David Leavitt Goes On Unhinged Rant Accusing J.R.R. Tolkien Fans Of Being “Racist Nazi F***ers”

Aragorn gets race-swapped via Card #394, Magic: The Gathering - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set (2023), Wizards of the Coast, Art by Magali Villeneuve.

David Leavitt, a Twitter user who has amassed a following of nearly 350,000 followers and describes himself as a “casual Magic: The Gathering and board games players,” accused J.R.R. Tolkien fans of being “racist nazi f***ers.”

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Commander Deck

Leavitt took issue with Tolkien fans who put Magic: The Gathering on blast for race-swapping Aragon in their upcoming Magic: The Gathering: Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth card set. The set also race swaps Galadriel, Gandalf, and Eowyn.

He wrote, “The same racist nazi f***ers who complained about a black elf in the Rings of Power and a black mermaid in the new Little Mermaid are now throwing a fit because there’s a black Aaragorn in the new Lord of the Rings Magic: The Gathering set.”

“I f***ing hate how many racists there are in the board games space,” he added.

David Leavitt Twitter

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Ironically, Leavitt exposes his own biases by attacking those who expect a Magic: The Gathering card set featuring The Lord of the Rings to stay accurate to the character as written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn is the descendant of Isildur, a Númenorean. Tolkien wrote, “‘He is Aragorn son of Arathorn,’ said Elrond; ‘and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil’s son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk.’”

In The Peoples of Middle-earth it details the two types of people that make up the Númenoreans, the Folk of Hador and the the Folk of Bëor. For the Folk of Hador it notes, “The Folk of Hador were ever the greatest in numbers of the Atani, and in renown (save only Beren son of Barahir descendant of Bëor).For the most part they were tall people, with flaxen or golden hair and blue-grey eyes, but there were not a few among them that had dark hair, though all were fair-skinned.”

It goes on to describe the Folk of Bëor, “There were fair-haired men and women among the Folk of Bëor, but most of them had brown hair (going usually with brown eyes), and many were less fair in skin, some indeed being swarthy.”

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures

Not only did Tolkien make it clear what Númenoreans and their descendants look like, Magic: The Gathering knew it as well too. One of the card set’s designers, Juistice Geddes, a self-proclaimed queer-trans writer” explained, “My main contribution to this contemporary re-imagining of the Lord of the Rings was to consistently push for a diverse Middle-Earth setting that stayed true to the Tolkien text. I guided continuity and lore checks, focused on character and society details, and applied primary source material to our work.”

Magic: The Gathering Content Manager Adam Styborski also justified the decision, “The look and the feel for the world, the characters, the weapons, the locations, and the story moments are going to be intimately familiar yet fresh and relevant for a wider audience.”

He added, “The folks at Middle-earth Enterprises take their roles as stewards very seriously, and every decision about characters has been made with deep reverence to the original.”

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Commander Deck

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Styborski also revealed the entire card set was driven by the so-called principles of diversity and originality.

He wrote, “Diversity: The Lord of the Rings is about the different peoples of Middle-earth coming together to fight Sauron, finding strength in their diversity. We want to make this appealing story fresh and relevant to an even wider audience.”

He then added, “Originality: The goal of this set is to express the story and setting of The Lord of the Rings in cards for Magic: The Gathering. Countless prior efforts have painted vivid pictures of this world, but our goal is a modern take on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, lovingly crafted for a new generation of players and fans.”

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Commander Deck

Despite, how Tolkien clearly envisioned Aragorn, Leavitt decided to rail against numerous Twitter users who expressed their displeasure regarding the race swap. He accused many of them of racism and being Nazis.

As part of a Twitter thread, Leavitt wrote, “Racist nazis losing their mind over a black Aragorn.”

He then provided four tweets that read: “Black Aragon is off-putting and insulting”; “LMAO n word”; “Enough with the black people”; and “Disgusting.”

David Leavitt Twitter

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He went on to accuse another using of being a “racist” for writing, “No, respecting authors visions of their art is good. I didn’t like when adaptations made red skinned characters of Earthsea pale, and I don’t like that they depicted Aragorn as some black guy.”

David Leavitt Twitter

Next, Leavitt informed his followers to unfollow him if they have a problem with Aragorn being black.

Twitter user Trayboar wrote, “If you follow me and you have a problem with Aragorn being black please fucking unfollow me right now. I’m so tired of this hobby being contaminated with racists.” Leavitt quote tweeted it writing, “Agreed.”

David Leavitt Twitter

RELATED: Wizards of the Coast Race-Swaps Aragorn For Magic: The Gathering’s Upcoming ‘The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth’ Set: “Our Goal Is A Modern Take On The Work Of J.R.R. Tolkien”

Leavitt continued to attack various people on Twitter. When one user tweeted, “Who’s that n***a that stole Aragorn’s sword,” Leavitt used a poo emoji and wrote, “Racist little.”

David Leavitt Twitter

He called another user “a vile racist” for writing, “Black Guy who is clearly not Aragorn Carrying Aragorn’s sword What did Wizards Of The Coast mean by this? More like Grand Wizards Of The Coast SMH”

David Leavitt Twitter

Still another he called a “worthless racist” for tweeting, “That’s not Aragorn you f***kwits. Stop destroying western culture. I played MTG back in the days of black bordered Sinkholes. This propaganda needs to stop or MTG eliminated. My children will never know this game I loved.”

David Leavitt Twitter

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Leavitt then attempted to cancel one user writing, “It would be a shame if Chris Anderson’s employer and friends found out he’s a racist.”

The user did not express any kind of racism whatsoever. He simply wrote, “Thats a bad ass sword and awesome artwork, but that’s just not Aragorn. You’re just pandering and its pretty dang pathetic. It’s insulting too. Just make an original bad ass black character and leave Aragorn the way Tolkien created him. All about that ESG, eh? Pathetic.”

David Leavitt Twitter

He called another user “racist” for simply writing, “Aragorn isn’t black.”

David Leavitt Twitter

When one person shared an image of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn from the Peter Jackson directed The Lord of the Rings films and wrote, “This is Aragorn.” Leavitt wrote, “This is a racist.”

David Leavitt Twitter

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Hypocritically, he questioned “Why are there so many racists?” in response to a user sharing a race-swapped Black Panther who wrote, “Black panther if it was good.”

David Leavitt Twitter

This type of behavior does not appear to be out of character for Leavitt. The New York Times reported he tweeted back in 2017 following a bombing at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, “MULTIPLE CONFIRMED FATALITIES at Manchester Arena. The last time I listened to Ariana Grande I almost died too.”

He went on to delete that tweet, but followed it up writing, “Honestly, for over a year I thought an Ariana Grande was something you ordered at Starbucks.”

David Leavitt Twitter

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Back in April, Leavitt tweeted, “The same republican assholes and transphobic mother fuckers who dick ride Elon, who complained about inflation under Biden even though it was Trump’s fault, are tweeting “Pay the $8″”

David Leavitt Twitter

What do you make of Leavitt’s comments?

NEXT: Hasbro’s ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Gets Blasted By Fans For Race Swapping Aragorn In Their New ‘The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth’ Card Set

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