The streaming service’s critically acclaimed spinoff of The Lord of the Rings premiered on Friday, drawing 25 million viewers and an online debate between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the best selling author.
Musk had slammed the series saying “every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both.”
This sparked a fierce discussion about the new series and how faithfully it aligned with the original source material, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels and their appendices.
Musk asserted that Tolkien must be “turning in his grave” over the adaptation, with Gaiman dissing the Tesla CEO by saying he does not go to him “for advice on how to fail to buy Twitter.”
Twitter is currently suing Musk for backing out of his offer to buy the social media giant.
Gaiman then debated with fans about the show’s authenticity — including over its diverse casting — but things took a bizarre turn when one person blamed the author for “crushing his hope.”
The person replied to Gaiman’s tweet about Musk: “Nor do you listen to the fans, respect the source material, or think rationally. Even if you ignore the OBVIOUS lore issues you are causing, this is still an abomination! almost seem like a parody of LotR! I was hoping all the haters were wrong - but YOU crushed my hope - not Elon.”
A confused Gaiman, who had nothing to do with Rings of Power, sarcastically retweeted the fan.
“I’m so sorry. I have taken your hurt to heart and promise that I will no longer make any Lord of the Rings based television for any network ever,” he joked.
Some fans loved the joke saying they now wanted him to make something in the Lord of the Rings universe or wondered what other shows they could blame him for.
“Starting a petition to ask@neilhimself to commit to making Lord of the Rings based television for any network ever. Who will join the Fellowship ?” wrote one fan.
Another added: “Can we complain to you about how Game of Thrones ended too?”
Others could not understand why the Twitter user was blaming Gaiman for the series.
“I’m so confused. Did you work on LotR? Why is this person mad at you? Sorry, I’m new to Twitter lol,” asked one fan.
Gaiman simply replied: “No I didn’t. Beats me.”
The Coraline author is not the only famous person defending Rings of Power, with the original cast from the Lord of the Rings films sending a simple message to critics who say the show is too “woke.”
Elijah Wood, who played the lead character Hobbit Frodo Baggins in three award-winning films, posed with his fellow co-stars and Hobbits, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, wearing t-shirts of ears (some Elven) in various skin colors.
The t-shirts were emblazoned with the Elvish words for “You All Are Welcome Here.”
The group’s fourth Hobbit, Sean Astin, who played Frodo’s best friend, Samwise Gamgee, later tweeted a photo of his own.
Instead of a t-shirt, Astin wore a baseball cap with the same ears and message.
Astin told Newsweek, their message was very clear.
He said there’s “no mystery” behind his Twitter post, adding: “I and my Hobbit colleagues know that Middle-Earth is a place of creativity and imagination, where everyone is welcome. Period.”
