Tolkien is turning in his grave

On the flip side you have people who can't watch it because there is a black dwarf woman which ruins the show.

Which side is being ridiculous here? The showrunners for putting in a black female dwarf, or all the people crying about it on the internet?

Like who the F cares?

 

tolkien would be in awe of she-hulk. dat sass, dat girl power, dat ass.

 

Fake Hobbits? Wait a minute...are there real Hobbits out there? Lol.

Rings of power is the better show regardless.

 

It has nothing to do with race, how many movies or shows don't have a black character? Almost none.... Its been like this a while now. Take any of the top movies or shows and you will find black characters. Black characters don't hinder or cripple good movies nor shows. Why? Because no one cares. People aren't hating it because of racism. People are hating the woke movement branching out and infecting everything even things that weren't written in the way new age woke producers and writers want to portray it. Peter Jackson did an incredible job with the trilogy. Leave it at that.... There is nothing they can improve upon the ageless books and movie trilogy. There is nothing to add... Its a cash grab...

 

Tinman, Musk and his buddies heard the name "Saruman the White" and just assumed he was the hero of the stories.

 

If you don't like it, vote with your eyeballs.

If a crying baby isn't annoying enough, then it's sitting next to one inside a theatre who is hating every moment it.

In the olden days, when people didn't like **** on TV, such as Ellen coming out as gay, they stopped watching and the show was canceled within a year.

Who would've thought that would've worked as opposed to airing your displeasure online simultaneously giving the show attention while you looked like an entitled cunt with too much time on your hands?

 

Isn't Hakeem a real human that actually exists?

 

If no one cares why are so many people complaining about the race of characters? Like who gives a flying F.

As for cash grabs, I hate to tell you this, but the entertainment industry as a whole is one big effing cash grab.

Bezos and Musk have been having their little dick comparison contest for years. The two richest men in the world have nothing better to do but go on twitter and mock the other guy. No wonder aliens flying around don't want to say hi.

 

I already went over this in the Hangout thread on the show.

Tolkein did have humans of different races in the books but also had attitudes that would be considered racist by todays standards. As such almost all of the good guys in his writings have white features while many of the bad guys have Asian or Black features.

That didn’t stop me from being a fan of Tolkien but understanding the background and context that he was writing.

I don’t think JRR Tolkein would approve of the casting of Rings of Power and agree with the OP that he probably would be turning in his grave. Just to note a lot of Disney products Walt probably wouldn’t approve of given that he also had racist and antisemitic views.

The Rings of Power is art and it’s only loosely based on Tolkein. There’s nothing illegal or unethical about changing the casting but my own view is they just changing the genders and race to make it palatable for current audiences is lazy. If you’re going to take the Tolkien mantle then fealty to the original should be important even if it doesn’t fit with current mores. At the minimum instead of just changing things and just pretending that everything is fine they could have written in Easterlings and Southron characters. Instead they just took the lazy route of recasting without much thought.

Just it address another pet peeve. Yes Elves Dwarves and Hobbits don’t exist. So yes they could be black yellow or green. The problem with that is if you just use the excuse that it’s all fantasy so you could change them is that you’re still basing it on Tolkein. If they started having the Elves using cell phones to call Valinor or the Dwarves using jackhammers and back hoes I doubt any of the fandom would accept that as that wouldn’t be Medieval Fantasy. It seems like if you want the Tolkein mantle you should take all of it even if some of it doesn’t fit current mores.

All that said I’m still watching the show and so far think it is good. It is a very valid point that this isn’t what JRR Tolkein would’ve approved of.

 

Galadriel was the granddaughter of both King Olwe and King Finwe. Her hair color was inherited from her Father, Finfarin and was unique amongst elves who actually tended to have dark hair. Her hair was also said to be touched by the light of the two trees making it one of the most treasured things on earth (which is why its a big deal when she gives Gimli three of her hairs after she denied Feanor the gift of her hair).

She was from the mightiest stock and probably only second to Feanor in might and majesty. While she learned "magic" from the Valar, she also was trained in sword and hunting by Orome himself (the "angel" of hunting evil, Oromë is described as a mighty lord and a great huntsman, as he would often train his folk and beasts in pursuit of evil creatures. He loved the lands of Middle-earth and was initially unwilling to leave it. He contrasts with the Vala Tulkas in demeanor; whereas Tulkas laughs in sports, Oromë is said to be dreadful in anger).

No elf uses magic in fighting. Feanor, Finrod, and all the mightiest elves who ever lived, and who were closest to creation all used sword and armor. Even Meklor (Morgoth) and Manwe, near Gods on earth used swords and warhammers. Even later in the third age when she took down Dol Guldor, she threw down the fortress only AFTER the battle was complete. It was a spell the was sung and only a few were powerful enough to do it on Middle Earth. It probably took her thousands of years to learn it and probably was only able to do it with the help of the Elven ring she wore (and didn't have in Rings of Power in the Second Age).

She crossed the Helcaraxe for 20 years. She led armies. She was most likely a warrior. She was even described as a warrior: "She was called Nerwen 'Man-maiden' because of her strength, and stature, and her courage."

What you're seeing in Rings of Power is actually probably pretty close to what Galadriel was before the third age. When Galadriel met Frodo in the garden in Lothlorien, she is THOUSANDS of years older, wiser, and more powerful in magic. She also has the elven ring Nenya at that point and could wield it while the One Ring was lost to Sauron.

So there is a lot to be annoyed at in Rings of Power, the depiction of Galadriel as a doughty warrior is most likely not one of them.

 

As a Nerd I agree with this. By the time of the LOTR she was one of the most powerful beings in Middle Earth. She was described already in the First age as being strong willed and independent minded.

Elf magic is never clearly defined by Tolkein and even Galadriel in LOTR says that then Elves themselves don’t understand what other people think of by “magic”. The powers that Galadriel have seem to be more about strength of will and the ability to inspire others. The Elf magic seems to be more of a technology that is misunderstood by others.

 

When you take a big and old franchise like LOTR or Star Wars you are going to have fans of that franchise. People that loved it so much that they dove straight into the lore. The lore of these stories are sometimes so in depth as to even the skin color of a certain tribe or race. Especially LOTR which was a book first. A very beloved best selling and most popular books of all time. The fan base of these franchises are massive. They're expectations are not going to be met with a woke producer and writer using the name and lore of a beloved franchise to push political agendas all while freely swapping race, gender, sexuality and or inserting a certain race, gender, sexuality to meet woke standards.

They have read the books, played the games and watched the movies. If something new is coming out they are going to expect something that looks like LOTR.... From the way characters act, to the way they look. From the way things work in this world to the way they don't. If you cheat them in any way people will be pissed.

If Amazon made their own damn phantasy series and did not attach LOTR's to it no one would care. I'm sure the show can stand on its own anyways. Amazon wouldn't do that thou, attaching LOTR's to the series now means they don't have to work as hard making good content but reaping the massive attention from fans world wide all while letting the producers and writers attach woke culture to it and then calling the fan base you pandered to in the first place racists for not liking the product...

If they want to make woke shows there is no problem with it, just don't attach a big franchise's name to it and sell it as your own. Same thing happened with Resident Evil on Netflix.... Now its canceled...

 

if you're a late middle aged spinster bro of a certain type, I can see why there being black hobbits is basically like an affront to your own "children" and the type of thing you'd take to the internet about.

@tinman

 

So if they changed the skin color of the dragon in the hobbit that would ruin it for you? It just seems such a superficial and inconsequential thing to get worked up about.

If skin color is so important to people, then the purists can watch the Russian TV version