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

The War in the North

If your only experience with Tolkien’s work is Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, you may not know that there were other conflicts going on during the War of the Ring. While Aragorn, Gandalf and all the rest were fighting off Sauron’s forces around Gondor, Galadriel, the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and others were doing their part elsewhere in Middle Earth. These are their stories.

In the North, Sauron’s Easterling allies assaulted the Elvish kingdoms, assisted by orcs. Legolas’ father, Thranduil, fought the Battle under the Trees in Mirkwood, while in Lothlorien, where the Fellowship took refuge after Moria, Galadriel held off Sauron’s forces. Both pale in comparison to the second Battle of Dale however, which pitted 200,000 Easterlings against the men of Dale and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. That’s some serious action.

While the events of the War in the North are detailed, they aren’t that detailed, so Amazon could inject its own flavor. At the same time, it would get to work with familiar characters like Galadriel, Thranduil and the dwarvish King Dain. Budget-wise, this series would be fantastically expensive. However, if they stick close to actual events of Lord of the Rings, they’re more likely to pull in people who are already fans of that story.