The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Magazine Cover

In the Empires issue of The Hobbit, the cover features 3 Elves, one of which we all know to be Legolas from the Lord of the Rings.
From what we have seen in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey we know what the Elves have not been very willing in assisting the protagonist and his companions in their journey. But from this cover we get the idea that the elves are going to have more of a n influence within the story. We know from the Lord of the Rings and from The Hobbit that the Elves do not wish to fight and only do when they feel it is greatly needed.But as we can see Legolas has his bow drawn and ready to fire, this hints to the audience that the danger for our protagonist is going to greatly increase.
The audience are forced into thinking about the role that the Elves are going to play as they are the predominant race on the cover. This is pushing you to think towards what we know of the Elves and now how we think they are going to act within this new film.
Around the Elves there is smoke and rubble, this is telling the audience that maybe the protagonists don't fully understand what it is that they are going to face at the climax of the film, the smoke shows the idea of shrouded and hidden. Another idea, fusing the idea of the smoke and the pyromaniacs of the Elves, would be that the Elves are going to try and lead Bildo Baggins away from their goal, they are going to try and hide some form of truth from the group of Dwarfs.

The three Elves are stood infront of the Empire title, giving off the idea that they play an important role to the story.