Wizards of the Coast recently revealed that their upcoming The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth crossover Magic: The Gathering set will depict Aragorn as a black man. This set is part of MTG's Universes Beyond product line, and is set to release on Q3 2023.
Previously announced during Wizards of the Coast's Magic Showcase 2021, the upcoming The Lord of the Rings-themed set lets players team-up with iconic characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novels, including “Gandalf, Gollum, Frodo, Aragorn” to “battle for The One Ring, scheme with Saruman, or journey to the heights of Mount Doom.”
The latest update about the set comes from this year's Wizards Presents event that took place on Aug. 18. The livestream presentation touched upon the WotC's entire catalog of upcoming products, including Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.
Freelance host Sydnee Goodman teased the set's 2023 release with the assurance that the company's design team had “worked closely with Middle-earth enterprises and dove deep into the source material to make sure to get it just right” and that “the cards and art in the series will have all the flavor and history of the trilogy”.
Goodman also shared a preview of some of the upcoming set's art, including the first look at Magic: The Gathering's depictions of the Balrog and Frodo. The presentation also revealed new card treatments called Borderless Scene cards. These cards have their own individual art, but when put together at their edges, they form larger art pieces depicting scenes from the books. One of the artworks is an 18-card illustration of The Battle of the Pelennor Fields from Return Of The King.
However, upon the reveal of the MTG cards depicting the latter event, fans immediately noticed a significant divergence from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien - rather than having “a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey” and “a pale stern face”, as described in the novels, Aragorn was depicted as a short-haired black man.
“On their own, they are glorious pieces of art,” said Goodman, “but put them together, you can see the entire story as if turning pages in the novel.”
Here's what Wizards of the Coast content manager Adam Styborski said,
“The folks at Middle-earth Enterprises take their roles as stewards very seriously, and every decision about characters has been made with deep reverence to the original. With that in mind, together we set out to make a set that follows two guiding principles: diversity and originality."
Of the first goal, he explained: “The Lord of the Rings is about the different peoples of Middle-earth coming together to fight Sauron, finding strength in their diversity. We want to make this appealing story fresh and relevant to an even wider audience.”
As for the second goal, he said, “The goal of this set is to express the story and setting of The Lord of the Rings in cards for Magic: The Gathering,” noting that while “countless prior efforts have painted vivid pictures of this world, our goal is a modern take on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, lovingly crafted for a new generation of players and fans.”
In addition to revealing details about The Lord of the Rings-themed set, Wizards also announced that Doctor Who is also getting a crossover set.
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Magic: The Gathering's The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth is set to release on Q3 2023. You can read more details about the upcoming set on MTGRocks.com.