It must be an off day at r/lotrmemes as those are the weakest memes you've brought!Brian Earl Spilner said:
Anyways, I was wondering what anyone here wanted to discuss the upcoming Amazon show. Expectations, hopes, what you want to see, etc.
Personally, I hope they actually show the full 2,000-year span of that conflict. Utilize the opportunity afforded by immortal characters to have actual-time jumps when necessary between seasons. Those immortal characters could serve as bridges of continuity against a changing human cast. In my ideal world, these are more or less anthologies that build upon each other.
The core narratives in each season would be:
Season 1: Establish the setting. Elves recognize that evil has not been defeated, but that the world is darkening. They are looking for ways to protect themselves and their realms. Annatar arrives and assists the elves in the forging of Rings of Power. Politicking among Galadriel, Gil-Galad, Celebrimbor, and Oropher (Thranduils dad) over who can rule and whether or not they can trust this Annatar guy.
Meanwhile, Numenorians perceive the darkening of middle-earth. I'd adapt the narrative of Aldarion and Erendis in here but tweaked: Erendis favors isolationism, but Aldarion sees the need to intervene in a darkening Middle-Earth. Season Ends with Annatar revealed to be Sauron, who has forged the Ruling Ring.
Season 2: Minor Time jump, Sauron, now revealed for who he is, has been waging war against the elves. Eregion is destroyed. The aged King Aldarion sends Numenorian soldiers. We see the first signs of Numenorian jealousy of immortality and resentment of the elves, as well as poor treatments of the lesser* men of middle-earth.
During the War, Glorfindel and two old guys dressed in blue arrive. Glorfindel arrives and is welcomed back among his friends, but the blue guys disappear.
*Numenorians live for hundreds of years. They're literal supermen.
Season 3: Big Timejump. The primary focus is not Numenor, which has grown decadent and imperialistic but is now on the peoples of middle-earth caught between Sauron, who is now giving out Rings of Power, and the growing imperialism of Numenor. We could even see a character who accepts one of the Rings tragically fall into a Nazgul. Elves continue to hold the line against Sauron, who now has human armies under his sway, but many are fleeing earth. Elves continue to entreat Numenor to intervene, however now Numenor won't go to war for the sake of the elves, but will fight for the glory of Numenor.
We see those blue guys from before, who are now revealed to be the blue wizards who are trying to create resistance against Sauron in the East, with mixed results.
Season 4: Big Timejump. The long-awaited War of Numenor and Sauron. Sauron gets his ass kicked and is taken captive, where he corrupts the now prideful and imperialistic Numenorians into Morgoth worship. complete with human sacrifice. Finally, Numenor attacks the undying lands, leading to The downfall of Numenor. Season ends with the survivors, led by Elendil and his sons arriving in Middle-Earth. Post Credits: Sauron spirit is revealed to have survived the destruction of Numenor.
Season 5: The last alliance. Sauron is revealed to have survived, but he has lost the ability to create a form that isn't hideous and terrible. He makes war against the Numenorian survivors. However, he has struck to soon before he has rebuilt his strength.
The surviving Numenorians, Elves, and Dwarves unite. They slowly push Sauron's forces back, but at great cost. Now is the time that many characters slowly get killed off. Finally, Elendil and Gil-Galad kill Sauron but die in the process. Isildur takes the Ring from the dying Sauron. The Survivors part ways.
The season ends with Isildur getting ambushed and the loss of the Ring.
So that is a rough summary of what I am hoping against hope for. However, I fully expect Amazon to do something completely different. Instead, they're probably going to try to condense the rise and fall of Sauron to a single generation, rather than show Sauron ascendant for a long period of time.
