Aragorn is Black Now And… You Know The Rest

[ElrondMcBonk]

"a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey, and in a pale stern face a pair of keen grey eyes."

[KingNazaru]

Aragorn like many other Lord of the Rings characters were regarded as having pale skin. In other words they were white. Which makes since the area they were in was based on medieval European culture. The Southrons would be considered black people. This video is not only wrong, but very disingenuous.

[darkwingduc]

Bullsh*t! J.R.R. Tolkien would turn in his grave, if he would have seen how some d*mb people misuse, disrespect and destroy his great characters of his fanatsy novel!

[SlavicHavoc]

So you're telling me that when Tolkien was creating an entire fictional universe, designed specifically to replace the lost myths and legends of North Western Europe, particularly the British, he was thinking: "The central hero could totally be black and in no way, shape, or form resemble not only the people I'm writing this for, but the actual description I put in the book."

Sure thing, pal.

[emmavarotto]

Oh for fuck’s sake!! Black Aragorn? What’s next? Black Harry Potter? Asian King Arthur??

[josequijas]

Tell me you didn't read the book without telling me you didn't read the book.

This guy:

[nenipodstatne]

Fuck Black aragorn it will always be Viggo !

[PKTraceur]

I want Stallone to play as Mike Tyson.

[robinsteeden]

You really should try reading the books before you publish a video, it only proves you are clueless, at least on this subject.

Tolkien specifically said Aragorn had a pale stern face, grey flecked hair and grey eyes.
The Numenorians that he was descended from were mostly in turn descended from the people of Hador who were predominantly blonde haired, fair skinned with blue eyes, with a smaller population who had brown haired and grey eyed with skin that varied from pale to swarthy. Swarthy is darker skin but it would mean a shade darker than pale, such as many middle eastern or North African people would have. Tolkien was very precise in his wording. When he means black, he says so. There is some confusion as he uses black as well in the sense of black-, heated or evil. I don't think that is inherent racism by Tolkien, it was a common use in writing of his era.

Both groups came from more northerly temperate regions and not the southern tropical ones. People's skin colour was originally based on where they came from and Middle Earth would not have had the level of mixture of populations and cultures that modern transportation technology has allowed in our modern world.

As you pointed out Tolkien was not racist in the sense of believing that pale skin color made you superior or that your religion could make you subhuman. But he did know what his characters looked like and he would not appreciate people screwing with his vision.

And no, I wouldn't have a problem seeing Jesus portrayed as swarthy or with paler skin as both were common in the middle eastern regions at the time. He shouldn't have black skin and kinky hair as he wasn't from subsaharan Africa, neither could he have pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes because he wasn't from northern Europe where Nordic peoples were located at the time.

[lukaarsovski]

My brother in christ, Tolkein didnt even like it when localizors published the books and had translated Hobbit to their own language, he described it as a mockery of his works and his you think this wouldnt upset him, just know, he didnt even like people to localize a name for the species he created in his no, you are false and a grifter

[Eullini]

no wonder he ran away from his responsabilities as king

[MrLucasrn]

Can we stop BLACK WASHING!? There’s nothing more pandering and pathetic than just changing a character’s skin color.

If they really card about representation then they should make good black characters.

[ThaYoungChad]

"He wouldn't have cared either way" Dude I'm sure any creator wouldn't like their characters being changed for politcal means.

[Makkaru]

⁠It’s well stated that he had pale skin. Also note they are related to the elves through the first king of Númenor who was Elrond’s twin brother Elros, AKA Tar-Minyatur. Elves. ALL had ethereally pale skin. So skin does matter and so does hair colour. It also defines which clans they are from. ;)

[enderdude]

dudes casually forgetting about key descriptions of aragorn

[The_Reaper]

It is not actually a matter of race but to those who got into the LOTR trilogy through the movies the actor did such an iconic role that it seems unfitting to imagine aragon any other way kinda like Robert downey Jr as iron man

[the_stubbs]

"He wouldnt have cared either way"

The arrogence of you people is nausiating.

[Domaister]

That's a pretty Amazonesque thing to say 'there's nothing in text...'😂😂😂😂😂😂

[optimusprinceps]

Since there are only 4 comments. I think Viggo Mortensen had the best portrayal of Aragorn.

[goodaimshield]

Tell me you haven't read the books while telling me you haven't read the books. Or worst, recognize you haven't read the books while saying "there's nothing in the text" XD Did you say that to your teachers when you failed the exams in high school too? The answer to that question was not in the text book you didn't even open up to read?