I have only roughly skimmed the rest of this very tedious discussion, but it's obvious that the
Middle-earth counterparts of these (often portraied as)
evil, dark Svartalfr - if you absolutely want to look for them - are the
Orcs. These are described by
Tolkien as dark-skinned and are vicious perversions of the (light)
elves. (Although he later mused that perhaps they are more likely descended from humans.)
But in other fantasy worlds like the Forgotten
Realms there would be an even better counterpart, namely the Dark Elves / Drow (Drizzt Do'urden etc.)
But they do not exist in Middle-earth.
Apart from that, Tolkien of course also has the "Elves of the Darkness" / Moriquendi, who are also often referred to as "Dark Elves". Everybody who is familiar with Tolkien knows that this has nothing to do with the color of their skin, but with the fact that these Elves have never seen the light of the
Trees of
Valinor (especially when there were only stars as light sources in Middle-earth).
As far as lore goes, I would find it halfway acceptable if Amazon plausibly deduced in the series that this Arondir is descended from an Avari tribe that migrated from Cuivienen to
Harad very early in prehistory. However, there is no evidence of that in the
books. One could imagine it, though, under certain circumstances.
But in the series it's clearly stated that he's a "Silvan
Elf", and this makes no sense other than being motivated by modern, political, left-wing reasons like "incluisivity" and "representation".
Then add to that the fact that this black elf has an illicit relationship with a single white mother. And there's also a scene shown where the black elf is chained somewhere with one leg. Could it be any more obvious? (By the way, I would bet that the Numenroic queen will also be cast with a black actress.)
I think politics should be kept out of book adaptations, whether you are pro or con. But here we get a perfidious combination of leftist identity politics and cultural appropriation.
And leaving aside the skin color of the Amazon Elves, even if Arondir was white, he would still look like a modern cosplayer. To a similar extent, our two teenagers
Elrond and
Galadriel don't look like Middle-earth elves, but like modern humans with attached pointed ears in a more or less good medieval festival / LARP costume. Amazon-Galadriel is also not really Galadriel of
Lorien, but rather Galadriel of Orlean aka Joan of Arc (who died with only 19 years).
vs.
Apart from the moronic explosion in the background, as you know it from 90s action movies: These are such striking similarities that I almost really believe they have confused Lorien with Orlean, as it's almost the same letters.
I'd say even Lego Galadriel looks more true to the book.
All in all, these are several factors that destroy immersion. I absolutely don't understand how other people who claim to be Tolkien fans can overlook this. But okay, that's up to you. I just think it's unfair when everyone who sees this critically is immediately called an "istophobe" by the media and in general.
en.m.wikipedia.org
thetolkien.forum
