What should Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel series be about? Here are 13 ideas

But before we get to that, let’s briefly hit some of the highlights of Toklien’s mythology, so we have some context for what Amazon could make of it. Tolkien divided the history of Middle Earth into four “ages,” each with distinct and major events.

• The First Age concerned the creation of Arda, aka the world, by the gods. The gods created Middle Earth, the seas, and all that good stuff. They also made men and elves. One of the gods, Melkor, got salty and set himself up as a king in Middle Earth, where he came to be known as Morgoth. He fought against the elves, and against men, for the next few hundred years before getting banished from the material plane.
• The Second Age focused on the continuing conflict between the forces of good and evil, with Morgoth’s servant servant Sauron causing all kinds of trouble for elves and men. He also made a bunch of magic rings that would become very important in…
• The Third Age sees the Elves diminish in power, while Men contend with a returned Sauron. This is when The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings go down.
• The Fourth Age, of which Tolkien wrote very little, mainly concerns a peaceful reordering of Middle Earth after the passing of Sauron.

Where will Amazon begin its quest for total television dominance? Here are 13 ideas, ranked in no particular order because they’re all just that good: