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kimyoonmiauthor · 2 years

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“BuT AlL of MiDdlE EarTh wAs WhITE. Tolkien would be ‘rolLiNg in HiS grAve’“

So, if you haven’t heard white proud boys purist Tolkien fans are up in arms over Rings of Power having PoCs in it, because it’s “not historically accurate to European history” (hahaha), and “Tolkien’s intentions”. So I thought I would do a run down on basic European history and Tolkien’s intentions to refute this and the other complaints, plus launch some really valid criticism about the show that’s not about race at all that these fanboys are totally missing because they really didn’t do any of the reading on Tolkien or actual European history.

Yeah, some of you won’t read my profile, but most of this is pulled from my knowledge of European history, Anthropology, and general World building geekery, which is my hidden degree. (I concentrated a ton of classes around this)

PoCs in European history:

For reference, I’m only going to loosely reference real European history since I don’t have a textbook word count to write this out with. This is more a dump and you look it up moment. If you’re not willing to look it up, don’t refute it.

This is rough, but not exact chronological order.

-Beaker People (granted this wasn’t remembered in Tolkien’s time period, but we’re operating on “real” European history.) They brought agriculture to Europe and as soon as about 5000 years ago, the majority of people in Europe were dark-skinned in Southern Europe. White skin likely started with Sami people. White skin only became more common about 4,000 years ago in Southern Europe. In Northern Europe, it’s about 6,000-5000 years ago. With first white skinned people about 8,000 years ago.

(Making it easier, pulling easy-to-read source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/first-modern-britons-dark-black-skin-cheddar-man-dna-analysis-reveals

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/february/the-beaker-people-a-new-population-for-ancient-britain.html)

Under this specifically: The Cheddar Man: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britain-blue-eyed-boy.html

- Early Jews in Europe. Jews weren’t rebranded white until a *lot* later in history. But going over that is cumbersome. Early Jews were from Western Asia.

- Rromani who came from Northwestern India, and were nomadic. (In the show Harfoot is kinda based on Rromani and they are Rromani-coded in many ways). BTW, Roma are the largest group of Rromani, but not all Rromani are Roma. The G-word is a slur.

(Image from: https://www.livescience.com/40652-facts-about-roma-romani-gypsies.html)

- Mongols via the Mongolian Invasion, who changed the food habits of Europeans (particularly on meat-eating) and imported from Persia (now Iran) distillation of wine and spirits. (They also brought distillation to East Asia and Russia too).

- Islamic Empire in Al Andalus (Southern Spain) and later the Moors that came there. Al Andalus brought Renaissance to Europe. Gothic Architecture--that’s them. The pointed arches are something they brought. Love Poetry/courtly love, modern medicine, Scientific method, astronomy (astrology somewhat), algebra, sciences, formal academies, etc. They collected from India, so brought eh Zero from India, decimals from China, etc. (BTW, Automatons still blow my mind)

- Crusades brought in Northern Africans.

- Slavery from Western Africa brought in black people in Tudor times.

- Colonization of the Americas brought in Indigenous people, though not ethically done. Such as Pocahontas, who went to England to negotiate treaties, etc.

- Outside of this, there were stone masons brought for building castles from Western Asia and Northern Africa. This is covered by Ruth Goodman in the documentary about Guédelon Castle, who explicitly cites this to be the case.

- Math was invented by Egyptians, Congo people, Babylonians and Sumerians--none of which are in Europe.

- Arches is West Asia-ish, not Europe.

- Metal work, is likely started in Africa. (Most likely North Eastern)

- Spoons started in Africa.

- knives start in Africa.

- Strawberries (mentioned in the show, BTW) is New World, and BTW, I think Tolkien would be against it given his writings on food. He was particular about it. While the strawberry was cultivated in Roman times the varietal used today was cultivated first by the Mapuche and Huilliche Indians of Chile cultivated the female strawberry species until 1551, and the formal domestication of the strawberry in Europe, as we know it, is not until the 18th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry

- Blueberries are also New World: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry, having the cultivated origin in North America, though they naturally occurred in Europe.

- Grains came from Western Asia--all of them, which allowed the domestication of other things, like strawberries, carrots, etc. The earliest staple from food historian’s thought was marsh reeds in Europe, which take a long time to prepare. Brussel sprouts, BTW, are 100% European in origin. (In the cabbage/Broccoli family, which is also found outside of Europe)

-Marigolds (mentioned third episode with the Harfoot) are Mexico and Guatemala in origin, imported in the 16th century:

- Humans started in Eastern Africa by best guess.

- Horses is Asia, likely. Central Asia, though disputed on which culture came first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botai_culture https://www.statelinetack.com/blog/the-history-of-horseback-riding/1595/

- Boats were invented by Phoenicians--who were not European.

If we’re getting later in history....

- Jane Austen discusses slavery during the Regency period. And Belle is roughly from the same time period (Movie about a black woman, who was a granddaughter of an Abolitionist judge based on historical figures).

- British occupation of India and Pakistan brought in Indians. One of the servants of Queen Victoria was an Indian man. She also had a black goddaughter.

- The Suffrage movement also included women of color, though rather erased from history.

- British colonization of Jamaica also brought in more black people. (Granted after Tolkien)

So the idea that looking at this map of Europe and Africa, no black people or PoCs would be in Europe is ridiculous, because Europe had a forcefield around it that prevented people from coming in. People always travel. I mean Queen Cleopatra, anyone? Anyone? She traveled from Egypt to Rome.

Homo Erectus made it all the way to China without airplanes, boats, horses, and suddenly Homo Sapiens sapiens can’t travel to Europe, just across a lake? That’s not realistic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_Man

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2150253-gene-study-shows-human-skin-tone-has-varied-for-900000-years/

https://www.quora.com/If-all-humans-belong-to-the-same-race-when-did-they-start-to-have-different-colours/answer/Walter-Smyth

But Tolkien WAS FOR WHITE PURITY:

https://www.good.is/articles/jrr-rolkien-nazi-letter

He hated the Nazis and if you read that article:

“Privately, according to “1937 The Hobbit or There and Back Again," Tolkien told Unwin he hated Nazi “race-doctrine" as “wholly pernicious and unscientific." He added he had many Jewish friends and was considering abandoning the idea of a German translation altogether.”

So no, he was not for “race purity”

I mean look at this burn:

25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford Dear Sirs, Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride. Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung. I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and remain yours faithfully, J. R. R. Tolkien

He also hated Hitler, a whole ton (and as cited in the article had a bunch of Jewish friends):

“I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.”--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/325144-i-have-in-this-war-a-burning-private-grudge-which-would

He also called Hitler a “Mongrel”:

https://www.facebook.com/GOODHQ/posts/jrr-tolkien-hated-nazi-race-doctrine-and-no-problem-telling-his-german-publishin/10157470976163059/

BTW, some suggest Moriquendi had dark skin.

Tolkien also refuted all claims of racial purity during his lifetime about his world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_and_race

So, no, he would hate you for acting like an incel neo-nazi.

In addition he often tried to update his worldbuilding to fit “science” seen here (BTW, this is the Victorian Literary movement called “realism”):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_World_version_of_the_Silmarillion

Since he wanted a round world, PoCs are required for it. Closer to the equator you would get PoCs. Plus it would screw over the Nazis really well to have all this info on humanoid populations. And I think he’d be for that. Despite the fantasy, he still liked the idea of rooting it in science and history, if you look into his writings (particularly about the foodstuffs)

I should note that CS Lewis, who was his friend and often had writerly disputes with him, was for a flat world model, which is probably some of the influence on the flat world idea.

BTW, I kinda like in a symmetry of mythology take, the idea that Valinor would be sucked into another realm in order to make the world round, which would solve a lot of his issues with making a round world. It fits a lot with the whole Valhala, Anglo-saxon, etc mythos he based it on.

And about the Harfoot in the show:

As I said, coded Rromani.

But Black Dwarves, caves, etc and auto-white skin

People forget that Inuit exist? (If not Rromani)

(Image from Encyclopedia Britannica) Where do they live? Far more North than the Latitude this is set.

If you’re arguing that Dwarves “need to be all white” then you should be arguing they are all albino https://www.insidescience.org/news/albino-sharks-deep), and more like mole people or naked molerats. But they have really good eyesight throughout LoTR, so apparently they aren’t “adapted” to the caves.

So that means they are getting all the essential vitamins in those caves, which has a tree and several green plants in Rings of Power.

They must be eating something similar to seal blubber or maybe the bones of fish and animals.

If that’s the case, such that they haven’t lost all their pigmentation, as in the case of Albino sharks, cited, then having a black dwarf isn’t far-fetched. As noted, the majority of the human population for quite some time was black, considering homo sapiens sapiens are 200,000 years old.

So humanoid creatures with an argued similar biology as they are trying to pull here, would stand to reason being black in a cave isn’t a disadvantage at all. And notice it took a few thousand years of agriculture for white skin even to be more common in Southern Europe.

The “realism” vs. fantasy--real problems.

Because they are going on about “realistic” but only harping on PoCs, I thought I would point out the more pressing world building issues they should have picked up on if they had any knowledge of actual European history and the whys of it all. Icing on the cake?

- In the middle of an icestorm, acting like a fighter, and hasn’t tied up her hair?

Loosely the clothes are somewhere between Preraphaelite, which is Victorian Imagination of clothes and 12th century clothing:

Actual 12th century clothing.

But you’ll notice in the real ones, the hair isn’t down like in the Victorian imagination of the Medieval period. The proper way was to cover ones hair. (Mostly to keep dirt off of it.)

Joan of Arc also cut her hair first thing: https://www.history.com/news/7-surprising-facts-about-joan-of-arc

So Galadriel with her hair down fighting people like she has it, would be a death sentence waiting for her. It would get caught in the chainmail hood, frozen to things, and blow around. It would get her killed. I don’t think Tolkien would be in favor of the impractical. It should be braided at least or put into a bun and probably covered, as shown above. Edit: They fixed this in Episode 6, by finally giving Galadriel a braid, BUT I was honestly thinking something more like this: https://www.howcast.com/videos/500081-how-to-do-a-heidi-braid-braid-hairstyles

Or a viking battle braid. https://therighthairstyles.com/viking-braid-tutorial/

- The clothes aren’t designed for horse riding:

*sighs* Elves in LoTR habitually rode horses. Tolkien has large swaths about this.

And traveling in a robe like that in a distance like this:

No way that robe would stay that clean. It’s impractical. Often Kings through modern time would switch robes for riding. Riding in that clothing would be cumbersome. It doesn’t split in the right places, and it drags and it would collect dirt like no one’s business.

I don’t think that Tolkien, who went on and on about horses, would be in favor of clothes you can’t use for horse-riding when clearly horses are present. I mean even the Preraphaelite painting is more practical for horse riding than these clothes.

Yes, hand wavium with magic, but why not use an eagle or show that they magically appeared there (Which BTW, is a cheap effect) instead of the slow progress on the board? (Horses are expensive?) Still, the clothes need to be good for horseriding. Also, horses are not cars, so they’d probably have to stop along the way if it exceeds about 20 km. (’cause Tolkien is British), so the clothes would have to be changed. Note: Kinda fixed this later. A little. Starting in Episode 5, but I still think the clothing should keep in mind horses. Horses show up in episode 6, but are kinda mentioned before then.

Geography issues:

There is nothing on this part of the map which would make Middle Earth temperate in climate.

You see, the reason Europe gets to have agriculture besides the Beaker people is because there is the Gulf Stream, which throws all that warm water from the Gulf onto Europe. Without it, Europe would be, as my Geography teacher liked to say, “Siberia” And as he said, if you keep melting those icecaps, Europe will turn into Siberia’s climate, with really hot summers and really cold winters.

This isn’t part of Tolkien’s original map, so it’s not on him, but if we’re going by “realism” and “real history” and OMG, PoCs in Europe, shouldn’t the fact that Middle Earth be a barren wasteland without matching continent concern any of that crowd (yes, I know, white purists don’t really care about “real history” even when spouting it.)

BTW, some people lose their minds to find that agriculture+the Gulf Stream made them white. Downright angry. ‘cause then white people aren’t necessary in world building. But anything to piss off the white purists.

I should be clear, I’m willing to let these details go, and do hand wavium in my head, but really, if they are thinking Middle Earth is “real” history, shouldn’t they be more concerned about these three things than some scattered PoCs, most of which are not named? Five, first episode +2 second episode (only one of the two named). But no~ black people are “taking over” because of ~5 blacks in the first and +2 in the second. (And one of the two is on screen for less than a second--blink and you miss them). And I’m thinking, wait until they find out about the stone masons, Moors, Mongols, and West Asians in Europe. And Rromani.

Conclusion:

The thing is the majority of the people complaining are racists who want Europe to be a white haven of whiteness going back 10,000 years. They don’t really care that much about reality, in the end, and are basically doing the work of Hitler going on about White Purity of Europe and using Tolkien’s name in vain. But look, Tolkien was against that. He HATED Hitler. Hated him. Was willing to say so and have a hit put out against him. Was willing to give up German pub rights to hate Nazis. And Tolkien actively fought in his lifetime against Middle Earth being race-framed into being about white purity.

So I don’t get that.

#Rings of Power #black elves #black humans #JRR Tolkien #PoC Europeans #European history #black dwarves

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