After Calling The Lord Of The Rings Fans Racist, Woke The Lord Of The Rings Fan Site Claims To Be Safe Haven For Debate

John F. Trent |

Feb 18, 2022

Source: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition

The Lord of the Rings fan site, TheOneRing.net, which has quickly spiraled into an outlet plugging woke identity politics and has accused Tolkien of being woke is now attacking The Lord of the Rings fans by calling them racist. On top of this, after calling fans racist, they have the gall to describe themselves as a haven for fans who want open debate.

In an article written by a contributor named Earl and titled “The Rings of Power and the Issue of Race” the website implies that The Lord of the Rings fans are racist due to their critical reaction to the casting of Sofia Nomvete as the Dwarven princess Disa and and Ismael Cruz Córdova’s casting as Arondir.

The article makes it very clear this attack on The Lord of the Rings fans is made in bad faith as Earl writes, “While most of the cast, such as Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, Owain Arthur’s Prince Durin IV, and Robert Aramayo’s Elrond were generally enthusiastically well-received, the reactions to the rest of the diverse cast was rather dismaying, shocking even, and even those might be understatements.”

This just simply isn’t true. Numerous people have been highly critical of Galadriel’s characterization as a commander of the Northern Armies as well as Elrond’s depiction as an architect and politician.

TheOneRing.com, not to be confused with woke website TheOneRing.net, made it very clear they took issue with Galadriel writing on Twitter, “Galadriel is a commander of the Northern Armies… Galadriel is hunting down the last remnants of their collaborators, who claimed the life of her brother.”

In a subsequent tweet, they noted, “9) Tolkien — … … … [Looking… looking… tell me when you find that part where Galadriel leads her armies into battle, mmkay?]”

They also took issue with the depiction of Elrond tweeting, “There’s so much more. Compressing the storyline into a few years, rather than the centuries needed…Adding new ‘forbidden romances’… The show’s being run by JJ Abrams acolytes… Elrond is a ‘canny young architect and politician’…”

TheOneRing.com was not alone in criticizing Galadriel and Elrond, YouTuber Just Some Guy shared his thoughts, “I don’t recall Galadriel being described as angry or brash. Proud, yes. Clever, yes. But never angry. Never brash. But that does sound familiar. Where have I heard this before? It’s the generic personality given to every action girl. I bet you’re going to deck her out in armor with a half-shaved head in braids.”

When discussing her being the commander of the Northern Armies, he also stated, “So, they’re changing Galadriel’s character making her a commander of the Northern Army. What army? She was never part of any army in the Second Age. For the first third of the Second Age, she’d pass over the Blue Mountains with Celeborn into what will eventually become The Shire. And went further east wandering around there for 1200 years before she comes back into what’s left of Lindon after Beleriand’s taken into the sea.”

He would also take issue with Elrond noting, “[Elrond] is described as an architect and politician, not the healer and lore master aligned with Gil-galad like he actually was.”

The YouTuber also points to how Elrond is depicted too, “Even then Amazon couldn’t get the aesthetic right because he doesn’t even have long hair, which all the elves did. And neither does Elrond, who is now blonde even though most of the Noldor have dark hair.”

Clearly, people were criticizing Elrond and Galadriel, so Earl’s assertion that they weren’t is not true. But, Earl more than likely doesn’t care, because he’s trying to use his own lie to cudgel The Lord of the Rings fans with the accusation of racism, which he makes abundantly clear in the second part of his sentence noting, “the reactions to the rest of the diverse cast was rather dismaying, shocking even, and even those might be understatements.”

He then specifically claims the characters of Disa, Arondir, Bronwyn, and an unnamed Harfoot elder played by Lenny Henry “received criticism for no other reason than simply being people of colour.”

This is another lie. It’s not that they cast “people of colour,” it’s the fact the characters don’t match up to how Tolkien depicted them in his works.

Just Some Guy explains, “The actors can be non-white and if they can pass as European with or without makeup, they can play those characters. They just need to look the part. Casting non-white actors in a Middle-earth show is like casting white actors in a Black Panther movie. It makes no sense.”

And Just Some Guy makes this abundantly clear in his criticism of Arondir, “This is supposed to be a silvan elf who are part of the Nandor, who are described as having dark hair and white or olive skin. Think Mediterranean. Yes, there are some people of that area who are dark skinned, however; the mentioning of white skin implies Tolkien is talking about the lighter olive skin. Not this.”

As for Disa he says, “Tolkien never describes the dwarves as anything remotely African. Nor does it make sense that they would look that way since they all live underground, meaning out of the sunlight. They would never get this dark.”

He goes on to point out she doesn’t have a beard, “So, where’s her beard? Did she eat it up with the rest of the Doritos? Oh, don’t act like nobody noticed all the gold on her fingers. She’s either eaten her jewelry or finger banging Smaug. Y’all so obsessed with representation that you missed the perfect chance to have a bearded woman.”

Clearly, there is criticism because the characters don’t line up with how Tolkien described them and it’s not just that they are “people of colour.”

From there, Earl takes his implications and outright accuses fans of racism writing, “The avalanche of unveiled, blatant, shameless racism that hit our social platforms like a massive wave last week shook me.”

Like clockwork, Earl cites the fake Tolkien scholar who is actually a feminist activist and “the Equality and Diversity Officer for the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic,” mentioned in the Vanity Fair article in an another attempt to bludgeon his accusation of racism home.

If you recall she tried to imply critics were racists when she told Vanity Fair, “Obviously there was going to be push and backlash, but the question is from whom? Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?”

Earl does the same thing writing, “I wondered about this myself… who really are these self-appointed gatekeepers of Tolkien’s works, and what conceit leads them to believe they possess this automatic authority.”

In a moment of sheer stupidity, Earl then claims that the depictions that Tolkien wrote in his books don’t matter, but what really matters is readers’ imagination of what the characters look like. As if that imagination wouldn’t be based off how Tolkien described them.

This is what he wrote, “For Tolkien’s writings have been translated in numerous languages and read by people of vastly different cultures and backgrounds; and surely their imaginations of the characters and stories are informed and influenced by their background, upbringing, culture, and surroundings?”

As Earl continues his article he then claims, “Debate, discussion, and interpretation has always been welcomed at TORn – it is what has kept us going for two decades – but racism, bigotry, and intolerance simply have NO place in our discourse.”

Again, this is clearly a lie given Earl spent the entire article accusing people of racism for criticizing casting decisions and characterizations of characters that do not align with Tolkien’s work. You can’t have debate or discussion with anyone who just screeches racism at you.

Then the real kicker, Earl writes, “So to all those Tolkien fans out there who may be feeling sidelined, belittled, marginalized, or discriminated against for various reasons (not just your race), please know that TORn is your haven.”

He adds, “Our staffers are committed to working round the clock, covering most time zones, on all our platforms, to ensure you can feel not just safe but also empowered to join us and others on this new journey back to Arda.”

Another lie, Earl just spent his entire article sidelining, belittling, marginalizing, and discriminating against The Lord of the Rings fans simply because they have a vastly different opinion from him on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The website is clearly not a haven for anyone because it appears based on Earl’s piece, you will be labeled a racist if you don’t agree with their opinions about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

And it clearly isn’t safe from insane rants from people like Earl yelling racist around every corner.

Finally, Earl concludes his article with another ironic comment, “And to the folks at Amazon – we will of course be objectively critical of the show – but we fully support your casting choices, and we can’t wait to see how this ensemble cast you’ve assembled will bring our beloved characters (and then some!) to life.”

How is that objectively critical when you just blanket “support” their casting choices.

And that shows where TheOneRing.net’s true position as an outlet is. They are a shill website for a corporate entity that will not be objectively critical of the show when they can’t even be critical of casting decisions that don’t align with Tolkien’s work.