he’s not able to live a normal life after everything.
He truly is left scarred by the atrocities of war, and while realistic, it’s extremely sad.