With many fantasy settings and stories this wouldn't be an issue. But Tolkien was explicit, and his work is crystal clear. LOTR is a mythology of the Britons+Anglo-Saxons meant to stand in for that which was erased by the Norman invasion of 1066-. To change it in this way, then, whether out of ignorance or malice, is repeating the very same thing he was attempting to remedy: an erasure of British culture and ethnic identity. Disgusting and vile.
With many fantasy settings and stories this wouldn't be an issue. But Tolkien was explicit, and his work is crystal clear. LOTR is a mythology of the Britons+Anglo-Saxons meant to stand in for that which was erased by the Norman invasion of 1066-. To change it in this way, then, whether out of ignorance or malice, is repeating the very same thing he was attempting to remedy: an erasure of British culture and ethnic identity. Disgusting and vile.