Fans were upset before they’d seen the first episode of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. There are many reasons fans are mad. Tolkien Scholars suddenly discussing transgender narratives in Lord of the Rings made fans suspicious. Some allege Tolkien scholars were bribed by Amazon. Also, an actress, Sophia Nomvete, boasted that she was the first female dwarf. She’s wrong. Several women play dwarfs in previous Tolkien movies. The production team gas-lighted fan claims that if they didn’t like the direction the Rings of Power was headed they were racist.

Within the scope of Critical Race Theory is the concept that whiteness is the ultimate property and that it conveys value and privilege to those born with it. Also, encapsulated within this theory is the idea that whites do not help blacks out of a sense of justice or fairness, but only to avoid confronting their own racism, to avoid criticism, or to make themselves look good.