Elijah Wood and the original hobbits support the diversity of “The Rings of Power” with a t-shirt included

Since it was announced that the cast of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” would be equal and inclusive, and especially since its premiere on September 2, many fans (and not so fans) of Middle-earth have spoken viscerally against the creation of racialized characters for the Amazon Prime Video blockbuster. Some have used the theme of loyalty to JRR Tolkien’s work as an excuse to launch racist slurs and the series has unfortunately suffered the usual review bombing on the Internet, forcing the platform to quarantine reviews to evaluate them and discard the ones that come from bots. or racist trolls.

Faced with this situation, there are many who have defended the narrative and especially its racialized actors, who have suffered constant attacks on the Internet. And now they have wanted to join many of the actors who were part of the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. Specifically, the hobbits, Elijah Wood (Frodo), Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd (Pippin), shared an image on their social networks with a loud and clear message: “You are all welcome here”.

You are all welcome here @LOTRonPrime @ DonMarshall72 #RingsPower https://t.co/8txOhlHa2f pic.twitter.com/nWytILT0zG

? Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) September 7, 2022

In the photo we see the actors wearing T-shirts with a design created by Don Marshall, consisting of said message written in elven, accompanied by an illustration with various ears of the Middle-earth races in different skin tones. The design is on sale in different formats (t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps …).

The missing hobbit in the photo, Sean Astin (Sam), also joined the initiative, posing separately with a hat with the same design, which he also shared on his networks. In this way, the actors of the original saga reproduce the message of support for Tolkien’s new adaptation, reminding us that diversity and community is one of the main elements of his work.

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A post shared by Sean Astin (@seanastin)

JA Bayona says this very clearly

Faced with racist attacks and the hate campaign against the series, the director of the first two episodes, JA Bayona, openly defended the different castings, pointing out the racism and misogyny that some of Tolkien’s more purist fans are exhibiting. “It makes no sense that there are people who cannot be recognized, Tolkien himself has always defended inclusion and left the tools to any other person to give their own vision and make Middle-earth bigger. There is a kind of racism and misogyny among Tolkien’s purists that I was not aware of. I don’t give a damn about criticism “says the Spanish director.

The actor Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays the elf Silvano Arondir, alluded to the same argument in a recent interview with eCartelera, in which he could not express it better: “I’m an elf and I’m black. The end. The thing is, you can’t fight those arguments because they don’t make sense. They’ll twist and bend you in ways that waste your energy unnecessarily I can’t get into the psychology of racism, I studied, we did activism and it makes no sense. The only thing we can say is that we exist, we are here, we have the right to be and we have earned these cards with hard work”.