The biggest threat to Middle-earth is no longer Sauron or Morgoth, but Jeff Bezos. Amazon released the trailer for the new series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” during the Super Bowl , and the advertised product does not inspire confidence.
The series is set well before Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring cross Middle-earth and stick to a whole new cast never before seen on television. Some of these characters were created by JRR Tolkien and were taken from other texts. The worrying thing is that others came out of nowhere and were created especially for the series. And it is because of these invented characters that some problems arise. Take, for example, Princess Disa, played by actress Sophia Nomvete. In the series, Nomvete is a black woman. In another context, it would be a totally acceptable choice. But we are talking about “The Lord of the Rings”, a work in which Tolkien’s descriptions are very clear. And dwarves don’t look like that.
The creators of “ Rings of Power” explained why they made that choice. In an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Lindsey Weber said that “it was natural for us to adapt Tolkien’s work so that it reflected the world today.” What world? Well, our contemporary world, of course.
For leftists like Weber, Middle Earth – a world inspired by the ancient mythology of the British Isles, land of Tolkien – should look like New York or San Francisco of 2022. Diversity must be in places where it does not fit and the original work must be despised. The treatment given to well-known characters isn’t much better. Galadriel, the elf played by Cate Blanchett in director Peter Jackson’s adaptation, changed her personality radically.
The ethereal and graceful Galadriel of Tolkien’s work no longer exists. She’s been replaced by a generic warrior, a crude copy of so many other “empowered” female characters in current fantasy. Weber and her team seem to believe that in order for a female character to show strength, she must be a physically imposing warrior. In other words, she must be a man.
Still , Galadriel overflows with power in the movie and in the book, without having to make her a man. “Rings of Power” is far from the first series to intentionally alienate fans from masterwork. But the series constitutes a new frontier in the radical invasion of popular culture by the Sauronesque Left. By hijacking Tolkien’s work, left-wing radicals are sending a threatening message to admirers of the writer’s work: “We own it now. And we will portray her as we wish.”
“Rings of Power” seems to be another mediocre work, devoid of the love and care with which Tolkien treated his work and with which Jackson treated the films of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Ironically, Tolkien’s work seems to portray precisely the corruption of popular culture by the radical left. In his “The Return of the King,” Frodo, the hobbit hero, says this about the nature of the orcs, an evil race created by Sauron in order to seize the Ring: “The Shadow that created them can only mock of things done and never to create new things. I don’t think she brought the orcs to life; she just ruined and corrupted them (…)”. The radical left spreads its ideology not through acts of creation, but by corrupting and tarnishing the things people love. Tolkien’s work will not be the last to be corrupted, but it should serve as a warning to protect the much admired series.
I’m glad this is a battle we’re winning. Reaction to the Amazon trailer has been ostensibly negative and fans are complaining about the enforced diversity and descriptive inaccuracies. As the wise wizard Gandalf says, “Despair is for those who see the goal beyond all doubt. Not for us”.
Douglas Blair is a contributor to the Daily Signal and part of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program.
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