Amazon Prime’s “Lord of the Rings” series set to release in 2021 has been eagerly anticipated by devoted LOTR fans around the world. The $1 billion series will be set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, which spans 3441 years, before the events of the LOTR movies.
Unfortunately, it looks like the creators of the series, which they claim is based on J.R.R Tolkien’s original work, may be trying to imitate “Game of Thrones”-type nudity and “rapey” storylines. This, no doubt, will delight the left, who have long detested Tolkien’s writing and distinctive Christian influence on popular culture.
According to TheOneRing.net, the casting agency for the series put out an open call for actors who “must be comfortable with nudity.” In addition, Amazon Studios has hired an “intimacy coordinator,” and the writer and producer from “Game of Thrones,” Bryan Cogman, has officially been hired as a consulting producer.
“Game of Thrones,” made by Amazon for Amazon, could not be more different from Tolkien’s beloved, classic books about Middle Earth, so of course, LOTR fans are worried.
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Tolkien’s award-winning epic fantasy trilogy has sold more than 150 million copies, acquired a cult- following, and was voted the favorite novel in England, Australia, the United States, and Germany. It has also been dubbed “the #1 most influential fantasy book.” Tolkien, a medievalist scholar, is widely considered the “father of modern fantasy.” He was also a devout Catholic, which may explain why there are no sex scenes in any of Tolkien’s classic works.
Tolkien’s books were deeply religious and purposeful. As David Platt wrote in a “Standpoint” article, “Tolkien combined his extraordinary talent for story-telling and philology to communicate conservative and Catholic values and images through his captivating fictional tales of Hobbits, Elves, Men, and Dwarfs.” “The Lord of the Rings” is, as Tolkien said, “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work…”
This isn’t to say that Tolkien’s stories are not grim and sometimes gory. They are. Tolkien’s legendarium is often dark, but always meaningful. Tolkien said to his publisher that he desired his Legendarium to be presented as “‘high,’ purged of the gross.”
The award-winning Peter Jackson film trilogy is widely considered one of the best film adaptations of all time and grossed a $2.9 billion at the box office worldwide.
New Line Cinema’s train wreck “The Hobbit” trilogy departed from Tolkien’s intentions. “The Hobbit” trilogy is based on Tolkien’s 300-page children’s book of the same name. There was simply not enough source material in the original book for three two and half hour movies. Although “The Hobbit” movies were not hyper-sexual, they did invent some unsolicited romance, new characters, and plot points. These film adaptations of “The Hobbit” did not recreate the innocent, fantastical spirit of Tolkien’s original book.
Many fans have been anxiously awaiting Amazon’s new series ever since rumors began circulating that the Tolkien Estate has “veto power” over production. Indeed, the Tolkien estate had the power to force Amazon into only recreating the Second Age. That way the TV series would not be able to retell the movies. However, how much power the estate has is unknown.
There was also hope for a faithful adaptation when renowned Tolkien scholar and author, Tom Shippey, was brought in to help the creators with the map of Middle-Earth. Unfortunately, Shippy is no longer working with the Amazon series.
As Platt pointed out, the left wins political battles “through the domination of institutions, the professions, culture and received thought.” The “social conservatism of Middle Earth” is one of the few things in pop culture that is antithetical to the left’s worldview and goals. Naturally, then, the left has employed their usual tactics to take down Tolkien and his Legendarium, pronouncing “The Lord of the Rings” racist, sexist, and non-inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.
Fortunately, they have been pretty unsuccessful, and Tolkien’s work prevails. Radical feminist Germaine Greer wrote: “It has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the 20th century. The bad dream has materialized.”
Hollywood realized they could not ignore Tolkien’s popularity. They recently released a film about his life that totally ignored his Catholic faith, which profoundly influenced his work, and disregarded his conservative political and social views.
It is obvious the left has it in for Tolkien and his work. This could not stop a major company like Amazon from wanting to profit off Tolkien’s hugely popular Legendarium.
While Amazon is looking for a cash cow series, it appears pop culture is trying to defile Tolkien’s work from within, and what better way to undermine Tolkien’s message than to reimagine his stories in secular terms? From their point of view, it makes perfect sense to recreate the Second Age into a sexual paganist series to succeed “Game of Thrones.”
The left is already cheering on the beginnings of the presumed assassination of Tolkien’s legacy. The leftist “NY Magazine” ran a story this week headlined, “Give Us the Horny Lord of the Rings Show We Deserve.” “Are we sure that an overwhelmingly erotic Middle Earth experience is such a bad thing,” read the article. “Make the elves get a little freaky. Allow the hobbits their fun. Give a new meaning to the inscription on the West-door of the Mines of Moria: Speak, friend, and enter.”
Tolkien’s books are beautifully written. They reveal greater layered truths about humanity, life, purpose, prayer, and the meaning of death through a Christian prism. In “The Return of the King,” Sam says, “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”
We should fight for the world Tolkien created. It is a remaining glimmer of hope in our otherwise bleak and God-less culture. If the series becomes secularized and sexualized by the left, Tolkien fans should register their displeasure by not watching it. Tolkien fans have an obligation to “defend” the popular and culturally influential Tolkien legacy against, as he said, “the malice of its enemies.”
