‘I don’t think they understand how important this is to me’
A Lord of the Rings fan has shared a touching post after seeing a Black version of Aragorn for the first time – and its gone viral.
Tabletop card game, Magic of the Gathering, released a set on the famous franchise in which Aragorn – who is played by Viggo Mortensen – is depicted as a Black man. Galadriel and Eowyn have also been redesigned as Black characters.
TikTok user The Ebony Warrior posted a video recorded against a backdrop of the Aragorn and Arwen playing card, explaining that it was “awesome” to see himself ‘”represented in some form of official Lord of the Rings media”.
He says: “I promised myself I wasn’t going to break down today.
“I’m trying not to… but there is something I didn’t get to say about this. We’ve seen Baranor in but he was a made-up character for the Lord of the Rings.
“I’ve never seen myself represented in Lord of the Rings before. This is awesome because I’ve never seen myself as one of the main characters before… actually seen myself represented in some form of official Lord of the Rings media.”
He went on to explain how “representation matters”, saying: “Lord of the Rings has been my favourite for the longest. I don’t think they understand how important this is to me. How much this means to me, to be able to see myself as Aragorn.”
The clip has been viewed more than 117,000 times.
A commenter who said they work for Magic of the Gathering said: “This video brings me so much joy.” They added that the video is being shared across the office.
Another person wrote: “My guy, my heart swells for you. I know how much fantasy means to me, so I’ll just I’d be proud to fight alongside you in our dreams.”
The Ebony Warrior has since made a number of other TikTok videos about the reaction to his post.
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