Meet Tauriel, the femme fatale of ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’

Tauriel has got to be one special elf.

Here's why: she exists only for Peter Jackson and his film adaptation of the hotly anticipated second part of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".

She is also The Hobbit's rose among the thorns - practically the only feminine presence in a movie dominated by weapons, wars, dwarves and men.

Don't expect yet another royal-blooded, ethereal beauty of few words from this butt-kicking fictional elf, though. Played by Lost actress Evangeline Lilly, Tauriel's character is, in her words, a "kick-ass chick".

Yahoo! Singapore spoke to the radiant new mother on the set of The Hobbit in Wellington, New Zealand to find out more about the mysterious Tauriel and her role in the trilogy.

The first shocker — Lilly was offered the part by Jackson practically from her childbed — and took it.

"I was laid up in bed a month out of having given birth and I was literally bedridden and holding my little newborn baby, trying to figure all that out, and I got this phone call," said Lilly, 34.

"They wanted me to be an elf in The Hobbit, my favourite book when I was a girl, and an elf of all people, because the elves were my favourite. And now, I am an elf. That was a massive honor."

So who exactly is Tauriel?

A "baby elf" at just 600 years young (Legolas is slightly older at 1,300 years old), Tauriel is the head of the Wood Elves' elven guard, an expert killer and elfin assassin.

"But she doesn't have the darkness that I think Thranduil (King of the Wood Elves) has. I still have this zest and spark for life, and for life in Middle Earth. I haven't been jaded by the ages of history that have happened."

"It's my intention to make her the first elf that you watch and you actually think, "I could be her. I could do that."

With a sparkle in her eye and sunny bursts of laughter, Lilly gushed enthusiastically about the magic of working onset.

"Its so much fun! It's crazy, all my hair and my costumes and the ears. Most of the time you walk onto set and you go, "Oh my God!" It's just amazing."

"The detail that goes into them, they just fill you with a sense of wonder and excitement. You feel excited about what you're doing and you realise that you're getting paid to play like little kids play."

The training, however, was no child's play.

"I didn't come into this knowing how to wield two daggers or be an expert archer. I didn't come in here knowing Elvish, I didn't come in here knowing how to speak with an English accent. So I had a lot to learn. And on top of it, I was trying to wrap my mind around what it means to be an elf."

So has Lilly finally become fluent in the art of Elvish?

"No," comes the candid answer, accompanied by peals of gleeful laughter.

"I can speak what I have to speak and that's about it. I can say my lines. Anybody who speaks fluent Elvish has got way too much time on their hands."

Catch Lilly onscreen as Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which opens in theatres here in Singapore on 12 December 2013, or catch him walk down the red carpet in Yahoo!'s exclusive broadcast of the film's premiere on 3 December.

Related links:
Orlando Bloom's Legolas returns to set hearts aflutter
Catch the live stream of The Hobbit sequel world premiere here
Meet the merry dwarves from The Hobbit