The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien fan site, TheOneRing.com, fixed Prime Video’s despicable and heinous accusations of racism against fans.
Prime Video, Amazon Studios, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power followed the playbook perfected by The Walt Disney Company and especially Star Wars to a tee by reacting to negative reactions to their series by accusing fans of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings of racism.
The company posted to their official Twitter account, “We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis. We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it.”
Next, they wrote, “JRR Tolkien created a world which, by definition, is multi-cultural. A world in which free peoples from different races and cultures join together, in fellowship, to defeat the forces of evil. Rings of Power reflects that. Our world has never been all white, Middle-earth is not all white. BIPOC belong in Middle-earth and they are here to stay.”
They concluded, “Finally, all our love and fellowship go out to the fans supporting us, especially fans of colour who are themselves being attacked simply for existing in this fandom. We see you, your bravery, and endless creativity. Your cosplays, fancams, fan art, and insights make this community a richer place and remind us of our purpose.”
“You are valid, you are loved, and you belong. You are an integral part of the LOTR family — thanks for having our backs. Namárië.”
TheOneRing.com fixed the first statement accusing fans of racism.
Instead of the accusations of racism — made without any evidence or proof — it now reads, “We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the boring story, ridiculous metaphors, and one-dimensional characters all of our castmates are being subject to on an episodic basis. We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it.”
It’s likely a message that would resonate with J.R.R. Tolkien as he wrote in Letter 210 to Forest J. Ackerman in June 1958 regarding a film treatment of The Lord of the Rings, “The canons of narrative in any medium cannot be wholly different; and the failure of poor films is often precisely in exaggeration, and in the intrusion of unwarranted matter owing to not perceiving where the core of the original lies.”
And that’s exactly what Prime Video has done with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. They injected their current day identity and woke politics into what they are calling an adaptation of Tolkien’s work.
One of the first comments about the show from executive producer Lindsey Weber was an emphasis on identity politics, “It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like.”
Actress Sophia Nomvete made it even more abundantly clear one of the show’s goals is to push identity politics telling PA Media, “We are redressing the balance within the film and television, television industry and of course, this franchise and I hope, lots of franchises moving forward.”
She further noted, “It’s their time and it’s so important and I hope many people will see this fantasy and be able to relate to it. This is a reflection of the world we live in, there are many and we are different and we will embrace and discover, and peel back, and learn, and educate, and be educated.”
Cynthia Addai-Robinson who plays Míriel also noted, “Part of the story we’re trying to tell is you have people of different races coming together to defeat a common enemy,” she explained. “You’re trying to look at this through a modern lens and the world is global and people now expect to see this kind of world globally represented.”
One of the series’ directors Wayne Che Yip also stated, “Tonally, we wanted [Rings of Power] to reflect [Tolkien’s] main story points of friendship and good and evil. One of the ideas is: How far into the darkness are you willing to go to do the right thing?”
This was echoed by showrunner J.D. Payne at San Diego Comic-Con, “It’s a human story. We want you to sort of step back from the bigger world and just imagine your home, imagine your family, imagine your job, imagine your cosplay costume, the things that matter most to you. And then suddenly imagine all that’s about to be taken away. It’s all under threat.”
“How far into the darkness would you go to protect the things you care about the most? That’s at the core of what this story is about,” he declared.
Tolkien rejected the idea of the ends justifies the means.
TheOneRing.com wasn’t the only one to fix Prime Video’s accusations. YouTuber George The Giant Slayer fixed the heinous message as well.
He wrote, “We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against anything J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. We are committed to subverting and destroying his work on a daily basis. We hear your valid criticism about the show but we refuse to listen [to] it or tolerate it.”
He continued, “We obviously know that we can never come close to Tolkien’s writings so we are going to hyperfocus on the race swapping issue as a shield to deflect from any other criticisms such as the s***ty dialog, the cheap plot, the macguffins and Morfydd being a Karen.”
He then concluded, “Finally, all our love and fellowship go out to the fans giving us money especially people of colour who IF WE REALLY CARED we would give them free Amazon Prime memberships for life, but we won’t actually ever do that because we are here only to virtue signal and pretend we care.”
“Your money is an integral part of the LOTR family – thanks for opening your wallets. Namaste,” he finished.
The Rings of Power is a failure because as Tolkien noted so many decades ago they added unwarranted matter in a failure at perceiving where the core of the original lies.
However, it’s my opinion they knew where the core of the original lied and actively chose to inject the unwarranted matter in order to twist and warp the original.
What do you make of TheOneRing.com’s fix to Prime Video’s heinous accusation of racism against fans?