Let’s let JRR Tolkien speak for himself on matters of adaptations, purity and bigotry.

First off he encouraged expanding the Legendarium “with paint and drama” Tolkien was born in apartheid South Africa and was acutely aware of racial inequities. Let him shut down a lot of the recent nastiness himself:

https://twitter.com/theoneringnet/status/1307343318980812802

Breaking Bad is trending because it’s the anniversary of its debut. That show single-handedly redefined the TV era as we know it now. It changed things.

Amazon’s LOTR is written by the same writers. BB was a mid-tier performer for AMC and not a big popular show for the first couple seasons. So Netflix scooped up the rerun rights fairly cheap.

Then people discovered the show, binge watching this incredible look at an unwinding of a poorly paid teacher.

Today in 1937, The Hobbit was published featuring a tale of dwarves and a Baggins from Bag End. It was an instant hit, selling fast with publishers clamoring worldwide to get localized editions. 1/ The USA and UK got it day & date, but the US edition had an error: Chapter VII mistakenly titled Chapter VI.

But it was Germany that was surprisingly receptive to the book, imported or bootlegged. Tolkien was quick to find a local printer.

In Germany.
In 1938.

Millions of fans have returned to LOTRO - Lord of the Rings Online - during this pandemic, finding both escape and familiarity. It's Free-To-Play so theres nothing stopping you from finding a company of dwarves to befriend.

But what about the Second Age of Middle-earth? well.... Amazon announced a while back an online MMO for their LOTR license, do be developed by Chinese game kings Tencent as a cross-platform console/PC/mobile game. We have a date: September 2022, plenty of time to be related to the billion-dollar Amazon TV series.

Tolkien trending in Brazil in part because of the false idea that LOTR is a Scandinavian white story. Laughable at best, a total bastardization of his work at worst. Tolkien intentionally NEVER DESCRIBES RACE in LOTR, the closest he gets is Aragorn having a dark complexion. 1/5 “I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White." - JRR Tolkien, in his own words, denouncing any conscription of his stories to a specific race. 2/5

If we really are getting #ReleaseTheSnyderCut and #ReleaseTheAyerCut - two auteur filmmakers working at the top of their game whose franchise films were altered beyond recognition by Warner Bros studio execs - then we need to have a frank conversation about THE HOBBIT. Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT was probably the first tentpole that WB studio execs meddled in to ruin. Everything you hate about the film is from studio notes. When they got away with it on The Hobbit, #JusticeLeague and #SuicideSquard were next. Execs drunk with power.

NEWS FROM BREE: Amazon’s @LOTRonPrime series began its online marketing in GRAND GEEK STYLE with Fantasy lover’s favorite trope: a MAP of Middle-earth with details trickling in daily. LET’S EXPLORE THIS 🗺

“I’m acquiver with anticipation!”
- Bilbo

A THREAD by @Quickbeam2000
/1 The silence from Amazon had been deafening for many long, dry months...

Since their first slam-bang press release we haven’t heard any news, nor casting announcements, nor anything beyond the reveal of the two young writers newly assigned.

THEN THIS!
amazon.com/adlp/lotronpri…
/2

[BREAKING] We have confirmed from multiple sources that @AmazonStudios new billion-dollar #LOTR series will open its first season centered on a young Aragorn.

Let's discuss whats available and how this opens up Tolkien's Legendarium. A thread. #Tolkien
/1 Firstly, we must stamp out any remaining confusion:

From the first press release, we know this so-called #LOTR series will NOT be a retelling of the events of the War of the Ring. #BeenThereDoneThat

Instead it will be Appendices based and cover a lot of time and history. /2

One major thing missing from superhero movies is fear. Nobody is ever scared of what they see.

In LOTR everything is terrifying Look at the reaction to a Balrog in LOTR vs Surtur in Marvel. Every trailer, TV ad and line of dialog instills fear of the LOTR 🔥 demon