Category: The Civic Circle

Every fantasy franchise has an unbearable portion of its fanbase. But this one takes the cake. Powerful conservatives are obsessed with “The Lord of the Rings.” We know this because they name their military technology companies, surveillance firms, and venture capital firms after Middle-earth objects. Billionaire Peter Thiel has named ten of his companies after “The Lord of the Rings” objects, including Palantir, the authoritarian surveillance company of choice for the Trump regime. J.D. Vance calls himself a “Lord of the Rings guy,” Elon Musk has sharp, anti-woke views on “The Rings of Power,” and Jeff Bezos helped create this series by buying the rights to the franchise through Amazon. Even the far right in Spain and Italy identifies with “The Lord of the Rings.”

They believe they are fighting dark forces and consider themselves the heroic men of Gondor or the elves of Rivendell. Yes, that’s right: The people who help ICE disappear mothers and fathers think they’re the good guys. Worse still, they believe Tolkien’s Catholicism shares their worldview that immigrants, feminists, and global cooperation are the enemy.

Francesca investigates “The Nerd Reich’s” misinterpretation of “The Lord of the Rings” and how they’ve learned the wrong lessons from history. She examines how their behavior and beliefs are more reminiscent of Saruman than saviors. But even more, they resemble just another creature in the swamps of Mordor…