It's because people chase karma. If you post early and something witty usually you'll get hundreds of upvotes. For some people that's a better dopamine hit than almost anything.
It's only like 50 times removed since there were about 50 generations between Elros and Aragorn. But even that really isn't much closer genetically than two random strangers on earth. 50 generations is a long time to stir up the genetic mix.
They canceled the expanse and Bezos bought it because he liked it and wanted to see the end.