In 2017, Amazon Originals splashed into the news when it purchased the global rights to a television adaptation of The Lord of the Rings for a cool $250 million. The modern Lord of the Rings films, directed by Peter Jackson and adapted from the beloved novels by J. R. R. Tolkien, are among the most profitable and awarded films of all time, racking up $2.9 billion at the global box office and earning 15 Oscar awards (out of 30 total nominations). The importance of Tolkien’s novels can’t be understated; they are definitive works of fantasy about power, courage, and loss, mythopoeic masterpieces credited with launching the genre into the modern age.
In September 2019, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Amazon would film its series in New Zealand, where the Jackson films were famously shot (and where Lord of the Rings fans drive over $27 million a year in tourism). And then it was nothing on the new news front. But now, Amazon is finally unveiling major pieces of the puzzle, including some curious decisions about the plot and breaking from source material canon.
An official synopsis from Amazon confirms key details about the world-spanning series, including its setting. The synopsis reads:An official synopsis from Amazon confirms key details about the world-spanning series, including its setting. The synopsis reads: “This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.”
When Amazon released a map of Middle Earth as a teaser about the series last summer, captioned, “Welcome to the Second Age,” it revealed a pivotal plot clue. You see, the history of Middle Earth is divided into four ages. (You’re likely most familiar with the Third Age, the latter years of which see the action of The Lord of the Rings transpire.) The Second Age sees the rise and (temporary) defeat of Sauron, the big baddie from the original films. So the official synopsis’ reference to “the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen” all but confirms an appearance from Sauron, while the mention of Númenor suggests a storyline familiar to fans of the novels.
Fans have speculated that Amazon will tell Tolkien’s epic tale of the Fall of Númenor, given its choice to release a map that prominently features the island. During the Second Age, men with Elvish heritage settled the island of Númenor, where they became great seafarers. The Númenoreans lived in days of peace and glory until they fell under the sway of Sauron, who promised them the eternal life they coveted in the Elves in exchange for their aid in his war against the gods. As punishment, the gods transformed the formerly flat Earth into a globe. The ocean subsumed Númenor, drowning everyone on the island but Sauron. The surviving Númenoreans, who were sheltered on their ships, fled to Middle Earth, where they founded Gondor and gave rise to a long line of kings, which would one day include Aragorn.
Amazon has released a first image from the series to celebrate the wrap of filming in New Zealand. And while Vanity Fair confirmed that the image is from the show’s first episode, the identity of the person pictured remains unconfirmed. Tolkien fans suspect that the city pictured is Osgiliath, seen in the Peter Jackson trilogy when Frodo and Sam pass through on their way to Mordor, after the city had long ago been reduced to rubble. Osgiliath is a solid hypothesis, given that it was built near the end of the Second Age, and once stood proud as a reflection of Numenorean splendor. The city came under threat from Sauron’s forces during The War of the Last Alliance, making it a compelling setting for a series planning to unravel the rise of Sauron.
The image contains a major clue: two glowing trees, spotted in the distance. These trees are likely Telperion and Laurelin, also known as the Two Trees of Valinor. These trees light the known world and come to define and age called The Years of the Trees. Melkor, a big baddie from whom Sauron is descended, incites a war with the gods over his creation of the Silmarils, three jewels crafted with the light of the trees within them. The epic conflict ends with the destruction of the trees, forcing the gods to invent the sun and the moon to light the known world. This all happens way, way pre-Second Age, suggesting that the Amazon series may turn the clock back even further.
