Amazon Lord of the Rings of Woke. Amazon now has the rights to some of Tolkien’s books and is in the process of producing The Rings of Power. The release of the trailer, teasers and the Superfan extravaganzas has fueled a lot of negative reaction from Tolkien readers.
My Introduction to Tolkien & Lewis
All early education came from a private Catholic school. It was steeped in biblical stories and religious doctrine. At one point I was even treated to the differences between Christianity and Hinduism.
Moving to a large public school, my world changed. The library was secular. But I soon discovered the Chronicles of Narnia. Without having read anything else by C. S. Lewis, it was obvious he was a Christian.
Then along came The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. While there was nothing overtly Christian in his books, I sensed something which was missing in the other books. Tolkien was writing from a deeply Christian perspective.
Rings of Power discontent
When the ROP trailer came out Tolkien fans saw a black elf with short hair. There was a black female dwarf, a young Galadriel dressed in armor doing Amazonian feats, and a young Elrond “architect.”
Some fans were not so concerned with racial swapping as they were with time compression of the stories etc. It seems Amazon is contracting events which occur over hundreds of years into a “period of time.” Others saw the racial swapping as expected and contrived.
Amazon apologists react
Predictably apologists asserted that objections to black Elves are racist driven. They used the excuse that Tolkien wasn’t clear on what Elves looked like. I suspect they knew better. Savvy Tolkien fans promptly responded with data to the contrary. Tolkien was clear that Elves were fair skinned and that accurate representation of his lore mattered to him. And, no, Elves did not breed with humans, other than in the cases Tolkien wrote about.
Ironically, one Middle-earth aficionado has gone to great pains insisting that Elves do not have pointed ears. This seemed very important to him. Yet he came out in defense of the black elf. But in the real (hypocritical) woke world one cannot racially swap a black role using a white person without people vigorously protesting it.
Notably, perhaps the most learned Tolkien scholar, Tom Shippey, parted company with Amazon. Enter several others who have diversity and woke culture agendas. This brings me to…
Fake Tolkien Superfans?
The United Kingdom “Superfan” video was so bad that Amazon delisted it. Several YouTubers conducted a background search of the four young UK people involved. All had prominent online profiles, yet for all their exuberance, none evidenced an interest in Tolkien.
Their discussion wasn’t on how much they loved Tolkien; they were excited about their positions being represented in the upcoming Rings of Power. These people are self-absorbed. I’ve watched YouTube presentations analyzing the fiasco. I’ll link two of these from George the Giant Slayer (some sarcasm etc ahead):
The Rings of Power Superfan Fakes Revealed
Mariana Maldonado Attacks Lord of the Rings Fans (Read Maldonado’s bio in the video description)
Why does all this matter?
Amazon and people like Maldonado aren’t concerned about what Tolkien or Lewis cared about. But make no mistake; you had better keep your hands off their sacred literature – if they have any. They rarely write their own.
They’re not interested in the messages Tolkien left throughout Middle-earth (And he did). What they really, really care about is diversity, woke, feminist and LGBTQ quotas! They will re-imagine Tolkien’s work to suit the needs of modern culture. They’re not adapting the materials, they are manipulating them.
The issue is more than an elf’s skin color etc. Tolkien’s and Lewis’ Christian faiths shaped what they wrote. It boils down to Christian values as found in those books not being up to standard for modern self-absorbed consumption.
One wonders what Amazon might do if they ever got hold of Narnia.
Maranatha!
Further reading
Faith and fantasy: Tolkien the Catholic, The Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson’s film trilogy
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