LOTR On Prime: Timeline of The Second Age

THE PURPOSE OF THIS INFOGRAPHIC

With Amazon's new show in the works, tentatively titled, "LOTR On Prime", you might be wondering what the show will be about. What content is available for them to use? Where are they getting this from? Will characters from the Lord of the Rings films be in it?

This timeline was created to answer and visualize many of these questions, designed with the casual fan in mind. It is an infographic illustrating almost everything that takes place in The Second Age, which is when the show will take place (we say "almost" because, inevitably, there's always something else that could be included).

WHAT IF I ONLY KNOW THE MOVIES?

The Lord of the Rings takes place during the Third Age of the world. While this is certainly the most iconic story that J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote, he also built an extensive world beyond that of The War of the Ring. The Amazon Prime show will take place primarily during The Second Age, which many events go on to influence what happens during The Third Age and the war against Sauron.

Tolkien outlined events during this time period, but didn't have detailed narratives like he does for much of The Third Age, leaving Amazon lots of creative freedom to fill in those gaps, hopefully consisting of a compelling and gripping story and characters.

Being thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, only a few major characters from that time period appear during The Second Age. Elrond, Galadriel, and Sauron are chief characters in LOTR who will have roles during this time period, although there are other minor characters from LOTR that will also appear, who perhaps will have larger roles during the show (such as Gil-galad, Círdan, Elendil, and Isiludur to name a few).

WHERE IS THIS INFO FROM?

The Lord of the Rings: Appendix B, and The Silmarillion, Akallabêth, were the primary sources used. We also pulled select information from The Lord of the Rings: Appendix A, The Silmarillion: Ainulindale, the LOTR Wiki, and we also referenced an infographic created by Jeff Sala summarizing major events during the Second Age (which can be viewed here). Other sources were used to cross-reference information as well.

It gets dicey when certain things are found in places like The Unfinished Tales, because it doesn't seem that Amazon necessarily has access to some of that material, but much of it was included if it had relevance to the LOTR films. It also gets tricksy when there are conflicting reports (ex: it is generally accepted that the Istari appeared in TA 1000, but there is one mention of them arriving sometime during The Second Age. This is not included in the infographic). We also didn't include a full list of every king of Númenor, for example, and kept it to major kings who had a role in shaping the events of Middle-earth.

We hope you enjoy the result, and that it inspires you to learn more of Middle-earth, and gets you excited for Amazon's #LOTRonPrime show.

WHERE ARE THE HOBBITS?

Great question! You know the movies, and you know we've already said it was designed with you in mind, but obviously you see no mention of Hobbits, Baggins, The Shire, or anything of the sort. That's because: they don't exist yet. Hobbits won't really appear in Middle-earth until well into The Third Age.

Who knows, if people love what we've made here, maybe we'll do a timeline of The Third Age eventually (and The First Age, that'd be fun).

APPENDIX T: BEHIND THE SCENES TO THE TIMELINE

This originally wasn't meant to include every single detail of The Second Age. When I was doing my own research, I was already familiar with the time period from reading The Silmarillion, but I was surprised to see no clear visual representation of the events. I wanted to create an infographic timeline of events where you could follow the individual races, but also see how they interacted with one another. 

I went through several drafts, eventually landed on an idea, and then reached out to a close friend of mine who knows design work and also loves all things Lord of the Rings. Thankfully he was super excited to co-create with me, because he added so many subtle layers that made it feel more "Tolkien" and "Lord of the Rings" than anything I could have created alone. As we continued to develop it, more information was being added, and we decided to "hone in" on the idea of creating it for someone familiar with the movies, but looking to grow in their knowledge of Middle-earth lore.

As we began finalizing the infographic, we realized we didn't include the Dwarves at all on the timeline. This was because originally, I never thought of it as being all encompassing of The Second Age, it being mostly just the stuff that I found interesting. But now that we were considering those who knew the movies but not much else, it made sense to add them. Thankfully we did, and it truly brought a fullness that was missing. We hope you enjoy the result, and that it inspires you to learn more of Middle-earth, and gets you excited for Amazon's #LOTRonPrime show.

WHO MADE THIS?

Just a couple of major Lord of the Rings fans. We've been friends for over a decade, and our love for the LOTR films and all things Middle-earth only grew as our friend group bonded over them in college together, and it's come to represent our friendship ever since. First and foremost we created this timeline for us to enjoy because of our love for Middle-earth and the bond its given us, but we're excited to now share it with you.

Interested in buying a print? Check out our Full Size Version Print (5ft+), "Hobbit Size" Version Print (4ft) and Digital Download on my Etsy shop!