It seems that there is a lot of arguing already about the presence of black / mixed-race hobbits, dwarves and elves in the series.
I know this will probably be a sensitive topic but I imagine this kind of debate will be rumbling on and on as the series approaches, with a backlash against the perceived 'wokeness' of the series. I do have concerns about the series playing fast and loose with the established lore, but I think skin tone is probably the least of those worries based on the information we're getting out of the Vanity Fair article and other set leaks/rumours.
The 'debate' seems to already be polarised, with those who have genuine concerns simply being called racist (which I suspect, sadly, is true in many cases). To be clear, I understand that it's important to have a diverse cast for a series coming out in 2022, so I'm not at all bothered about them casting non-white actors - all I'm hoping to see is that is in keeping with the original lore.
I'm worried that the discourse around this is going to lead to anyone having legitimate doubts about the story being cast as racist, although this is probably more of an issue with the polarised nature of arguments in the social media age, which I won't get into here as it's probably been done to death.
I do think they had an opportunity to show some of the lesser discussed cultures in Middle-Earth - Easterlings (probably inspired by middle-eastern, Asian cultures) and Haradrim (Arab and/or African). One of the criticisms of the Tolkien works is that these cultures are aligned with Sauron, and there is a perception that dark-skinned = evil. I think it could have been a good opportunity to explore this, since those people are presumably not evil by definition, but had been corrupted by Sauron. This could have been a chance to show those people resisting evil, perhaps aided by the two wizards who (in later iterations of the story) travelled East and South in the Second Age, and could have been a more organic way to include a diverse cast and tell new stories.
Concerning hobbits, the harfoot tribe are described as "browner of skin" so I can understand that choice. I think it's more likely that Tolkien intended this to mean brown/tanned rather than black, but I don't have a problem with that at the end of the day since you could definitely argue that it's in keeping with the written works. The bigger issue is the presence of hobbits at all in the Second Age, or rather the interaction of hobbits and elves/men at that time.
There are dwarf clans that originate in the far Eastern parts of middle-earth and again it's conceivable that they could be non-white (although probably more likely to have middle-eastern or Asian features if you think of that world as analogous to ours). Don't have a problem with that either and, canonically, the Eastern dwarves did travel West due to the threat of Sauron (albeit in the Third Age).
Also, there's quite a bit of backlash about the female Dwarven character not having a beard. Firstly, a lot of this is probably a proxy argument for those who are not happy with her appearance for other reasons, sadly. Secondly, it looks to me as though there is a beard of sorts anyway.
Maybe it's a bit more of a stretch to have a dark skinned elf (Arondir), given that the origin story of the three original elven clans is well fleshed out, and that the LoTR appendices specifically mention the elves being fair skinned. However, given the time that passed since the Awakening of the elves and the late-Second Age (I don't think this is confirmed anywhere, but would seem to be the timeline of the series given that Isildur is going to be in it), it's not inconceivable that certain Avari elves may have travelled southwards and could have ended up with darker skin tones. Roughly 7000-8000 'solar years' would have passed between the elves awakening and the late Second Age, which *I think* would be enough time to adapt/evolve to those conditions.
One (lore) issue I have with the character of Arondir is that he's mentioned as having a forbidden love affair with a human. There are three known unions between elves and humans in the stories, and such unions are supposed to be rare in-story. Each one resulted in world-changing events.
I suppose this will depend on the execution of their story, and whether it would result in a new line of half-elven, which would be a significant departure from the source material.
Another issue is the description of Elrond as being 'politically ambitious'. I don't think that is true at all given what has happened in his life up to that point. I suppose that could mean almost anything, but my worry is that they turn him into a Littlefinger-esque schemer.
There are also some rumours of Galadriel having a brother who leads a band of orcs. Galadriel's brothers were all killed by the end of the First Age (although technically one was re-incarnated and living in Valinor). Whether it's the re-incarnated brother transplanted into middle earth and turned evil, or whether it's a brand new long-lost brother (more likely), I'm hoping they don't go down that route.
I think Amazon are probably on a hiding to nothing with the die hard, lore obsessed fans (although I suspect that's isn't their target audience), primarily due to the scarcity of information on the Second Age which means they'll necessarily have to fill in gaps. I don't think they have the rights to any First Age stories, which I would love to see adapted on screen.
Broadly speaking, even the most die hard fans accept that the Jackson portrayal is pretty good, even though certain characters are actually quite different compared with their book portrayals (Frodo and Aragorn, for example). Realistically, this is probably because those films are their first experience of the Tolkien legendarium and so it would be interesting to hear if older fans who had read the books prior to their release have a different view on that.
I suppose at the end of the day it will come down to the story telling - since good story telling (LoTR films) will mean they can get away with some departures from the source material, whereas bad story telling (Hobbit films) means that those departures are egregrious and jarring.
That said, I did enjoy the Shadow of War games, although Tolkien would be rolling in his grave at some of their takes on the source material (looking at you sexy Shelob
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Hopefully all these concerns are proved completely wrong, because I've always wanted more of this story. I just hope they do it justice and it doesn't turn into another late-era Game of Thrones.
