Some racist backlash has hit The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power even before it came out after a Black Puerto Rican Ismael Cruz Córdova was cast as an elf and Morfydd Clark didn’t seem “feminine” enough because her character wears an armor.
Talking to Time, Payne points out that Tolkien didn’t even specify a race for the elves, just a description that says “creatures of dull and lumpish nature that had no more language than beasts.”
Weber lashed out a much direct hit to the trolls saying, “We’re all up for criticism. We’re not up for racism.”
Ismael Cruz Córdova, himself, didn’t have a smooth journey being cast in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He got rejected, not just once, but auditioned again to be cast as an elf, reigniting his childhood dream of playing one but he was targeted by the trolls for being a Black Puerto Rican.
Córdova said in the same interview, “I didn’t see myself represented. And when I said, ‘I want to be an elf,’ people said, ‘Elves don’t look like you. When I heard about the character on the show, it felt like a mission.”
Morfydd Clack who plays young Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power defended her character, “I didn’t read the books and think, ‘I wish there were more female characters,’ because I just took it as given that that was the way things were.”
Clark added, “I’m standing on the shoulders of women who spilt metaphorical blood to get to this point. I hope young people, should they watch this, will think, ‘This is just the way things are.’”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power proudly banners a star-studded cast with Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Sir Lenny Henry, Owain Artur, Maxim Baldry, Robert Amarayo, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Nazanin Boniadi, and Morfydd Clark.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power cast also includes Trystan Gravelle, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Sara Zwangobani, Benjamin Walker, and Daniel Weyman.
