Elijah Wood and the original cast of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ silence the racist critics of ‘The Rings of Power’

Series and Movie Premieres in September 1:40 (CNN) — Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and the main cast of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy are understandably protective of the beloved fantasy saga. But they will not tolerate racism or hatred towards Tolkien’s new generation of actors. Several artists on Amazon’s new series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” have been besieged by hateful comments from viewers who have criticized the casting of people of color like elves, dwarves, and harfoots, among other fictional races. . Most of the roles were created for the show, including the Silvan goblin Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, and Princess Disa, the dwarf, played by Sophia Nomvete, two actors who have been the target of hate messages. Elijah Wood (center), Dominic Monaghan (left) and Billy Boyd (right) wore T-shirts that read “You are all welcome here” in Elvish to support the “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” actors, several of which have been the subject of racist comments. Cast members have spoken out about the racist comments they received and now have the support of original hobbits Wood, Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played Frodo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin, respectively. All four actors appeared in clothing that read, in elvish, “You are all welcome here,” along with several different character ears in various skin tones. (Tolkien created various dialects of Elvish for his works.) The t-shirts and hats were made by Don Marshall, a TikTok user with more than 590,000 followers who shares “dark ‘Lord of the Rings’ facts.” Earlier this month, Marshall, who expressed his excitement for the new series and its new characters, asked his fans to help him identify users who left racist comments on his videos, saying he had already blocked around 100 of them. they. Cast Members Face Racist Comments JRR Tolkien, who wrote “The Hobbit” trilogy and “The Lord of the Rings” between World War I and World War II and in the aftermath, has been accused by some readers of adopting racist ideas in his novels, particularly in his portrayal of elves, dwarves, and orcs. And Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy features almost no people of color in critical roles. “The Rings of Power,” meanwhile, features people of color in central roles, including Córdova, Nomvete and Nazanin Boniadi, who plays Bronwyn. The British-Iranian actress thanked the “tenacious, brave and resilient women of (her) homeland” for inspiring her character. But some fans have taken issue with the newly inclusive Middle-earth, sending hateful comments to the actors themselves amid reports that the series is being “bombed with reviews” (i.e. flooding the internet with so many negative reviews that they misrepresent the percentage). number of critics and viewers who liked it). You are all welcome here.#RingsOfPower @LOTRonPrime #MiddleEarth #Samwise @ElijahWood @BillyBoydActor @DomsWildThings @DonMarshall72 https://t.co/w2tdZ4nFwN pic.twitter.com/f4RsBKE9an — Sean Astin (@SeanAstin) September 7, 2022 Córdova , an Afro-Latino actor from Puerto Rico, is the first person of color to play a Tolkien elf, and yet for the past two years, he has been inundated with “pure and evil hate speech” on social media, he told Esquire. “I fought so hard for this role for this very reason,” he said. “I felt like I could carry that torch. I made sure my elf was the most elf, the most amazing, because I knew this was coming.” Nomvete also anticipated a hateful reaction to her casting him, especially since she is also the first female dwarf in a film adaptation of Tolkien’s work. She told the Daily Beast that she is primarily focused on improving representation in the realm of fantasy. “People of color exist in the world. And so it seems to me totally crazy that we don’t exist or can’t exist in the world of fantasy, of all places.” Other cast members have defended each other: Morfydd Clark, who plays the elven hero Galadriel, told Inverse that fan claims that the series deviates from Tolkien’s original ideas are unfounded. “This idea that anyone can know exactly what (Tolkien) would have wanted or what he would have liked is, I think, nonsense,” he said. Córdova thanked Astin and Wood for supporting the cast of “The Rings of Power.” “We belong to Middle Earth,” Córdova wrote.