4 Years Ago, South Park’s Longest Joke Changed a Fan-Favorite Character After Two Decades (And It Worked)

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Tolkien Black was introduced to South Park along with the other kids in the very first episode of the series, and has steadily been getting much more screen time over the years as he became a much more important part of the core dynamic for Stan, Cartman, and the other boys. To really take this even further, South Park aired an episode four years ago today, on February 9, 2022, that revealed to fans that “Token Black’s” real name was actually “Tolkien Black.” And it was a retcon that totally worked.

Tolkien Black Got a Major Name Change in South Park 4 Years Ago Today

Courtesy of South Park Studios

“The Big Fix” aired four years today as part of South Park Season 25, and with it continued the story sparked by Randy Marsh as he and Tolkien’s father started to have a back and forth with their rival marijuana farms. Stan and Tolkien started to spend more time together overall, and this episode reveals that Stan finds out that his friend’s name is actually “Tolkien,” inspired by The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien (as his father is a big fan of the notable creator). This really threw fans for a loop.

As one of the biggest long running jokes in South Park, “Token Black” was the name for the character as a way to make fun of the common trope of many stories featuring only a single Black character. Being directly named after the trope was one thing that South Park did to acknowledge that they were not only using that trope in the animated series themselves, but were going to take that even further with their comedy. Then the real payoff for this long joke came during the episode itself.

Stan reckons with the fact that he had misunderstood Tolkien’s name after all this time, and soon it’s revealed that ever other character in the show knew that “Token” was actually “Tolkien” this entire time too. This was the show’s way of gaslighting fans over the fact that they were indeed changing the character’s name officially, but did it in such a clever way that they were also able to turn that into yet another joke about clueless people who practice in micro aggressions against other races even when they don’t fully realize it. It worked on many different kinds of levels.

Why This Name Change Works in South Park

Courtesy of South Park Studios

This episode toes a very interesting kind of line within South Park. The animated series has never been completely committed to a single, canonical kind of timeline but has increasingly fit into this with more serialized stories in the latest seasons. South Park could have easily waved this away as one of the many ideas that never stuck around, but they really made it a significant change. It was a retcon in real time as Tolkien’s name was revealed to have always been Tolkien, and fans had no choice to accept it.

If there were any fans who were angry about the name change, or the fact that South Park was attempting to make such a change to a long running character, the creators can point to Stan’s confusion over it as a response to anyone who would disagree with the change. As Stan realizes he might have been subconsciously more racist this entire time than he ever thought, it’s also something that could easily be thrown onto any fans who had been confused about the change. The joke being that we should’ve known better all along.

It’s such a clever king of tightrope act that South Park really might be the only show to be able to play it out. It was a retcon happening in real time, and almost had a Mandela Effect on fans as we were gaslight into “realizing” that “Token’s” name was actually Tolkien and we just never thought to look into it. A smart way to better bring the animated series into the modern era, and it’s still just as smart four years after the fact. We just have to wait for whatever the next big change like this happens.

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