EXCLUSIVE: 'Lord of the Rings' Race Storm — Why Students Are Up in Arms After Fantasy Franchise is Branded 'Anti-African'
The 'Lord of the Rings' is now being accused of being 'anti-African.'
Dec. 30 2025, Published 6:45 p.m. ET
The Lord of the Rings has become the unlikely center of a campus culture war after a university course branded JRR Tolkien's fantasy world racially offensive, sparking fury among students and fans who say a beloved literary classic is being unfairly recast as hostile to Africans.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the controversy centers on a history module at the University of Nottingham, Britain, which teaches students Tolkien's depiction of good and evil reflects racial bias, arguing darker-skinned characters are portrayed as morally corrupt while lighter-skinned people are celebrated.
Students are clashing over claims JRR Tolkien portrayed darker races as villains.
The course, titled Decolonising Tolkien et al, is led by historian and writer Dr Onyeka Nubia and examines how classic British literature is said to reflect what academics call "ethnic chauvinism" rooted in Western traditions.
Course materials assert Tolkien demonizes "people of color" in The Lord of the Rings, claiming orcs and other antagonistic races are victims of a long tradition of radicalized storytelling. In the core text, Nubia argues eastern peoples of Middle-earth are depicted as inherently evil, while fairer-skinned western characters are shown as virtuous.
He writes maligned groups include Easterlings, Southrons, and the men of Harad, alongside the dark-skinned orcs who serve Sauron, the so-called Dark Lord.
The text further claims Tolkien's fictional races share in a legacy of "anti-African antipathy," in which Africans are portrayed as "the natural enemy of the white man."
The module frames the analysis within the broader academic movement of "decolonizing," which typically involves re-examining established canons through non-Western or non-white perspectives.
Repopulating British Myth
Professor and doctor Dr Onyeka Nubia argues Tolkien linked moral purity with lighter-skinned characters.
Students on the Nottingham course are also taught to "repopulate" British myth and legend, with materials arguing medieval England was more diverse than commonly portrayed.
Dr. Nubia, an occasional BBC contributor, has written Africans lived in medieval England but were largely erased from literature, where "ethnic chauvinism" persisted from John Milton's Paradise Lost through Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
The course extends its critique to Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, highlighting the Calormen as an example of what some readers see as orientalist stereotypes.
In the novel, the Calormen are described as "cruel," with "long beards" and "orange-colored turbans" – imagery critics argue echoes colonial caricatures.
Shakespeare and the Mono-ethnic Past
Scholars have reignited debate by insisting medieval England was more diverse than portrayed.
Shakespeare has also been drawn into the same debate.
Dr. Nubia claims William Shakespeare's plays helped promote a "fictional, mono-ethnic English past" by omitting references to Africans living in England, creating what he calls the "illusion" of racial homogeneity.
Similar arguments surfaced publicly in 2021 during the Anti-Racist Shakespeare program at London's Globe Theatre.
At that time, contributor Prof Vanessa Corredera said: "If you put the play in context with other Shakespearean plays, and even the sonnets, this language is all over the place, this language of dark and light... There are these radicalizing elements."
Scholars pointed to the contrast between the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets as evidence.
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The class examines Middle-earth alongside criticisms of C.S. Lewis and Shakespeare.
But the Nottingham module has triggered a sharp backlash.
One academic source said: "Recasting Tolkien as anti-African is ridiculous and ignores both authorial intent and genre conventions."
A student familiar with the course said, "Fans of LoTR are up in arms because this feels like ideology being imposed on literature people love."
Another insider added students felt pressured to accept the framing to pass assessments, calling it "an overreach that turns fantasy into a political litmus test."
