Yup, but this has been Jackson/Walsh/Boyens/del Toro's glorified fanfic from the beginning, and I'm sure their argument for stuff like Lily's character is "but Tolkien never said Legolas didn't have a girlfriend!"

I don't mind the added stuff in concept, it's the execution that was bad. When they first talked years ago about padding out The Hobbit movie with stuff like the White Council, I was picturing something more along the lines of The Council of Elrond and not a long scene with .... just four people standing/sitting/walking around a table.