For several weeks now the official twitter account of the Amazon Prime Lord of the Rings series has been teasing a map of Middle Earth giving out some clues about when the series is likely to take place. As each new map was revealed, it became increasingly clear that the premise was not going to be between the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as many had speculated in the past.
The latest reveals started to uncover more and more place names in Sindarin rather than the Westron more commonly used in the maps of Middle Earth created by Christopher Tolkien. Other places were becoming significant simply by their absence like The Shire. But it wasn’t until today when the map increased in size (see the link below for the various iterations of the map) that it became clear that not only the story wouldn’t be anywhere near the Battle of the Five Armies or the War of the Ring timeline, it wasn’t even going to be in the Third Age to begin with. Indeed, the latest map reveals the presence of Númenor on the map, an Island which no longer exists by the end of the second age and the last alliance of Men and Elves.
For me the big question at this point is to figure out how Amazon worked out a deal that would allow them to set not just one story but a whole TV show set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, the time of the rise of Sauron, the glory of Númenor and its subsequent downfall. In all aspects it’s a perfect setting for a Game of Thrones style of story with plenty of epic tales but many of those are told in books whose rights are held with the Tolkien Estate still. Yes much of it is told in broad lines in the chronology inside the Lord of the Rings’ Appendixes but there’s bound to be a conflict with what’s told in the Book of Lost Tales, the Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle Earth, not to mention The Silmarillion of course.
So I am both curious and excited to see what they will come up with. Removing the story from the end of the Third Age means they can still keep it within the same world built by Peter Jackson without worrying too much about bringing back the actors from the movies (including Gandalf, arguably the most iconic of them all). Galadriel and Elrond are probably the only two we’d be likely to see, and if they recast Gil Galad and Isildur, I don’t think too many fans will be upset about it. I’m fairly confident Al-Pharazôn will be a prominent character as he was a key player in the expansion of Númenor onto the shores of Middle Earth under the poisonous counsel of Sauron but there are many more characters we could speculate about.
Are you excited about this series? Let me know what story you’d like to see from the Second Age!
