Author Neil Gaiman responds to the racist backlash against The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power featuring Black actors as Harfoots. Based on the beloved fantasy novels by author J.R.R. Tolkien, The Rings of Power chronicles the Second Age, a prosperous time for Middle-earth but one that also saw the rise of great evil. Prime Video's new series takes place thousands of years before the events of Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, introducing a host of new characters while also bringing back some familiar faces. Although the show features Elves, Dwarves, and Men, just like Jackson's movies, the show's Hobbit characters are a little different.Harfoots, the ancestors to the Hobbits in Tolkien's books and Jackson's trilogy, are introduced in the first episode of The Rings of Power, with the characters clearly enjoying a different lifestyle than the Hobbits audiences are more familiar with. The group, which features characters played by Lenny Henry, Sara Zwangobani, Thusita Jayasundera, and Markella Kavenagh, among others, is more nomadic than traditional Hobbits, making camp and then moving on. Although, in general, The Rings of Power has proven somewhat divisive among viewers, a particular subset of fans have taken issue with the casting of people of color as Harfoots, which they claim goes against Tolkien's source material.Now, Gaiman, a notable Tolkien fan, has responded to several tweets that have criticized the show's diverse Harfoot casting, citing Tolkien's own words as proof that any backlash is completely misplaced. Gaiman explains that Tolkien himself describes Harfoots as being "browner of skin" and claims that anyone taking issue with the casting is "either racist or hasn't read their Tolkien." Check out the author's tweets below:
As has been the case with many shows of late that don't exclusively focus on straight white men, The Rings of Power was subject to backlash online before it was even released, and most notably when it came to the show's diverse cast. In addition to Gaiman's own straightforward dismissal of these complaints, Galadriel actor Morfydd Clark has also commented on the backlash, claiming that Tolkien, like the worlds he created, was very complex, and that fans who claim to know what the author would've wanted to see in the show are talking "nonsense." Henry has also offered his opinion on the racist backlash, citing how ridiculous it is that someone can believe in all manner of mythical creatures but take issue with a person of color being a Hobbit.
Gaiman, who's new Netflix show, The Sandman, was also criticized for its diverse casting, has shown that he has no patience for any form of racism or sexism when it comes to casting in fantasy storytelling. While some of the casting backlash for The Rings of Power is likely due to a lack of understanding of Tolkien's source material, it's clear that many complaints about the show are, unfortunately, driven by racism. It remains to be seen what future episodes have in store for the Harfoots on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but Gaiman is clearly not one to argue with when it comes to Tolkien.
Source: Neil Gaiman/ Twitter