I feel a stirring in the air. A shift in the direction of the winds; removing away the putrid miasma that surrounded Tolkien and his work these past years. But will this change continue until all the land is free and clear of evil’s vile machinations? I fear that there is still a long road ahead. For evil has its ravenous followers. But so, too, does the light. For the Tolkien community still stands to defend Tolkien and Middle-earth against Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s cult who defends this blatant example of corporate greed and woke agenda.
That is how it has felt when it comes to JRR Tolkien and Middle-earth ever since Amazon purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its Appendices in the hope of raking in the cash and creating its own Game of Thrones competitor. Suffice to say, what was produced was not done with respect or even in the spirit of Tolkien. It was done in the spirit of copying someone else’s success, the naked avarice of money no matter the cost, and pushing an agenda.
Like so many other great IPs and franchises, Tolkien’s Middle-earth was the next on the list to be despoiled and desecrated. And, upon the passing of Christopher Tolkien, there was no stopping it as Amazon went full speed ahead to produce a show that didn’t understand the themes of the Second Age, didn’t follow the lore that Tolkien created, changed the history, and completely twisted established characters so that Tolkien fans couldn’t recognize them from the books lovingly read and cherished.
Unsurprisingly, Amazon went into full swing to try and make The Rings of Power a big success. With its advertising money, cash, and potential for click-baiting and trending opportunity, the shill corporate media, content creators, and social justice warriors picked up the cudgel and swung at anyone who dared call themselves a Tolkien fan. Who dared to criticize Amazon’s “great work-in-progress” that would usher in a new era of Tolkien adaptations. And the zeal with which these people wielded that cudgel was inhuman (as seen over the past decade). Calling everyone racist if they didn’t like the changes that The Rings of Power brought with it; specifically the inclusion of a dark-skinned Elf when there was no such character in Tolkien’s Middle-earth pre-The Lord of the Rings. Set in a timeline that Amazon wanted to focus on even though it had not purchased the rights to the books set in that era.
So the shrieks of racism were never ending. You were racist to point at Arondir. You were racist if you didn’t like the show. You were racist if you gave a bad review. And, in a final, desperate cry Amazon once more screamed “racism” in the hopes of drumming up support so that its mediocre show, dreamed up by this pathetic pantheon of creators who provided us the pinnacle of bad writing, might possibly win an award. They shouted racism, hurled ad hominems, and tried to cancel so many as the Rings of Power showrunners weaponized these Faulkiens by continuing to call anyone who critiqued the show as “patently evil.”.
The bullies were loud, numerous, and emboldened to carry Amazon’s flag as the paid shills wrote article after article trying to demonize and silence the fans of Tolkien.
Yet, as the truth started to shine through the dark clouds of Amazon’s obfuscation, the shift finally started to happen. The minority of bullies, these Faulkiens, who gleefully attacked anyone who criticized The Rings of Power started to dig and slither into their own little holes. Like Gollum who no longer had love for the light, they tried to hide themselves deep in the bowels of the mountain when they realized how poorly received the show actually had been.
However, even though they tried to hide, they were not done yet. Now these Faulkiens, fake Tolkien fans, are trying to rewrite the narrative like Amazon tried to rewrite Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Their once-prideful rhetoric of racism, ad hominem attacks, and cancellations have now turned to whimpers of “we just want to celebrate our love for The Rings of Power,” and “leave us alone.” Even more galling is the fact that this minority of ROP Faulkiens are saying that they are being attacked by a cult.
A perfect example of this would be an X/Twitter user named @TimBoltonUK who responded to my post last week reminding the Tolkien community how they were treated by these people, and the shill corporate media, while also pointing out how disrespectful ROP and its showrunners were.
His response was,
“Sean, you talk of disrespect yet you and the cult you have joined (let’s not be in denial of what you now are) continue to abuse the #Tolkien community. Tolkien Trewsday is now 29 weeks old and a positive-action event, we covered many themes. Where were you?
All I see from this Respect is people squealing about one TV show which does not affect the books nor is the only output from the various companies who have paid into the Tolkien license. It’s time to move on Sean, the obsession and soul-burning hate has to stop.”
Imagine calling the majority a cult! If he had said cult-like behavior, I would have agreed. Fandoms, in general, will exhibit cult-like behaviors for their favorite properties. But he didn’t. Instead, Tim is trying to change the narrative so that it sounds like a small group of Tolkien fans are attacking the “Tolkien community” aka the ROP community.
Which is a big difference.
But he didn’t stop there. He attempts to gloss over the impact of The Rings of Power, ignore the further plans that Amazon would have, and then tries to paint what I said as being obsessive and soul-burning. Which I found pretty amusing. After all, Amazon made it clear that a lot was riding on the success of The Rings of Power in tandem with the company’s streaming platform.
So I replied to Tim on X/Twitter,
“First of all, you are not the Tolkien community. You are the Rings of Power community which has little to do with Tolkien, except on a superficial level, and everything to do with ROP.
Second, your group is the very definition of a cult since it is a small group of people showing devotion to a particular thing and why you have #TolkienTrewsday. You calling the majority of fans the cult is rather amusing.
Third, it is not just one TV show. It is the precursor for the usurpation of Tolkien and his work which has already started. From the showrunners bragging about ROP being this great “experience” that is “a new form” they are creating to Wizards of the Coast blatantly color-washing established characters, and, sooner or later, we’ll see Tolkien’s work edited to be more “inclusive” and “modern.”
Like we see happening with classic books that are being “revised” for modern audiences.
Let’s face facts, you think Amazon is going to stop at just one show when they shelled out so much money for the rights to the LOTR trilogy and nothing else? In addition, there are other IPs being created, hoping to cash in on the Tolkien fanbase. ROP is where it has to stop, because the Tolkien fanbase will not be used as a gravy train to despoil Tolkien and his work.
You also need to stop trying to paint yourselves as the victims when you were the ones gleefully pilling onto anyone who dared to criticize ROP, before it was released, because Tolkien fans made cogent, rational observations about the show’s departure from Tolkien and his work.
Especially as your campaign of hate was pushed and perpetuated by the shill media and puppets who were incentivized to do so. Who were monetarily and socially incentivized to drop any vestiges of being real Tolkien fans and becoming Amazon and ROP puppets.
Now, if you like the show, cool. However, it’s mediocre and the viewing numbers reflect that. Unfortunately, for you, it behooves the Tolkien community to make sure ROP fails so that this kind of disrespect to Tolkien and his work is never replicated by other greedy studios wanting to ride the Tolkien train while simultaneously attaching the woke caboose.”
Tim never bothered to respond back.
Like many Faulkiens who I have tried to engage with, he slithered back to his little bubble. But I felt the need to point out a series of tweets he posted in response to the Tolkien community “hijacking” their space.
“I see #RespectforTolkien people tried to hijack #TolkienTrewsday this week. Let me address the people on the periphery of all this: the leaders of this “movement” are running a cult pushing a fake culture war no one really cares for. 1/
2/ Their discord server is a very interesting place. “I have been awake since before the breaking of the first silence.”
3/ Now let’s be serious. #TolkienTrewsday reaches week 29 next week. It is a postive-action #Tolkien community event that welcomes fans of books, adaptions and fan-created materials. We are wholly against toxic gatekeeping in reception of Tolkien.
4/ Themes cover a wide range of topics, sometimes focused on the books. We believe fans have a right to enjoy what they want and encourage the community to share their interests.
5/ Unfortunately there is an element within Tolkien fandom (note I don’t use community here) that believes it is acceptable to be abusive towards fans of things they don’t like. That is unacceptable.
6/ My lore knowledge is not a point-scoring exercise. It’s love of the works/adaptions. I see life as quality over quantity – hence spouting numbers at me is useless. In terms of the cult leaders: “You have not seen what I have seen.” I see you.”
Once more, we see Tim trying to weave a narrative as encompassing and complex as Ungoliant’s web. Attempting to paint the Tolkien community as something negative and sinister while these Faulkiens, aka ROP fans, are a wonderful community that is “positive-action” and “against toxic gatekeeping.” That Tolkien fans are being abusive towards the Faulkiens.
Even though Faulkiens were the ones trying to cancel and destroy people who dared to point out The Rings of Power’s issues when it came to writing, lore, and characters. The Tolkien community isn’t being abusive or attacking anyone. The Tolkien fandom is making cogent and salient points as to why the Rings of Power is not a good show. Let alone a good adaptation of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
And, as you can see with Tim’s series of tweets, he offers no proof to back up his allegations and insinuations. Like Morgoth, he is whispering lies and slander in the ears of the first men who might listen in order for them to hate and fear the good. A community of Tolkien fans that has always been diverse and from all walks of life.
Let us not forget that, for the weak minority in these modern times, pointing out problems or criticizing someone’s thoughts, beliefs, or opinions is now considered “abusive.” Unless they are the ones doing it. And what these Faulkiens did was far more heinous and hateful than what the Tolkien community is doing. Which is just shining a light on The Rings of Power, its mediocrity, and disrespect for Tolkien, his work, and his community.
Of course, we can’t ignore the tired tactic that these Faulkiens, and other fake fans of properties such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Witcher, fall back to. They will argue that they may not know much about the original property but they celebrate their love of the work and adaptations. That they prefer quality over quantity. An argument that would have merit if The Rings of Power was actually good (or Star Trek or Star Wars or Doctor Who). But the quality is poor and the quantity is increasing. They will find anything they can use to weasel out of any discussion they wade into if they feel they can’t win.
As I stated in my response to Tim, Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was a precursor for far more to be done. After all, you don’t spend hundreds of millions to buy a property to create one show. And we see the further desecration and disrespect for Tolkien and his work. Whether it was The Rings of Power’s bad writing to the complete destruction of Galadriel, we see Wizards of the Coast’s Magic the Gathering: Tales of Middle-earth POC-washing beloved characters. We see subpar games like The Lord of the Rings: Gollum failing because it was a joke.
But hey, the Tolkien community is racist, sexist, and toxic to point these things out as both ROP showrunners and actors pursue a woke agenda.
This week’s #TolkienTrewsday’s theme was about everyone’s favorite characters in the world of Tolkien. However, what is more important than the character of the fandom? After all, it is the fandom that allowed Tolkien’s work to become so popular. It is the fandom that made properties such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who become popular, culturally relevant, and long lived. It was the fandom that embraced Tolkien’s passion for his work with as much zeal as the author himself. Passion which created great franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly.
It will be the fandom that will stick around after the dust settles when Hollywood finally realizes it can’t make money from people it demonized and tried to silence while destroying the properties that they loved.
Faulkiens are the minority since only 37% of viewers bothered to finish watching Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power(nor is there any merchandise for the show). But how many of those who watched it actually liked it out of that 37% domestic audience? The Rings of Power Faulkiens are just the newest form of these fake fans who don’t care about the original works. They will move on to the next big cultural battle and eventually be forgotten while the fandom will be there to pick up the pieces.
That is, if the fandoms can win the culture war being raged. Because that is what all of this is. A culture war, which is why we see our beloved franchises being destroyed in the name of some woke agenda (a fact that actress Sophia Nomvete and Ismael Cruz Córdova continued to remind everyone over and over). Thankfully, the ones responsible for the woke agenda lack the talent and abilities to properly carry out their purpose.
Because there is a big difference between creators creating because of their passion such as JRR Tolkien, Gene Roddenberry, and George Lucas compared to soulless profiteering that has ruined those same franchises.
But Tolkien fans need to step up and not just deny these people our attention, time, and money. We need to fight back by creating our own work and adaptations that far outstrip what they are creating.
Because the Tolkien community is a diverse one that is happy and accepting of new fans drawn in by the love of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. We are not racists, sexists, bigots, or anything else that these Faulkiens, their corporate master Amazon, and the corrupt media says we are.
So keep on fighting my fellow Tolkien family.
We will win.
Respecting Tolkien: A Tale of Two Adaptations – From Interplay’s Reverence to Amazon’s Departure
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