J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels—and the associated “legendarium” of characters, histories, myths, maps, and constructed languages—have served as a bedrock of so-called “nerd culture” since their publication in the mid-1950s.
With its clear-cut characterizations, and (more-or-less) cleanly delineated lines between Good and Evil, Tolkien’s imagined Middle-earth—a vast and geographically variegated realm teeming with elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons, orcs, and halflings—can be fairly called archetypal. It is the sort of modern myth that can be adapted to any time, place, or scenario. Well, almost any.
Recently, the US Department of Homeland Security has taken to “Shire-posting.” That is: using quotes and imagery from Tolkien’s books (and director Peter Jackson’s blockbuster movie adaptations) as part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enrollment efforts. One meme, posted to X on Wednesday, quoted the character Merry (played by Dominic Monaghan in the films) warning his friend, “There won’t be a Shire, Pippin”—a reference to the peaceable hobbits’ verdant homeland being encroached upon by the forces of the evil wizard Sauron, and his designs to bring the whole of Middle-earth to heel.
Such mythic myopia seems widespread of late. Elon Musk took to X this week to defend British far-right figure and anti-immigration agitator Tommy Robinson, with recourse to Tolkien’s tale: “The hobbits,” Musk waxed, “were able to live their lives in peace and tranquility, but only because they were protected by the hard men of Gondor.”
Gondor, for anyone who was too busy being cool in high school to pore over the made-up histories of Middle-earth, was a kingdom of brave warriors called Númenóreans, also known as “men.” It is perhaps worth mentioning that, by the time of the Lords of the Rings unfolding, the throne of Gondor is absent, and the kingdom itself has fallen into disrepair under the shoddy care of a bunch of lazy, corrupt stewards. The so-called “hard men” of Gondor have become cowards, and quislings. More to the point, it’s generally accepted that Tolkien’s hobbits survive (and thrive) because of their humility and noble earnest virtues. Not because they had tough guy warriors running defense for them. Plenty of Musk’s reply guys pointed out that his post propagated a total misreading of the novel.
Throughout Trump’s second term, various government agencies have drawn from a well of pop culture references—from Pokémon to Halo—in a transparent effort to appear relatable, or “based.” (“Based” is an honorific typically bestowed by the right on anyone or anything brazenly sexist, racist, or otherwise “un-woke.”) But The Lord of the Rings posts scan as especially egregious—or just stupid—because they seem so antithetical to Tolkien’s work, and the worldview it expresses.
I am not super-familiar with Tolkien’s extended appendices and all the hefty tomes of non-canon Middle-earth arcana, but as enthusiastic reader of Tolkien as a boy (who had a psychedelic poster for the Lord of Rings books on his bedroom wall), I don’t seem to recall any scenes of Frodo, Samwise, Gandalf, Galadriel, and the gang ripping around in an unmarked van, wearing face-smothering neck gaiters, hassling immigrants at carwashes, and kicking down housing complex doors in late night raids. If anything, such scenes bear more direct comparison to “The Scouring of the Shire,” the penultimate chapter of The Lord of the Rings, which sees the hobbits returning home from their epic adventure to find their sleepy province tyrannized by ruffians and two-bit rent-a-cops, all in the thrall of a decrepit wizard.
