05/12/2023
Most black people will tell you, when they heard the phrase, “tall dark and handsome” they would think, oh that is describing a black man. But so many of us have had the rug pulled out from under us by white “linguists”, “scholars” or “booktok”. “Thats not describing their skin” they have said, “it’s describing their hair.” Imagine being able to see yourself in a story but having racism “gatekeep” you from that fantasy. Thats how i felt for SO long as an ardent Lord of the Rings fan.
On the one hand, descriptions of “swarthiness”, “ruddiness” or the like (think fair, beautiful, light) when it comes to “good guy”characters in Tolkien’s work couldnt possibly be describing a person with brown or black skin. But conversely descriptions of darkness…Concerning characters aligned with Morgoth, Sauron or the fell things of Arda IMMEDIATELY have to be people of black or brownskin tones. Within the PJ film verse, characters like Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli are immediately identified as “white”…Even though, for example, Numenoreans are described on several occasions as “swarthy” or darker of skin, Characters from Harad, Umbar or that have aligned with Sauron are clearly depicted as brown or darker skinned.
White supremacy has long held the idea that “white is right”And darker skin has some correlation with being of lower moral value. Tolkien’s inspiration for many of the ancient cultures in Arda come directly from black and brown cultures of the real world so its foolish to gatekeep these characters of light and lore as “white only”. Descriptors of “fair” or “beautiful” can EASILY be applied to black and brown people both in skin tone and in deed. To say otherwise is a symptom of white supremacy. This is not to say all the characters of Middle Earth are black and brown. Nay, i say we belong in Middle Earth too, equal shareholders in a Fantasy meant to give a story of hope and the undying perseverance of man.
Whiteness does not get to keep all “goodness” for itself and force the “darkness” upon people of color. I actually just now realized while typing this thread that their are emojis for darkskinned elves and im crying all over again. We belong in Middle Earth too🧝🏾♀️🧝🏾♂️🧝🏾