Russia is using 'Lord of the Rings' to claim they're good while Ukraine is the evil Gollum

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings had many themes, though the writer explained that the main one is about escaping the inevitability of mortality. But Tolkien also made it clear he didn't think of the series as any kind of allegory, it was simply heavily influenced by his time serving in World War I.

The Daily Beast reported Sunday that Russia is using the Lord of the Rings to craft propaganda. At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his efforts were all about attacking Nazis. It wasn't a message that worked well abroad or at home, particularly after he bombed a Holocaust monument site, Babyn Yar, in Kyiv.

Now, Putin is now using a tactic often embraced by the far-right: Satan.

The top political talk show in Russia, "The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov," used Kira Sazonova of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration to spread the new propaganda.

"I’ve thought a lot about the ongoing situation with Ukraine, in terms of what modern Ukraine represents for the West. It took me a long time to find the right word, but I think I finally found it. It’s 'Gollum.' Ukraine is Gollum," said Sazonova. Gollum is the evil Middle-earth character who is obsessed with the ring but also wants to break free of it.

As the Beast's Julia Davis explained, it's an attempt to dehumanize Ukraine and paint the people as "the unclean," which is how demons, imps and those similar to Gollum are seen in Russian fairy tales.

“In the modern world, we are the embodiment of the forces of good. This is a metaphysical clash between the forces of good and evil," said the deputy of the State Duma Vyacheslav Nikonov during "The Big Game on Channel One," a Russian state television channel. "We’re on the side of good against absolute evil, represented by the Ukrainian nationalist battalions... and the American temple of Satan, located in Salem, expressed its support for Ukraine. This is truly a holy war, a holy war we’re waging and we must win.”

It isn't the first time, she recalled. Political scientist Sergey Mikheev said earlier this month that "the Ukraine God is the devil."

Read the full analysis and other ways Russia is using the same satanic imagery at the Daily Beast.