After months of speculation, we have finally gotten some “inside information” on Amazon’s big-budget LotR TV series. On March 7th, the official Prime LotR twitter account wrote: “Welcome to the second age” followed by a link to an interactive map of Middle Earth.
https://twitter.com/LOTRonPrime/status/1103656946509344768
Now, as some fans might notice, this map includes the island of Numenor, a setting for many an important event that took place in the second age:
_The White tree was a symbol of the kKngs of Numenor_
Another thing one might have (or any self-respecting Tolkienite should have) observed, is the absence of Barad-dur, or that Mordor isn’t Mordor yet, and that countries like Rohan, Gondor (and Arnor) don’t exist. This leads us to conjecture that the series, or at least a part of it if the map is to be trusted, would take place in the early second age, likely from SA-1350 to 1600. Coincidentally (or maybe not) when the rings of power were forged.
It might not be a stretch to think that the show would focus on the forging of the Rings of Power taking into account that Amazon started promoting the Lord of the Rings TV show by quoting lines from the Ring Verse.
For those who don’t know, and are interested, the SA was a vast time period of over 3,400 years which ended with the defeat of Sauron’s army by an alliance of Men and Elves. This means the TV show will be set well before the main events of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which took place during the end of the Third Age.
A small part of the elvish family tree, you can also see how Arwen and Aragorn are related
There’s no Aragorn in the series, sorry. But then again, you might meet his ancestors, this video explains a lot of things about Aragorn’s connection to Numenor.
The audiences may also see the rise and fall of men in Numenor, including the founding of Mordor. Aside from the end of the Third Age, One of the most important time periods in Middle-earth lore is the mid-Second Age, which includes Sauron’s rise and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The War of the Last Alliance resulted in Sauron’s defeat (as is spoken about many times in the Lord of the Rings). It ultimately ended the Second Age and started the Third Age. Read more about it here.
Battle of Dagorlad as seen in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings
Either way, we’ve got a couple of years to speculate, Amazon Prime’s LotR does not release until the end of 2020, at least. Here’s to hoping it surpasses expectations when it does!
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