Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Races: Men, Part 2

The Men in my illustrations for Part 2 look drastically different from the Men of Part 1. While the first group of Men is perceived as white or European-coded by modern readers, the second group is perceived as non-white or people of color. A major concern, even controversy, for critics of Tolkien’s work is that the text contains racist material, to which I agree, or that the text itself is inherently racist, which I would argue against. This ground has been trod over multiple times with a plethora of essays arguing for both sides. Many of these arguments struggle to separate the perspectives of fictional, in-universe characters from the perspective of the fictional version of Tolkien acting as a translator from the perspective of real-world Tolkien writing the book, and after writing that convoluted sentence, I can see why. While I do not have a PhD in Tolkien studies, I have completed plenty of research in related fields where I do have higher level degrees.

Prior to this project, I studied a wide range of English-language literature and nonfiction from the 16^th through 21^st centuries published by authors from every continent—including scientists working in Antarctica!—in addition to translations from ancient languages data as far back as the late 12^th century BC. What I have learned through these readings is that all languages change rapidly, what an author presented in the text can be understood only within its historical context, as even the most visionary writers are products of their time, and translators inevitably distort the work to better align with their own lived experience and understanding of the world.

With all this in mind, I will continue to interpret The Lord of the Rings through a post-colonial lens. The following illustrations are based on portraits, costumes, statues, and other visual and written materials from real-world cultures which I have meticulously studied and yet do not belong. I am attempting to show the cultures of Middle-earth as they would want to be shown. I will use interpretations made by Elves, Dúnedain, and their allies as described within the text with the knowledge that this information was provided by colonizers who neither understood nor sought to understand the Indigenous inhabitants of Middle-earth, although relations between these groups of people improved by the end of the text.

Throughout the story, long-time enemies of Númenórean colonists, who had arrived from the West, pushed back from east to west. They turned to god-like figures from the same West who promised better lives should the people turn to the Shadow. Tolkien claimed to take influence from nothing, yet his works are all too familiar with the idea of a charismatic person from the West pitting formerly colonized people against an imperial empire which seemed to reserve democracy for the minority already in power. In Middle-earth, the Valar Melkor and the Maiar Sauron and Saruman led their Men of Shadow against Númenóreans and their Dúnedain descendants. In the real-world, the works of Karl Marx spread into Russia, China, Korea, and Vietnam, triggering cultural revolutions that destroyed irreplaceable heritage and took millions of lives, while Adolf Hitler influenced not only the Third Reich in Germany and across Europe but also Imperial Japan during World War II. The ideologies themselves are not under scrutiny; instead, Tolkien emphasized the loss of free will in those who blindly followed the powers advancing these ideologies.

With this in mind, I designed empathic portrayals for the Men of Shadow, showing them here in their civilian clothing rather than war gear, as they would appear in peacetime after the Ring was destroyed. I will also show an ally of the Free People, who I have styled as Men of Elder Days, indicating their ancient origins. Through these portrayals, I hope that readers will critically examine the text to determine how it might be affected by the biases of the original author, where this was the in-universe character, Tolkien as fictional translator, or Tolkien as real-world writer.

Men of Elder Days

Drúedain

This group received many names, most of which seemed rooted in prejudice. Elves and Dúnedain of Gondor called them Drúedain in Sindarin, meaning “wild men”. Rohirrim called them Púkel-men in their language, meaning “goblin-men” or “troll-men”. In Westron, they were called the equivalent to woses, a Middle English term meaning “wild men”. Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey pointed out in his book, The Road to Middle-earth, that a road called Woodhouse Lane, a park called Woodhouse Moor, and a woods called Woodhouse Ridge were located not far from a building of professor offices at University of Leeds where both he and Tolkien had worked, and he proposed that the word was a corruption of woodwos from Middle English. A bored but imaginative professor might stare out the window and imagine wild men dancing out of the forest.

While designing Drúedain, Tolkien appeared to have combined two distinct groups of people: ancient hominins living in Europe, and woses from Middle English legends. The ancient hominin route created an interesting thought experiment: what if instead of slowly dying out around the time of Homo sapiens arrival in Europe, early humans like Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and Denisovans (no established taxon) coexisted with anatomically modern humans?

A similar concept existed in medieval Europe, which transformed the satyrs of Greek mythology and fauns of Roman mythology into woodwoses, hairy people who lived in the woods. It is entirely possible that medieval travel writers were attempting to describe chimpanzees or had encountered a person with hypertrichosis, a skin condition where the entire body is covered with thick hair. However, Tolkien’s woses have little hair except for the top of their heads, although a few men have a tuft of hair on their chins; as described in Merry’s perspective, “the hairs of his scanty beard straggled on his lumpy chin like dry moss” (The Return of the King, 103).

A third option, and one I have not yet seen explored elsewhere, emphasizes the similarities in description between Drúedain and Dwarves. Both were described as “a strange squat shape” compared to Elves and Men, were “short-legged and fat-armed, thick and stumpy”, and spoke in “guttural” voices (Return, 103). Men and Dwarves canonically did not share a common ancestor; Dwarves were prototyped by the Valar Aule and brought to life by the creator Ilúvatar, while Ilúvatar alone created Men after awakening Elves. However, the drastic difference in body type between Drúedain and all other Men suggests Dwarfish ancestry, not unlike the potential Petty-Dwarf ancestry of Harfoot Hobbits.

Detractors of The Lord of the Rings cite Drúedain as being the “noble savages” stereotype, and when considering the in-universe treatment of these characters, Rohirrim aligned with this train of thought. Rohirrim leaders Théoden and Éomer talked down to and interrupted Ghân-buri-Ghân even as he attempted to assist them in defeating Orcs, not so unlike how Arvedui last king of the Arnorians spoke down to Men of Lossoth in “(iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur”. Merry described Drúedain in exoticized terms, emphasizing that their appearance did not align to standards of beauty set by the dominant cultures of Elves and Númenóreans.

However, Ghân-buri-Ghân showed agency and did not allow this disrespect to pass without comment. Unlike the story in Lossoth, where Snowmen were ignored despite their good advice, Ghân-buri-Ghân reminded his new allies that his country supported the free will so revered in Middle-earth and were competent at their work: “‘Wild Men are wild, free, but not children’” (Return, 104). While the character is not written as he would appear today, the reader must also consider the authorial intent of the books: an ancient document of a previously lost culture translated by an academic throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

Drúedain wore only grass skirts in the original text. However, in an effort to appeal to a general American audience, I have given Drúedain women grass tops with long, braided hair. Americans seem significantly more squeamish about non-sexualized nudity than the rest of the world, as I learned while listening to an episode of Detours: The Antiques Roadshow Podcast called “Let’s Get Naked”. Elsewhere in the world of animation, the 1998 French-language film Kirikou et la Sorcière (Kirikou and the Sorceress) was considered controversial in the United Kingdom and United States for depicting realistic West African clothing: young children wore nothing, men wore short skirts, and women worse long skirts. Providing somewhat more clothing to woses than what they might actually wear seemed like one battle I would not have to fight.

Finally, while not shown here because these Drúedain are happy, their eyes turn red when provoked to anger. This has its own set of motifs from Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index: Remarkable eyes (F541), “eyes remarkable as to color) (F541.6), and person has red eye (F541.6.2). Illustrations of red-eyed Drúedain will appear in future posts.

Men of Shadow

Dunlendings

The most discussed controversy surrounding Men from Dunland, a country located southeast of the Shire and Bree-land, west of Lorien, and north of Gondor and Rohan, came from descriptions in Frodo’s perspective in Book I during “Chapter IX: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony” and “Chapter XI: A Knife in the Dark”. He referred to a specific southern traveler as “a squint-eyed ill-favoured fellow” (The Fellowship of the Ring, 176), “squint-eyed southerner” (Fellowship, 182), “Bill Ferny’s squint-eyed companion” (Fellowship, 203), and “a sallow face with sly, slanting eyes” who “looks more than half like a goblin” (Fellowship, 204). Other southern travelers were not described this way and receive the same treatment as the Bree-land population. Some Tolkien scholars regard this as anti-Asian sentiment, although Tolkien himself seemed not to hold such views. In an article on “The Squint-eyed Southerner” published in the monthly fan magazine Beyond Bree in May 1990, Christopher Tolkien argued that his father meant “the man didn’t look straight… suggesting craftiness” and emphasized that American English and British English treat the word differently: Americans tend to use the word to mean “narrowed eyes”, while Brits tend to use the word to mean “looking obliquely” or “looking askance”. All of these arguments appear to be valid interpretations of the text.

What I have not seen previously discussed is the “when you point one finger, three fingers point back at yourself” effect appearing throughout Tolkien’s writing. If Frodo had a Scandinavian phenotype, as his Icelandic name and “fairer than most” appearance implied, he would likely have almond-shaped eyes, not to mention that in the initial scene, he was “sitting alone in a corner, listening and looking around” (Fellowship, 176), eavesdropping on the other patrons. He could be considered as “squint-eyed” as the Dunlending man using both definitions of the term. Additionally, his Stoor Hobbits ancestors “dwelt between Tharbad and the border of Dunland” (Fellowship, 4) before returning north to settle in Bree-land and later in the Shire; being the least shy of Men out of the three Hobbit breeds. With this historical knowledge, along with their physical description being “broader, heavier in build’ (Fellowship, 3) with larger feet and hands than other Hobbits, they might have shared common ancestors with Dunlendings.

At any rate, my depiction of Dunlending culture blends Scandinavian and Manchu cultures, two radically different groups of people who live thousands of miles apart. This layering allows me to convey the dual natures of those inside the tavern being Medieval Europeans with the Southerners still seen as “other” and unwelcome by native Bree-landers. My first exposure to Manchu culture was through brief references in John Steinbeck’s book, East of Eden, where an American-born Chinese farmer named Lee discussed his inability to blend into both American and Chinese society with his Irish American neighbor, Samuel, while giving a brief explanation on the Manchu conquest of southern China. Since I liked that book better than most of what I read in high school English classes, I figured I would learn more.

Because of this blend between East Asian and Scandinavian cultures, I represent the Dunlendings as having Manchu-style clothing with Scandinavian textile patterns. Their most notable clothing item for both men and women was called a manfu, meaning “banner dress”. The major differentiation between men and women, ages, and classes was the color and embroidery on the clothing. Young women wore red, middle-aged women wore purple, and elderly women wore blue. For men’s clothing, the color of the robe and number of embroidered figures, such as pythons or mang, correlate to their political position.

Manchu women wore their hair tucked into liangbatou, which were black, crocheted high headdresses decorated with faux flowers. Manchu men wore their hair in a distinctive bian or queue by shaving most of their head and braiding the remaining hair. These hairstyles were highly political choices controlled by law with punishments as severe as exile and execution. Manchu forced their conquered subjects to adopt their favorite hairstyle for men, while their own braids were undone by Han Chinese law, and they were forced to grow out their shaved heads under Mongol law.

Finally, I had to choose a size for my Dunlendings. A great height disparity exists between Manchus and Scandinavians, with a 2022 study measuring Manchu men at an average height of 165 cm (65" or 5'5") and a 1996 study measuring Finns at 180 cm for men (75" or 5'11"). I have decided to size my portrayal closer to Manchu height.

Easterlings

As previously described in “(iv) Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion”, Easterlings were also known as Men of Rhûn for their place of origin or Wainriders for their advanced wagon technology. Their method of fighting was akin to the Mongol Empire of the real-world, so the clothing design of my Easterlings reflects the traditional styles of Mongolia. While described as brutal and violent by their enemies, Mongols had a sophisticated yet practical fashion sense that fit their lifestyle as nomadic people who covered hundreds of miles across Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Because they moved so often, Mongols rarely owned many possessions, so whatever they wore was more important to them. Their clothes were made of felt, created by pounding wool rather than weaving it. Medieval travelers from other communities noted that Mongols often wore dirty clothing, likely because they could not carry washing materials with them, and they coated their clothing in animal fat for water proofing and wind resistance. Plus, using one’s own clothes as a napkin was socially acceptable. This was a sharp contrast to Vikings, who were known for their extreme cleanliness, and accounts in part for the strong dislike of Wainriders by Rohirrim, the Middle-earth equivalent of Vikings.

Both men and women wore a deel — a short-sleeved, knee length, felt and cotton outer jacket — for most of the day while riding horses. Underneath the deel was a long-sleeved cotton tunic and matching trousers from cotton, fur, or wool. Some wealthier Mongols had silk clothing, especially after the conquest of the Song Dynasty in Ancient China. Hats, boots, and belts were made of leather and fur. Belts were a favorite fashion accessory, with women’s belts being more decorated than men’s belts. Best friends or new political allies would trade belts to show their loyalty to one another. Boots or gutals were also highly decorated. During holidays and ceremonies, women wore boqta headdresses and added decorations to their hair. Men tended to shave their heads except for a little braid by each ear while maintaining a mustache and goatee.

When designing the eyes of the Easterlings, I initially considered blue eyes to reflect the Medieval European nature of Tolkien cultures. From Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index, the motifs “Remarkable eyes” (541), and “eyes remarkable as to color” (541.6) would fit this decision, as many Middle-earth cultures and characters were defined by their eye color: grey-eyed Númenóreans and Half-elves, blue-eyed Rohirrim, red-eyed Orcs and angry Drúedain, and brown-eyed Sam Gamgee. Blue-eyed Asians have become popular in animated media, including the Water Tribe in the children’s series Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the protagonist in the adult animation Blue Eye Samurai.

While I cannot speak on behalf of Asian viewers, I have found through my research that while some enjoy the creative liberties taken by animators, others are bothered by the depictions. Some viewers believed having blue eyes made characters seem more “White”, therefore treated as more desirable by the audience. Blue eyes also lead to exoticization, describing a person’s beauty in the same way one would treat a foreign flower or animal rather than a fellow human. However, blue-eyed people also appear in Asian media like manga and anime, which is produced by Asian creators for an Asian audience. I have chosen to create black eyes with blue flecks for the Easterlings, conveying the blending of two cultures and adding visual interest without overemphasizing the color.

Finally, the Easterlings have the same build as modern Mongolians, with the men reaching 163 cm (64" or 5'4") in height, and the women reaching 155 cm (61" or 5'1"). This low average height paired with the small difference in height between sexes, may indicate that modern Mongolians are not receiving adequate nutrition and medical care as children.

Haradrim

Also called Southrons, the most thorough description in the text came from Sam’s perspective of a Haradrim soldier killed by one of Faramir’s men during “Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit” in Part Two: The Two Towers. This man had brown skin, black braided hair with gold decorations, a scarlet tunic, and a gold collar. Interestingly, Sam described himself as “brown” (Return, 202), a contrast to Frodo’s “fairer than most” appearance (Fellowship, 189) and the fair appearance of Gondorians from Minas Tirith. Maybe this was what caused him to consider the background of Men of Shadow. From the perspective of the attacking Haradrim, they may have seen the childlike appearance of Hobbits, noticed Sam’s fascination with oliphaunts or mûmakil, and recalled the history of Gondorians keeping Haradrim sons as “hostages in the court” (Return, 356), leading them to imagine Sam was a kidnapped child. The text does not include any perspectives from Men of Shadow, so their true intention cannot be known.

The clothing I have illustrated for Haradrim was inspired by the Funj Sultanate of medieval trans-Saharan Africa. This large and diverse Islamic nation lasted from the 16^th to 19^th century along the Nile in a region known as Nubia, now modern day countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. Prior to its conquest by Funj military, medieval Nubia was ruled by a Christian kingdom called Alwa as indicated on pottery discovered by archaeologists. At the same time, the neighboring Ottoman Empire expanded across the Middle East and southern Europe. The Funj sultanate traded gold and slaves to the Ottoman Empire, which in turn attempted to conquer the smaller nation, referring to their leader as “a black slave” and his troops as “naked infidels with wooden arrows and elephant-hid shields” according to a report from 1525. The reader can now see how the racist tone describing Men of Shadow has a historical basis.

Because the Funj Sultanate combined East African and Islamic cultures, their clothing would have likely been syncretistic as well. Clothing of the Ottoman Empire was well-documented during the 19th century towards the end of Funj Sultanate. Traditional costume varied widely depending on location in the empire. The Album of Turkish Costume Paintings, now held in the New York Public Library, illustrated the variety in colors and cuts, along with the ethnic backgrounds of the people. I especially loved the extravagant hats.

As for the size of the Haradrim, they were noted as tall, and this fit descriptions of Nilotic ethnic groups living in East Africa, including Dinka, Kikuyu, and Luo. During the 1950s, American and British researchers conducted a study to measure men from the area, calculating an average height of about 182 cm (5'11"). Unfortunately, this study used antiquated language and at times treated its subjects more like animals than people; the language used in The Lord of the Rings was comparatively less distressing. In 1995, another study recorded men in a Nilotic community who had immigrated to Southern Sudan due to war. This group included Dinka, Nuer, Anuak, and Shilluk men who averaged in height between 172 cm and 176 cm (68-69 inches or 5'8"-5'9"). While their height decreased due to lack of adequate food and healthcare, they remained some of the tallest and thinnest people.

Just as the people of Middle-earth distinguish between the “brown” people of Near Harad and the “black” people of Far Harad, modern Sudan also has a diverse population. My Haradrim man is from Near Harad, and his clothing is similar to the Ottoman-inspired outfit worn by the Harfoot Hobbits who once lived with the Dwarves. His red blouses are expertly layered to show the many colorful cloth designs. His traditional şalvar or Turkish trousers are baggy at the knees but tight at the waist and ankles. Other important garments include his knee-length coat or çepken, an imperial turban or kavuk sits atop his head, and comfortable shoes on his feet.

My Haradrim woman is from Far Harad, so she wears a kanga, an East African dyed cloth. The name means “guinea fowl”, similar to a large chicken with a colorful head and spotted body, and it comes from 19^th century Swahili. The single-cloth dress is similar to the tunica of Imperial Rome and chiton of Classical Greece, except that the wearer does not use pins to secure the shoulders. I added the faces of oliphaunts to the cloth design, as they seemed to be the favorite animals of Haradrim. She wears an extra cloak over her shoulders and braids her hair, just like the Haradrim soldiers in the text. Her feet are covered by the long kanga but likely bare.

Lossoth

As previously mentioned in “(iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur”, the Snowmen or Men of Lossoth lived in an icy region to the north of Eriador. They are classed as Men of Shadow despite their kindness towards the Arnorians because their ancestors, Forowaith of Forochel, served the fallen Valar Morgoth, who was the predecessor of Sauron. The people of Middle-earth have a real problem with forgiveness, something not so uncommon in the real-world.

The cold weather technology of the Snowmen suggested that their culture blended Scandinavian and Inuit or Tlingit ways of life. This cultural blend already exists in Greenland, where Indigenous people wear traditional fur parkas atop colorful knit sweaters. I have incorporated the Scandinavian sweater patterns into the hem of the parka and the pants of both Lossoth people. Their fur-trimmed hoods match their boots, which reminded me of the trendy Ugg boots from the early 2000s.

The trickiest decision for the design was determining the height of my Snowmen. According to charts on the website Our World in Data, European scientists have measured the height of several Inuit peoples since the early 1900s: Canadian Inuit were recorded as 164 cm (65" or 5'5") in 1906, Alaskan Inuit were recorded as 170 cm (67" or 5'7") in 1910, and Fox Basin Inuit were recorded as 166 cm (65" or 5'5") in the 1970s. Meanwhile, a more recent study on the height of Finnish men from 1996 listed them as averaging 180 cm (71" or 5'11"). To account for this discrepancy in height between two real-world cultures inspiring fictional Snowmen culture, I will design the men at an average height of around 173 cm (68" or 5'8"), which is similar to the other cultures I have designed.

Finally, the Men of Lossoth have the same design of blue-flecked black eyes as their Dunlending relatives. In this case, I recalled the trope of “Color Coded Elements”, where blue eyes stand for water and ice. Animations featuring this design include Elsa from Disney’s Frozen franchise, Jack Frost in Rise of the Guardians, and members of the Water Tribe in the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Once again, I steered away from fully blue eyes to prevent the exoticization of Indigenous-coded characters but maintained enough color to reference the blend of two cultures.

Read past installments of Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical

• New Project Announcement
• Introduction by Peter S. Beagle
• Foreword by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Introduction to the History of Animation
• Prologue, 1 Concerning Hobbits
• Introduction to Maps
• Races: Hobbits
• Perspectives on the Sea
• Prologue, 2 Concerning Pipe-weed
• Prologue, 3 On the Ordering of the Shire
• Prologue, 4 Of the Finding of the Ring
• Prologue, Note on the Shire Record
• Introduction to the History of Musical Theater
• Introduction to the History of Documentaries
• Introduction to the History of Conlangs
• Introduction to the Appendixes
• Overview of Appendix A “Annals of the Kings and Rulers”
• Appendix A, I The Númenórean Kings, (i) Númenor
• Appendix A, I The Númenórean Kings, (ii) The Realms in Exile
• Appendix A, I The Númenórean Kings, (iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur
• Appendix A, I The Númenórean Kings, (iv) Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion
• Appendix A, I The Númenórean Kings, (v) The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
• Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Races: Elves
• Appendix A, II The House of Eorl
• Appendix A, II The Kings of the Mark
• Races: Men, Part 1