If you are a real Tolkien fan and not a Tolkien tourist, it’s impossible not to notice the recent widespread vandalization of the professor’s masterpiece of sub-creation: Middle-earth. Main characters such as Aragorn, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Eowyn have been race-swapped in Wizards of the Coast Magic: The Gathering: Tales of Middle-earth. Other characters such as the Easterling warriors are being gender-swapped as well.
This trend has surfaced in other mediums as new characters created for Amazon’s Rings of Power have been blackwashed. The venerable Lord of the Rings Online recently introduced African and Asian avatars for The Lord of the Rings Online. Like Bilbo’s poems, it goes on and on.
If Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien was still alive and helming the Tolkien Estate, you can be absolutely sure that this disfigurement of his father’s creation would never have been allowed to happen. But since Simon Tolkien, failed author and grandson of the late J.R.R. Tolkien is now running the Tolkien Estate, the era of faithful and principled stewardship of the author’s works is officially over.
With no one left to man the watchtower, like the greedy dwarves in Middle-earth, those that control Tolkien’s legacy are wasting no time cashing in.
One entity is entirely responsible for this travesty. It is none other than Middle-earth Enterprises based in Berkley, California. For decades, MEE was owned by the Saul Zaentz Company which purchased the rights of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in 1973 from a cash-strapped J.R.R. Tolkien. Today, MEE is owned by Embracer Group. Embracer Group is a heartless, soulless Swedish conglomerate that knows as much about Tolkien as I do about quantum physics.
The role of MEE is to protect the authenticity of the intellectual property of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings while ensuring that licensees respect Tolkien.
Wizards of the Coast Admits It’s All About Diversity and Representation
What Wizards of the Coast has done is deliberate. In an unsigned article on their website, they clearly state that their Tales of Middle-earth is all about promoting diversity and representation.
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.
The peoples of Middle-earth did not find strength in their racial diversity; they found a common cause in their unity against a common enemy. That’s it and nothing more. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now. This is how the real world works as alliances form and dissolve as situations change.
The racial diversity that is implied in the “strength in their diversity” phrase, is a clever repurposing of the specious “diversity is our strength” political slogan of neo-Marixsts of our times. It has absolutely nothing to do with Middle-earth.
Long before Wizards of the Coast existed, millions of readers and fans of all races enjoyed Tolkien’s books without complaint or reservations. When readers see themselves through the eyes of the protagonist in a novel, it’s called character identification. They did not need to be racially represented in those books to enjoy them. Representation is a nonsensical, divisive, specious idealogy that has no basis in truth.
If representation were a legitimate concept instead of a political one, non-whites could never truly enjoy a work of fiction that involves protagonists that are not their race. Conversely, whites could never identify with people that are non-white in books and films.
The most popular and influential book of all time, the Holy Bible, despite being about the experiences of a small tribe of Middle-eastern people, has been read and enjoyed by millions of people of all races. If representation ideology was true, the Bible would have never gained traction because it was largely about one race of people.
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.
This is insulting and patronizing. You can hope all you want, but the level of pigmentation in your customer base is none of your business.
To add insult to injury, WOTC makes the following fallacious statement:
These decisions were made consciously and with great care, reverence, and love for The Lord of the Rings.
Consciously? Yes, that’s true. No. You did not show great care, reverence, and love for The Lord of the Rings. Instead, you willfully vandalized Tolkien’s masterpiece. You are not fooling anyone. All you really care about is virtue signaling and promoting your religion of anti-white wokeness. Every single person commissioned artist and every employee at WoTC who is part of this desecration should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
Meet Becca Hanson, Gatekeeper of Middle-earth™
The real problem is that gatekeepers who allowed woke Wizards of the Coast to inject identity politics and Marxist proselytization into the sacred realm of Middle-earth.
If you watch the announcement video, you will notice that someone from Middle-earth Enterprises is featured throughout on a film set with a bunch of Hollywood prop books in the background. This person is named Becca Hanson. Her pronouns in her bio, her tomboy appearance, thick-rimmed glasses, and short hair are clues that she might be living an alternative lifestyle.
This public costume is probably a good indicator of her politics and worldview. Therefore it is absolutely no surprise that Becca would be instrumental in approving Magic: The Gathering’s new woke Lord of the Rings-themed cards.
Here’s the smoking gun from the video:
Becca Hanson (MEE): It seems a very natural crossover to view “The Lord of the Rings” and those stories and those characters through this lens. And we knew that the property was very safe with Wizards of the Coast.
This quote is clear evidence that Middle-earth Enterprises is out of touch with Tolkien, his universe, and his millions of fans.
Allowing Wizards of the Coast — which has a reputation for pandering to identity politics — to have anything to do with Tolkien’s works is about as wise as putting Count Dracula in charge of the blood bank.
Hanson uses all the current trendy catchphrases like “it seems natural” and “lens” to justify her complicity in this wanton act of cultural vandalism. Sorry, we’re not buying any of your sugar-coated candy cotton sophistry.
Would you Hire Becca Hanson to Protect Your Intellectual Property?
I did an internet search of Becca Hanson and have found no indications that she is a Tolkien scholar or has any degrees in English literature or British mythos. To my knowledge, there are no dissertations, essays, blog posts, or even letters to the editor penned by Hanson that would indicate that she has any in-depth knowledge, aptitude, affinity, or appreciation for Tolkien and his legendarium that would be commensurate with her responsibility for safeguarding The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings IP.
Here’s a relevant portion of her LinkedIn page:
Maybe I am wrong but I see no justifiable reason why she is even qualified for her current job at Middle-earth Enterprises. Playtester? Maybe. Chief Guardian of Tolkien’s licensed lore? Hell no. There are plenty of bona fide Tolkien scholars out there like Tom Shippey that could have easily filled that role.
A YouTuber named European Lore who has published many insightful videos on The Lord of the Rings, has forgotten more about Tolkien than Hanson will ever know would have been an excellent choice for this role. In fact, the average die-hard Tolkien enthusiast in the crowd at ComicCon would be better suited for this role, than a wokester from Portland.
Someone at Middle-earth Enterprises made the decision to hire Becca Hanson. This is on them and the executives at Embracer Group who owns MEE. The mithril stops with them.
Was Wizards of the Coast Tales of Middle-earth Inspired by the Death of George Floyd?
It is quite obvious that Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast based in communist Seattle, came up with the proposal to create a race-swapped, diverse Lord of the Rings card set. It is very likely that this hair-brained idea was hatched during the aftermath of the tragic death of career criminal George Floyd and the ensuing riots that burned down America, killed scores of people, and cost billions of dollars of damage.
In the wake of all the BLM and ANTIFA violence, foisting a barrage of out-of-place black faces upon Americans is a cheap way for woke companies to feel like virtuous allies by doing their intersectional duty for the cult.
It’s also a humiliation ritual designed to make white people squirm and feel uncomfortable as they see the devastation that these studios have done to their beloved franchises. The woke get off on doing this. The very people that preach about “kindness” and being “welcoming” are in actuality mean-spirited and unwelcoming to those heretics that do not share their worldview.
The Cultural Imperialism of Woke California
How did the desecration of Tolkien happen? What cultural factors made this abomination possible?
Most creatives in the USA are devout pagans and progressives who live in The People’s Soviet Socialist Republic of California. They are prone to jumping on the latest social bandwagon as a way to seek validation for their empty spiritual lives. Many of them are LGBTQ people and revolutionaries. The world of creativity is like a flame that attracts people on the left with fringe lifestyles. It’s a place where they can hide from the real world while waging war on natural law and God himself.
California cultural imperialists think that the world revolves around them and their sick fetishes. They love imposing their values on the rest of America and the world. They are haughty, proud, arrogant posers that are not fit to exist in Tolkien’s shadow.
The Fools Who Ignored the Lessons of Middle-earth Are Destined to Repeat Them
One of the overarching plot devices in The Lord of the Rings is The Dark Lord Sauron versus the peoples of Middle-earth. Sauron seeks to destroy what is good and replace it with that which is evil. As this modern drama unfolds, it’s easy to see the peoples of Middle-earth as Tolkien’s fans and MEE and WOTC as emissaries of the Dark Lord.
One of the cardinal lessons of the Lord of the Rings is that we need to be vigilant about the corrupting influence of power: The One Ring symbolizes the corrupting nature of power and the temptation to misuse it for personal gain. It teaches us to be cautious about the allure of power and to consider its consequences. It is obvious that both MEE and WotC failed to internalize this lesson which makes their claims that they love Tolkien even more implausible and ridiculous.
The Evil Twins of Hubris and Ego
The desire of Wizards of the Coast and Middle-earth Enterprises to improve on Tolkien’s world is an example of hubris. Embracer Group, Middle-earth Enterprises, and Wizards of the Coast exhibit the very same hubris that fueled Sauron’s malice toward all living things.
There is nothing worse than tyrants who abuse their power in order to satiate their egos and promote their own personal idealogy on the coattails of people who are light years above them in wisdom and accomplishment. There are people like this in every walk of life and profession.
It is clear to me that Becca Hanson has no authentic understanding of what Tolkien wrote beyond the surface level of appreciation that an average Game of Thrones HBO fan has for George Martin. While she is probably a delightful person in her own right, I believe she is in over her head with her current role at MEE.
I shudder to think of what future abominations await hapless Tolkien fans under the watchful woke eye of MEE in its present incarnation.
What Would Tolkien Think About Race Swapping?
There is no way in hell that J.R.R. Tolkien would have approved of the emasculation and butchery of his work. Just as his elves were angelic beings and the orcs were tortured and mutilated elves, so too are these disgusting and heretical new interpretations of his work — tortured and mutilated. For what? As perverse oblations to the god of wokeness?
Tolkien warned us about how evil twists and disfigures the truth. Apparently, this ancient lesson was lost on “experts” like Becca Hanson, Middle-earth Enterprises, and Wizards of the Coast.
Conclusion
Any reasonable person would believe that Becca Hanson and Embracer-owned Middle-earth Enterprises are supposed to be vigilant and faithful gatekeepers for Tolkien’s IP. Instead of pushing back and telling Wizards of the Coast a resounding “NO!” they allowed them to desecrate it with gratuitous race and gender swapping. Iconic characters from The Lord of the Rings that are beloved by millions are now unrecognizable in Magic: The Gathering’s cardstock atrocity. It breaks my heart just to look at them.
Just as Amazon put amateurs in charge of their abysmally bad Rings of Power series, so too did Middle-earth Enterprises put amateurs in charge of evaluating applicants that wish to license their IP. As the diversity, inclusion, and equity movement disguised as ESG starts to bear fruition, we can expect more incompetence like this to bubble up to the surface of public attention.
Here’s some free advice to woke Zoomers and Millennials who think you are smarter than the professor: Tolkien’s works are perfect as is. They need no re-imaginging. They need no cultural re-upholstery. They do not require a transfusion of new blood. They don’t need any stunning and brave “new take” tinkering. Go out and write your own stories, create your own worlds. Stop being parasites on the genius of others.
Tolkien is sacred ground. If you don’t have enough decency and intelligence to be faithful to his lore, then simply stay in your lane, and keep making your silly cards.
For decades the Saul Zaentz company was a competent steward of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings IP. If Zaentz were alive he would have been appalled at what has happened to his company. Sadly, with this impending fiasco, they have forfeited the right to be torch-bearers of the professor’s legacy to the world.
If this willful act of cultural vandalism is allowed to continue with unqualified woke amateurs at the helm of Middle-earth Enterprises, the venerable IP will become an object of mockery and derision and ultimately worthless. Brands run by incompetent amateurs that attack their core audience, deserve to die. Disney, Lucasfilm, and many more to come. Ask Annheiser-Busch what happened to BUD Lite. If Embracer Group had any brains, they would fire everyone at MEE and hire people that have a proven track record of defending Tolkien’s work.
What Middle-earth Enterprises has done is a shocking and disgraceful betrayal of Tolkien and his legions of fans. In their haste to monetize Tolkien’s world, their credibility has evaporated. If there is any justice in this world, this preposterous Magic the Gathering set deserves to fail hard and fast.
–Wofhsead
California would fit nicely in the EU. With such a biased, activist style IP manager evening is possible. That’s probably her first and foremost qualification. Probably also the only one.
Not all of EU is pro woke degeneracy. Eastern Europe is Orthodox Christian, some Catholic Christian countries like Hungary and Poland are also more level-headed. It’s Western Europe – France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, maybe Spain and Portugal too which are going full woke licking Democrat libtards in USA’s ass.
The Democrats are blackmailing Europe’s countries into doing their bidding. Usually results in telling them “we know in which bank your money are, if you don’t do what we tell you, kiss your money goodbye”, usually to individual leaders and as corrupt as they are, they influence their whole countries.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/russia-says-only-method-us-uses-in-intl-affairs-is-dictate-blackmail-threats-sanctions/2877874
My country’s leaders are also asskissers and despite that 80% of the nation being pro Russian, they are doing the West’s bidding and sending military support to Ukraine, trying to make us part of the war too.
Hungary and Poland are the only two countries that are non-woke. There’s some hope for Italy.
The globohomo regime led by the USA and their slimy overlords is the problem.
Not all of USA is bad, but when Republicans were in the White House and Donald Trump was president, things were slowly getting better. Democrats are radicals and warmongers, they want to have war as long as its not on their soil.
Agreed!
Absolutely agree there.
The EU would love to switch Hungary with California, indeed.
Eastern Europe is rising, but sadly the woke West and a near equally woke Scandinavia, the more eastern Finland being not as bad as Sweden, are still dominating the EU politically. There are constant attacks on Orban and Poland. The EU diversity doesn’t accept conservatives, funnily they are much more open to islamic influences.
Italy is rising as well, but Italian governments are notoriously unstable and the EU is already working against Meloni.
I also hope for a Republican victory in the next US election but am afraid a divided Republican front against Biden will allow even Sleepy Joe to win once more. In case things get tight for him his party is great at conjuring up extra votes as needed…
The Lord of the Rings IP will be worthless thanks to these woke parasites and the clown show at MEE and Embracer Group in a few more years. Look what has happened to the Star Wars franchise and now Indiana Jones.
What is the common denominator of wokeness, incompetence, and failure?
White progressive women.
I’m hoping to write a future article on this.
This article goes some way to explain what is happening:
https://www.aei.org/articles/the-rise-of-the-single-woke-and-young-democratic-female/
And this one too:
https://www.americansurveycenter.org/newsletter/the-despair-of-young-liberal-women/
White progressive women are terribly unstable and miserable yet many of them have their hands on the levers of power. To them everything wrong in the world is the fault of white men and therefore everything that gives him happiness and energy must be abolished. Their whole way of thinking is fear-based, but at the same time their fears are fanning life into their bogey-men. The far-right was never a thing in America until white women decided that anyone who disagreed with them was a nazi.
To my understanding, I attribute this “progressiveness” with feelings of:
– self-loathing
– inferiority complex
– low self esteem
Basically, people who live in the past or with some guilt that they could just let go, but instead they focus all their energy into feeding in the most wrong way possible – to try and make their own problem a problem for everyone,
The best example I can give is someone who was a bully as a kid and now as an adult feels bad for having bullied other kids and still lives with the guilt, can’t let go, can’t forgive himself/herself and now all their life revolves around some anti-bullying organizations and trying to get into everyone’s face how they should care about stopping bullying to the point of becoming obnoxious and unlikable and instead of people rooting for his/her cause, it feels aversive to them, like some nuisance or annoyance.
Some people cite “daddy issues” or “not getting enough attention as a child”, I don’t have much of a perspective on this side of things, but it’s very possible that childhood events damaged these people’s psyche, soul, personality and simply put they somehow get into a position of power and influence and begin ruining things for everyone to feed their own permanently hurt giant ego.