So recently I have not been online much due to a mix of ill health and real life events. It’s no bad thing to take a break of course but predictably as soon as I went back online I saw that Magic the Gathering was trending. Never a good sign. So, ignoring all wisdom and common sense I took a look and saw the below.
Now after the recent Hogwarts’ Legacy/Silvervale/Pikamee mess I genuinely thought we had reached the bottom of the barrel what with people pinning fake suicide’s on streamers playing a game; but it seems that I was wrong. We can it seems get worked up over a small piece of card.
Now I do not play MTG and there are plenty of valid criticisms that can be levelled at the owners of the IP (price, stuffing its own lore down the tubes to sell cash in sets, quality etc) but this one seriously made me have to choose between chortling, weeping for humanity or projectile vomiting in disgust at some of the views. For those not aware the card is from a new Lord of the Rings set for MTG and shows the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen. All nice and canon so what’s the problem? Well it seems the usual ‘guardians again left wing pollution’ (their words not mine) have taken umbrage to the depiction of Aragorn as being a person of colour. The ‘complaints’ and believe me I am using that term very loosely include:
- It is not loyal to the source material
- Aragorn is whte
- Mixed race undermines racial purity
- It’s been done just for ‘woke’
Now I am not going to even dignify number three other than say that anyone who believes that abhorrent view need to frankly take a long hard look at themselves and the real world.
But what about one and two? I am not going into number four directly because its a pointless debate. The set has been released to make money and any decision relating to it is to further that goal. As for woke or not; in my view in corporate speak it is box ticking with the goal of furthering profit.
So what about the source material and is Aragorn white?
Source material
The first introduction to Aragorn is in the Prancing Pony in Bree and it is below:
Well not very helpful to either side to be honest. You have a description of a scruffy travel worn man frankly and not much else. Indeed there is not a better description through the remainder of the Lord of the Rings other than two other references, ‘fair’ and ‘pale’. The problem with these? They are both adjectives and not a noun i.e. they describe a colour rather than being one themselves and in respect of ‘fair’ it also has other meanings in classical English.
Tolkien was a linguist and his prose is precise and off a style which is lamentably long dead but at the time of writing ‘fair’ had a number of different meanings in respect to people. It could mean pale or light but it could also mean pleasant or nice to look at. A fair maiden referred to a beautiful and innocent woman and I think this is the meaning which Tolkien is attributing to Aragorn i.e. he is handsome. This is supported by the line from Aragorn,
What then about ‘pale’? Well this is an adjective used to describe a colour so pale white, pale pink, pale brown all mean a lighter tone. Technically it is referring to the amount of pigman in relation to color rather than a colour itself. In modern parlance it has come to be interpreted as meaning white or cream in respect of ethnicity but there is absolutely nothing in Lord of the Rings in my view that suggests it has to mean that.
So Aragorn being pale and fair? It’s totally ambiguous and open to interpretation and for me there is nothing to say that Tolkien wrote Aragorn as a white man.
Tolkien’s intentions
Well given that the man is dead this is a tough one. I will say at this point that I do think the character was written as a white man; but this is not for any reason relating to race. Tolkien grew up in an environment which was almost exclusively caucasian; the people he met regularly would have been caucasian because that what Britain at the time. As a result he would undoubtedly have been influenced that way. When coupled with the fact that his personal interest was in nordic and anglo saxon myths I can see why he would be influenced to use a caucasian character. This is not racism by any means; it is simply a reflection of society and world view. Had he been born and written fifty or sixty years later then I suspect the characters would be different as all the evidence about the man suggests he was very much a person who treated people equally and saw the truth; that evil and unpleasantness is not differentiated by skin color.
Does it even matter?
Honestly? No.
Aragorn is an iconic character who is very much defined by his intentions, actions and nobility. Indeed ethnicity and gender play little part in the Lord of the Rings. So for me this depiction is simply that. A depiction. What I will say is that I do not actually like the card itself as I find the depiction of Arwen to be rather mundane and the whole piece to be a little too busy. That’s not to say I don’t admire the artist’s skill; but I envisage Arwen as more ethereal than this piece portrays her. Each to their own though.
Equally the issue clearly does not matter to the Tolkien estate. Given how fiercely they protect that IP; I very much doubt they would have agreed to the artwork if they thought it was counter to what Tolkien intended or would damage said IP. If they are happy to sign off on it then that is more than good enough for me.
Conclusion
If you had told me growing up that the culture wars would reach the level of arguing over the skin colour of a fictional character on a small piece of card in a collectible card game I would have laughed at you. It seems though that this is where we are with the perpetually online extreme right and extreme left knocking lumps out of each other and everyone else sitting in the middle wishing both sides would go away and find a new hobby.
As for Aragorn? Well its entirely up to you in my view as unless someone can find something which lists Tolkien saying he is one or the other then it is for your imagination. If you are someone who finds other people’s imagination offensive then can i suggest you stay offline, go outside and also simply not buy the product.
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