Actor Lenny Henry, who plays the non-Hobbit Hobbit Sadoc Burrows, recently made it clear he has no qualms with changing J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings story in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power especially when it comes to how the characters are depicted.
Henry spoke with The Sunday Times and specifically addressed changing the races of the characters as originally depicted in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings for The Rings of Power.
He explained it has everything to do with modern identity politics saying, “That’s to do with it being the 21st century; people want to see themselves.”
Interestingly, Henry then pointed out that what Prime Video is doing is not depicted in the books that he read himself and to his daughter when she was young, “Of course, if you go back, there’s going to be that thing that prevails because the books don’t say . . . although some of the characters are described as hard skinned and darker in complexion . . .”
Nevertheless, he then declares, “But that was then, this is now and we’re telling the story now.”
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Henry was the first to confirm that he was playing a non-Hobbit Hobbit back in October 2021 when he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live show.
He told the program, “I’m a Harfoot, because J.R.R. Tolkien, who was from Birmingham… suddenly there were black Hobbits, I’m a black Hobbit. It’s brilliant.”
“And what’s notable about this run of the book; its a prequel to the age that we’ve seen in the films and in the books. It’s about the early days of the Shire and Tolkien’s environment. It’s the early days of it, so we’re an indigenous population of Harfoots, we’re hobbits, but we’re called Harfoots. And we’re multi-cultural. We’re a tribe. We’re not a race. So there are black, Asian and brown, and even Maori types within it,” he elaborated.
He went on, “And it’s a whole brand new set of adventures that seed some of the origins of different characters and it’s going to take at least ten years to tell the story. Because it’s based on the Silmarillion which was almost like a cheat sheet of what happens next in this world – in the first, second, and third ages.”
“And the writers have a lot of fun in extrapolating it all out. And it’s going to be very, very exciting. And there’s a very strong female presence in this. There are going to be female heroes in this evocation of the story; and there are going to be little people as usual,” he concluded.
In a previous interview with Empire Magazine Henry also provided details on this nomadic tribe of Harfoots that never existed in Tolkien’s writings, “We’re a nomadic tribe, moving with the weather and the fertility of the crops. We have big caravans on wooden wheels and we’re very good at hiding things, because humans are much bigger than us and bring trouble.”
He then again parroted identity politics talking points, “Finally, in this show, kids are going to see people of colour taking up space in the centre of a fantasy series.”
He added, “We’re very visible in this world and that’s very exciting.” He previously indicated, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”
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As Henry noted in his most recent interview with The Sunday Times there are no black Hobbits in Tolkien’s writings. He does describe Harfoots as “browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides.”
However, Tolkien also notes, “The Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times, and long lived in the foothills of the mountains. They moved westward early, and roamed over Eriador as far as Weathertop while the others were still in Wilderland. They were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place, and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes.”
So while the Harfoots have browner skin it’s in comparison to the Fallohides who have fairer skin. Tolkien also makes it perfectly clear that most Hobbits are Harfoots as they “were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit.”
This distinction is seen in The Two Towers when Tolkien describes Frodo and Sam. Frodo being a descendant of the Brandybucks is part Fallohide. Tolkien writes, “In his lap lay Frodo’s head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam’s brown hands, and the other lay softly upon his master’s breast.”
What do you make of Henry’s latest comments about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power?