Next month will be the release of Magic the Gathering‘s Universes Beyond expansion for Lord of the rings. The Tales from Middle-earth card game will say the makers of Wizards of the CoastBring unprecedented variety to the endlessly revamped franchise.
Lord of the rings: Tales from Middle-earth will be fully revealed on May 30th when the CCG game mechanics are revealed. But that announcement was preceded by the very good news that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and Middle-earth Enterprises (MEE) plan to make the Third Age a far more representative lifetime.
That means not everyone is white. And if you feel the need to write a comment about the ethnicity of the Scandinavian nations that inspired you… now just close the article and continue. Your blood pressure is bad enough as it is.
Luckily, for those whose imaginations can somehow handle magical walking trees and real-life dragons, but not the varying levels of melanin in the characters’ skin, there are still plenty of bright white fantasies to find solace in. But for LotR: ToME (as I’m sure it will be called) WotC nervously declares that there will be an exception.
“This new update was a conscious decision made in collaboration between Wizards and MEE,” WotC’s statement said, “and was guided by two guiding principles.” They are “diversity” and “originality.”
diversity: Lord of the Rings is about how the diverse peoples of Middle-earth come together to fight Sauron and find strength in their diversity. Fans of all backgrounds have enjoyed these stories, characters, and locations for decades, and we wanted this set to reflect that deep integration.
Originality: The aim of this set is to express the story and setting of Lord of the Rings through Magic the Gathering Countless previous efforts have painted vivid pictures of this world, but our goal is a modern interpretation of the work of JRR Tolkien, lovingly crafted for an ever-growing fanbase.
It makes me quite sad how hesitant the company’s contribution seems to feel like it needs to pitch the idea, and how they almost resort to code words to placate an imaginary hostile audience. “Some characters may appear different than previous depictions – and that is by design,” the quoted passage reads. The word “may” is weird there, almost like they’re playing it safe and just keeping things a little ambiguous. “Will” would have been much better. Because they will.
But then, with sudden confidence, it continues: “We hope that more people will be reflected in the characters and that players and fans will find great joy in telling these familiar stories through gameplay.”
Yes! Huge joy! Because that’s what it’s all about: to reflect yourself in the media we love. What wonderful news!
The example cards revealed so far are simply stunning, inclusive beautiful cards that perfectly capture the look of the original books. And then there’s the awesome gimmick, a single expression of a unique foil card “The One Ring”.written in the Black Speech of Sauron, found in the first edition of the English language Collector Boosters.
We should hear a lot more on May 30th, via Pull out And youtube.
