Once more, American publisher of games Wizards of the Coast is at the center of controversy following in the wake of its use of the Pinkertons to retrieve cards sent early and DnD’s removal of mixed races because half-breeds are “inherently racist.” This time, the uproar is over the unveiling of a black version of Aragorn, a prominent character in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The reveal brings up the question of whether or not Wizards of the Coast is spitting on Tolkien with its black version of Aragorn for the company’s upcoming Magic: The Gathering’s The Lord of the Rings – Tales of Middle-earth set. What’s more, Aragorn isn’t the only popular character who has been race-swapped for this tradeable card game.
To be fair, Wizards of the Coast’s POC-washing of an established character such as Aragorn is just the latest trend when it comes to the entertainment industry; following the examples of shows such as The Witcher and Vikings. But it also comes on the heels of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power show which greatly deviated and changed the work of legendary author JRR Tolkien in the name of diversity and inclusivity with claims of trying to be original (a perfect example of this would be RoP’s version of Galadriel). The resulting product led to the show becoming one of the most expensive lessons in bad writing and adaptations with only 37% of viewers finishing the series.
So why did Wizards of the Coast make Aragorn black? Why is Aragorn black at all? As an explanation for this change, and other changes, Wizard of the Coast stated on its official Magic: The Gathering website,
“Some characters may look different from previous depictions—and that’s intentional. Great works of art like The Lord of the Rings are only enhanced by having multiple interpretations in the world. We believe ours will bring joy to many, many fans of both Magic and Tolkien. This fresh update was a conscious choice made in partnership between Wizards and MEE and was driven by two guiding principles:
Diversity: The Lord of the Rings is about the different peoples of Middle-earth coming together to fight Sauron, finding strength in their diversity. Fans of all backgrounds have been enjoying these stories, characters, and locations for decades, and we wanted this set to reflect on that broad inclusion.Originality: The goal of this set is to express the story and setting of The Lord of the Rings through 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 an ever-expanding fandom.
Our hope is that more people will see themselves reflected in the characters and that players and fans can find immense joy in telling these familiar stories through gameplay.”
The language used by Wizards of the Coast is nothing new. “Diversity,” inclusion,” “Originality,” and “more people will see themselves reflected in characters” are the same buzzwords and terms we have heard time and time again from woke Hollywood and corporate shills. Just look at The Witcher’s Showrunner Lauren Hissrich who spouted similar rhetoric when trying to justify the race-swapping of established characters for the Netflix series. Both WotC and Hissrich sound as if they are holy crusaders fighting for the downtrodden when all they are doing is using it as a shield against any form of criticism of not just these changes to characters, but their body of work as well. The same can be said of The Rings of Power which uses the inclusion of Arondir, a black Elf, as a shield to protect itself from any form of criticism while also making claims of trying to be “original.”
The problem is, when it comes to being original in someone else’s sandbox, you need to adhere to the rules, lore, history, etc that has been established. One of the main reasons why The Rings of Power is a huge flop is because they didn’t adhere to what Tolkien created and produced a vastly inferior product.
Not only are companies using inclusion and diversity as a shield from criticism, but so are the faux woke and, specifically to this example, faux Tolkien fans (Faulkiens) who have eagerly picked up the banner, declaring anyone who criticizes Black Aragorn as being racist.
Meanwhile, real fans just want adaptations to be true to the source material as much as possible. An argument that “woke” fans tend to eschew all the time, even when there is incontrovertible proof that the author clearly states that the character is white despite what Faulkiens say to the contrary.
After all, Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo first meets Aragorn in The Prancing Pony,
“As Frodo drew near he threw back his hood, showing a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey, and in a pale stern face a pair of keen grey eyes.”
The main argument from the woke mob, especially when it came to The Witcher series, is that the books never really described the main characters as white. Even though the audience can surmise that these characters are white given that it was written by a Polish author and the world inspired by Polish culture.
With The Lord of the Rings, there is no such excuse to be made for Aragorn since he is described as having a pale face. Then you take into account that this is an English story, written by an English author, for an English culture which was predominantly white. So yes, Aragorn is portrayed as white. Not dark-skinned or black. But we also come to the fact that Tolkien’s work is a cultural mythology. No different than the Greeks with their legends of Hercules, Pandora’s Box, Prometheus. Or the Chinese with Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Not to mention the mythologies of the Spanish, Norse, African, and other cultures. What is being done to Tolkien’s character is what Netflix has done to Queen Cleopatra or what Vikings did by race-swapping and gender-swapping a historical figure.
Of course, these same defenders of race-swapping will say that there is no white culture. You’re right. There is no such thing as white culture because white isn’t a race. Just a skin color. But Tolkien’s work is English culture. He wanted to create an English mythos without repurposing another culture’s mythology. Whereas as today’s less talented and gifted writers resort to race-swapping characters rather than create new stories and new characters to represent the modern world.
However, the example of Black Aragorn isn’t the only change that Wizards of the Coast has made. There is now a black version of Éowyn, a black version of Meriadoc Brandybuck, and a black Faramir from what we can see of the cards shown in the gallery on the official website.
The liberties Wizards of the Coast is taking with someone else’s work is truly amazing and disrespectful on so many levels. And, in the case of Éowyn, we know she would be white since the first mention of her in the halls of Théoden states,
“Very fair was her face, and her long hair was like a river of gold. Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter of kings. Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of day beheld Eowyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood.”
It’s a shame that there isn’t a card of Éomer or Théoden in the gallery since I would like to know if WotC kept up with this skin tone. In addition to her new skin tone is the hair. Normally, I would criticize Éowyn’s hair being braided, but since Théoden was described as having braided hair when first introduced, it actually kind of makes sense despite her hair being described as “long…like a river of gold.” And Viking warriors braided their hair for battle.
“Upon it sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf; but his white hair was long and thick and fell in great braids from beneath a thin golden circlet set upon his brow.”
As for this black version of Merry, I could see him having a tan since he tended to be outdoors. But this isn’t a tan. Merry is definitely looking pretty black on his card. Blacker, I would argue, then what the Harfoots would potentially be since they are supposed to be browner than regular Hobbits. Then you see a Blackish (an amusing sitcom) version of Faramir, Boromir’s brother, standing alongside the black version of Éowyn.
There is another major character which Wizards of the Coast decided to color-wash. The Lady Galadriel. At least, I assume it is Galadriel who is featured on the Commander Pack for the Tales of Middle-earth TCG. I can’t think of any other prominent elven female that would be featured on the packs aside from Arwen who retains her white skin. Which brings up the question of continuity. Why does Arwen still retain her white skin but her grandmother, Galadriel, is now black? It is amazing how contemporary, woke creators are especially attacking the character of Galadriel. Amazon’s The Rings of Power completely perverted and warped Tolkien’s Galadriel and now Wizards of the Coast decides to change her physical appearance?
And how does Wizards of the Coast explain Galadriel’s change in skin tone when the books describe her as white? Tolkien fans can go to the part where Frodo is talking to Galadriel as she is showing him the Mirror of Galadriel which states,
“…the Lady Galadriel approaching. Tall and white and fair she walked beneath the trees…The air was very still, and the dell was dark, and the Elf-lady beside him was tall and pale.”
So what would Tolkien himself say about changes being made to his characters? Luckily, unlike what Faulkiens say, Tolkien would not be a fan of these changes from what we know in letter 210 to Forest J. Ackerman when talking about a film adaption,
“I do earnestly hope that in the assignment of actual speeches to the characters they will be represented as I have presented them: in style and sentiment. I should resent perversion of the characters (and do resent it, so far as it appears in this sketch) even more than the spoiling of the plot and scenery.”
There is no doubt that Wizards of the Coast is doing all of this as both a way to appeal to a woke minority and to shield themselves from criticism. We know how Tolkien felt about adaptations of his work and what Wizards of the Coast is doing is blatantly disrespectful, spitting on his work and views, while pushing their own agenda.
Speaking of which, how does Wizards of the Coast reconcile the fact that they promote racism in Dungeon & Dragons when it comes to half-breeds yet have no problem promoting a mixed couple like Aragorn and Arwen?
As for the Faulkiens and the woke mob screeching at the real fans over this issue; your low IQ, racist, and mentally fragile egos can go back to the void from whence you came. Your cries of racism falls on deaf ears as your arguments are asinine and without substance. Especially in light of the fact that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a flop and hopefully Wizards of the Coast will follow suit.
To every reasonable, normal person out there, it is past due that consumers start boycotting Wizards of the Coast and all of its properties. Or, at the very least, Boycott Magic: The Gathering and Magic: The Gathering – The Lord of the Rings – Tales of Middle-earth.
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