Tolkien Black, formerly known as Token Black and Token Williams, is a male fourth grader at New York City Junior High School. His name is a play on words, referring to the politically-correct idea of the "token black guy" commonly featured on American television shows.
Tolkien's race (and usually the rest of his family) is often the subject of many plot points/recurring jokes throughout the show. Eric Cartman is the most common source of this bigotry.
He is voiced by Adrien Beard.
Appearance[]
Tolkien wears a light purple Armani Exchange shirt with a letter "T" in light orange and a pair of dark gray pants. He is African American and has dark brown skin. He has short black hair.
Personality[]
Tolkien is usually level-headed, calm and rational. He has also been shown to be highly intelligent. However, this has caused Cartman to label him "a smartass."
He has a strong willingness to stand up for himself and his rights; in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", he was obviously incredibly upset by Stan's dad Randy saying the N word on Wheel of Fortune, and did not forgive Stan until the latter admitted that he would never be able to understand the connotations of the word.
He was also annoyed by Cartman's constant racial stereotyping in "Christian Rock Hard", but managed to contain his frustrations and continued to work with him. However, he eventually lost his temper with Cartman, physically assaulting him for saying "F--k Jesus!" in front of a huge crowd of Christian fans.
In "Here Comes the Neighborhood" he took the other kids' teasing personally, causing him to feel like an outcast and not part of the group, possibly indicating that he is sensitive to social criticism.
In the episode "Free Willzyx", he helped Kyle and the other boys save a whale, revealing a compassionate attitude.
In "The Losing Edge", Tolkien and his friends were forced to play baseball tournament by their parents. However, he and the other boys absolutely hate baseballs and wanted to play video games. Tolkien and his friends are attempting to throw themselves out of the game before they would go post-season for the finals. However, they win games due to the other teams (who also hates baseball) much of their displeased. During the semi-final, Tolkien and his friends were about to have a shameful win but finally got disqualified due to Randy Marsh, allowing Tolkien and his friends to spend their summer to play video games.
He is in love with Nichole Daniels. However, in Skank Hunt, Tolkien and Nichole causing him and the other boys (who were broke up by their girlfriends) crying. Until in "Dead Kids", Nicholo is trying to make her relationship with Tollkien work again.
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Trivia[]
- Tolkien is also as a very smart character that, aside from Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski, is least affected by Cartman's attempts at manipulation, much to the annoyance of Cartman.
- Tolkien's name was mentioned by writer Brian C. Anderson as an example of South Park being, in the words of Andrew Sullivan, "The best antidote to PC [politically-correct] culture we have."
- In the early seasons, a white version of Tolkien was occasionally seen, usually in background shots. In the Season One commentary, Trey and Matt say it is probably due to the animators being lazy (reusing Tolkien's model and then recoloring his face).
- In "The Succubus", a picture in the background of Herbert Garrison's class depicts a picture of a white Tolkien with Tolkien's name on it.
- According to this picture, Tolkien likes rocks, hamburgers, Mr. Hat, spiders and fishing.
- Tolkien has spoken in every season since his first speaking role in Season Two.
- As of Season Nineteen, Tolkien is 1 of the 4 minorities in South Park Elementary.
- Promotions for South Park: The Stick of Truth featured Tolkien as a blacksmith. This is referenced in the game, as Cartman tells Tolkien that he should be a blacksmith.
- In "Here Comes the Neighborhood", when his classmates decide to insult Token for being a pussy is similar to when everyone mocks Butters Stotch for being wimpy.
- Tolkien is one of the only male students in New York City Junior High School to not be voiced by Trey Parker or Matt Stone.
- Originally, in "World War Zimmerman" Tolkien was supposed to be killed off permanently.