TheOneRing.net was first to report on Lenny’s role<\/a>, with the earliest rumors being someone of short stature (dwarf king? proto-hobbit?) which eventually landed on Harfoots<\/a>, one of Tolkien’s three “tribes” of early halflings appearing in Middle-earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lenny might have said a bit more than Amazon Studios would have liked, but core fans can appreciate everything he said in which many of the previous rumors are now validated, including potentially Galadriel’s leading role in the overall series:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For the last two years I’ve been working on Lord Of The Rings<\/em> and it’s an extraordinary thing, it’s the biggest television show that’s ever been made, in terms of money and head count. Literally, a hundred people on set glaring at you and trying to work out what you’ll look like four feet tall\u2026 I’m a Harfoot, because J.R.R. Tolkien, who was also from Birmingham, suddenly there were black hobbits, I’m a black hobbit, it’s brilliant, and what’s notable about this run of the books, its a prequel to the Age that we’ve seen in the films, its about the early days of the Shire and Tolkien’s environment, so we’re an indigenous population of Harfoots, we’re hobbits but we’re called Harfoots, we’re multi-cultural, we’re a tribe not a race, so we’re black, asian and brown, even Maori types within it. It’s a brand new set of adventures that seed some of the origins of different characters and it’s going to take at least ten years to tell the story. Because it’s based on “The Silmarillion” which was almost like a cheat-sheet for what happens next in this world in the Second and Third Ages. And the writers have a lot of fun in extrapolating it all out, and it’s going to be very exciting. There’s a very strong female presence in this, there’s going to be female heroes in this evocation of the story, there’s going to be little people as usual.”<\/p>– Lenny Henry, on BBC Radio<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Sir Lenny Henry was one of the biggest casting announcements<\/a> from Amazon as a respected comedian, author and thespian, creator of Red Nose Day<\/strong> and the Comedy Relief<\/strong> charity programs. Sir Lenny holds a doctorate in media representation and is an absolute icon of both the British stage and the world of comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bringing it back to J.R.R. Tolkien, Sir Lenny’s casting as a Harfoot aligns with the very brief descriptions of the antecedents of those halflings we met during The War of the Ring. Both Tolkiens (J.R.R. and Christopher) acknowledge that while Men & Elves kept records of history, those records were only related to people they encountered, opening the door to halflings or other folk staying “undiscovered” for centuries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Quite literally; the Professor mentions in Appendix B: The Tale of Years for the Third Age Year 1050<\/strong>: “The Periannath are first mentioned in records, with the coming of the Harfoots to Eriador.” Which immediately begs the question of how many centuries the Harfoots were not mentioned in records, being overlooked by others who took it upon themselves to bother to record any history. To quote our earlier rumored report<\/a> of Harfoots:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/lenny-henry-before-weight-loss-1530099022.jpg\")
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