Carbon Costume

Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck is a main character in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is a Hobbit who joins the Fellowship of the Ring and its quest to destroy it and defeat Sauron. Although Merry is actually one of Frodo‘s cousins, Pippin is his constant companion. They like to adventure and pull pranks together, and while more silly than resourceful, they’re the ones who form an alliance with Treebeard. Merry himself even fights in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and helps Eowyn kill the Witch King. He likes boats and ponies, while also taking interest in the maps of Middle Earth. In the movie adaptations of Tolkien’s novels, Dominic Monaghan plays this role.

Tauriel (played by Evangeline Lily) is a career soldier. She is loyal to her people and the Middle Earth as a whole. Her loyalty to good is so strong that it lands her at odds with her own leader but she still has to do what’s right.

Cosplaying Tauriel is much the same as cosplaying any Tolkien. A green tunic, brown braces, brown quiver, brown leather vest, and brown boots make up her clothing. An elven bow and blade are her weapons of choice. And of course no Tauriel costume would be complete without her long ginger hair and pointy ears. The ears featured above are blue as a base color so that ever cosplayer can customize them to their specific skin tone.