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

The Rise and Fall of Númenor

The island kingdom of Númenor plays an important role in Tolkien’s mythology. Created by the Valar (Tolkien’s gods) as a reward for Man’s help defeating Morgoth, Númenor lay off the west coast of Middle Earth, and was the greatest kingdom of Men in all of Tolkien’s writing. The island was first settled by the half-elf/half-man Elros (brother of Elrond), and was initially a peaceful, powerful nation. The Númenóreans assisted the elves in their fight against Sauron, and while that worked for a while, they eventually moved on to colonizing and conquering large swaths of Middle Earth. Eventually, Númenor descended into tyranny. When Sauron rose yet again (he does that a lot), the Númenoreans sailed to Middle Earth in such might that Sauron surrendered without a fight. Or at least, that’s what the Númenoreans thought.

Sauron, now a captive on Númenor, rotted the place from the inside, turning its citizens to the worship of his former master Morgoth. The last Númenórean king, completely enthralled by Sauron and fearing his own death, assembled the greatest military force ever seen in Middle Earth and sailed for Arda, the home of the Valar, intending conquer the land of the gods. Not to be outdone, the Valar called upon help from Eru, the supreme being of the universe, who sunk the fleet, collapsed Númenor into the sea, destroyed Sauron’s body, and removed Arda from the material world. However, some Númenoreans saw the writing on the wall and fled to Middle Earth before things got crazy, where they founded the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

A series covering the rise and fall of the most powerful kingdom of Men would make for quite a story, even if it would end on — or soon after — a downer. Covering the 3,000-year history of Númenor would be a challenge, to say nothing of the budget, but they could always just focus on the Fall and talk about the history in passing. As for money, Amazon’s plenty.