Whereas the First Age saw great Elven kingdoms rise to prominence, the Second Age saw the
rise of Men, who established great realms across the world, while the Elves slowly lessened
in number and importance, with many leaving Middle-earth for the paradise of Valinor.
Taking a wider view of the world, the next three and a half thousand years saw much war
and strife, largely as a result of the second Dark Lord Sauron and the other former servants
of Morgoth.
In the west, the Valar, Maiar and many Elves continued to live in peace, watching over
the rest of the world, but interfering as little as possible.
Although Manwe, King of the Valar did grant his Great Eagle scouts permission to occasionally
lend aid to the Children of Eru.
Reporting on events outside Aman, some believed the Great Eagles were maiar spirits, while
others say they were animals whose intelligence was elevated by the Valar, and may even have
been conceived by Manwe when he sang in the timeless halls.
Moving east, the Kingdom of Numenor populated by the Dunedain, prospered throughout much
of the Second Age, becoming the greatest realm outside Valinor and creating a vast maritime
empire as their sailors explored and settled the many lands of this world.
Though little is known about the continents south and east of Middle-earth, it was possible
Numenor formed colonies on these lands which were lost to history.
Within Middle Earth, most of the more advanced Eldar Elves remained in the northwest of the
continent, while the descendants of the Avari continued to populate the east, progressing
in their own way but remaining far less developed then those who journeyed west and took part
in the wars against Morgoth.
Then there were the Dwarves who remained in their mountains, largely isolated from the
rest of the world, while non-Dunedain humans spread all throughout middle-earth, unable
to match the grandeur of Numenor, but nonetheless establishing their own realms and civilizations.
Trading and interacting with the Eldar Elves and Dunedain, the Middle-men made their home
in the north west, as did the rival Wild Men of Dunland.
Further east near and beyond the sea of Rhun, lived various sallow and olive skinned peoples
known collectively as the Easterlings, while in the south the dark skinned Haradrim tribes
developed into expert horsemen and beast masters, eventually training great elephants for war.
After the defeat of Melkor in the First Age, Sauron started to question everything he believed
and even offered his surrender to the Valar.
Yet his thoughts always returned to the power and influence he held under Morgoth, and ultimately
refused to face judgment, instead following in the footsteps of his master by escaping
to the east where he procured a base of support among the Easterlings, and later Haradrim,
using threats, gifts, coercion or whatever was necessary to secure their allegiances.
As a result both Morgoth and Sauron were considered gods or great kings throughout much of Middle
Earth, with Sauron even responsible for creating the Cult of Melkor which eventually infiltrated
Numenor.
Although Sauron gained influence over the east and south, he needed a more cunning plan
to defeat the powerful elves and their allies in the northwest, and so tricked the Elves
of Eregion into forging 19 rings of power, while he secretly created a master ring imbued
with part of his spirit, allowing the One Ring to have influence over the other Rings
of Power.
One ring to rule them all.
Although each of the rings of power held magical properties, the One Ring was beyond them all
as it allowed Sauron to exert power without depleting his lifeforce, as his strength was
preserved within the ring.
However, this benefit also came with danger, for if another being with sufficient will
and ability took the ring for themselves, they too would increase in might to such an
extent they could rival the dark lord.
Yet the worst consequence came if the ring was destroyed, as Sauron’s physical form
would be lost and his spirit diminished to the point where he could no longer interact
with the world.
Should the ring be in the possession of someone other than Sauron, it’s powers were still
greater than all the others, as it allowed the bearer to augment their natural abilities,
increase their lifespan, turn invisible, see the spirit realm, influence those around them,
control the will of others, halt decay and generate prosperity in the surrounding area.
Yet it also had negative effects, corrupting the mind of its wearer and tempting them with
visions of their greatest desires to create such an obsessive attachment to the ring they
could never hope to destroy it of their own volition.
However, the ring itself could chose to abandon the wearer, making itself larger to slip off
their fingers and await a new owner.
If that was not enough, the One Ring was also impervious to all forms of damage and could
therefore only be destroyed in the fires of mount doom where it was created.
Fortunately for the Elves, they were powerful enough to recognize the corruption of the
rings and went to war with Sauron, who eventually recovered all but the three most powerful
rings, which were given to great Elven Lords for safe keeping.
With the destruction of Eregion in the War of the Elves and Sauron, Celebrimbor was killed
and so Lord Elrond, who arrived from Lindon with reinforcements, led survivors to found
the city of Rivendell further north.
Sauron then granted 7 rings to the 7 dwarf kings while giving nine to great kings and
sorcerers of men.
Although the dwarves resisted his influence, the nine men became powerful obedient servants
of the Dark Lord.
And while their bodies decayed over time, their spirits lived on, tied to Sauron and
the One Ring, becoming undead ringwraiths or Nazgul, led by the Witch King of Angmar.
Making his home in the land of Mordor, Sauron gathered massive armies of orcs and eventually
conquered much of middle earth, but suffered a significant setback when the armies of Numenor
arrived, defeating and humiliating him, before taking him captive back to their homeland.
Yet while Sauron was in fact militarily defeated, he endured this humiliation gladly, as he
formulated a new plan to infiltrate and corrupt numenor from within.
Succeeding in his efforts, he eventually convinced King Pharazon to invade the Undying Lands
of the west.
In the year 3319 SA, Ar-Pharazon’s armies arrived in the Undying Lands causing the creator
Eru to unleash his terrible power, swallowing the ships of the king’s great Armada beneath
the waves, while their warriors were buried under falling hills, trapped within the forgotten
caves until the final battle at the end of the world.
The island of Numenor meanwhile, sank into the sea while the continent of Aman physically
detached itself from their previously flat world, now made round, populated with new
lands and seas.
As a result of these changes, travel to the Undying Lands was impossible for all save
the Elves, who were granted access through a hidden Straight Road.
This great cataclysm led to the deaths of nearly everyone on Numenor, though some few
who remained faithful to the Valar were sparred and fled east founding the Kingdoms of Arnor
and Gondor near their Elven allies in Middle-earth.
Although Sauron’s body was killed, his spirit retained power through the one ring and so
he returned to mordor and started raising new armies for conquest.
The final confrontation of the age occurred during the War of the last Alliance, when
the elves under King Gil-Galad allied with the humans under High Elendil, formerly of
Numenor as well as the Dwarves of the Misty Mountains to defeat Sauron and scatter his
armies.
Yet while Sauron was again physically destroyed, and his spirit diminished because he lost
access to the one ring, he still held power and influence so long as the one ring survived.
As Elendil was killed while fighting the Dark Lord, his son and heir Isildur took possession
of the One ring, and was quickly corrupted, refusing to destroy it, though he was soon
killed and the ring lost for over two thousand years in the river Anduin.
The survival of the ring allowed Sauron’s spirit to once again flee into the east and
start it’s campaign of conquest over from the beginning.
Thus began the Third Age, with Elves further receding from a place of prominence in Middle-earth,
while humans continued to grow in number.
Though the last High King Gil-galad died in the War of the Last Alliance, other wise,
powerful elves took over leadership of their people, with Cirdan remaining Lord of the
Grey Havens, while Elrond ruled over Rivendell, King Thranduil in the Woodland Realm and eventually
Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn in Lothlorien.
The Avari meanwhile remained in the east, but slowly spread further west, with some
eventually meeting and mixing with the Silvan Elves.
Though Dwarves largely continued their pattern of minding their own affairs, the third age
saw a number of wars and tragedies strike the seven Dwarven kingdoms, as they fought
dragons which coveted their wealth and waged a terrible war trying to wipe out the orcs
of the misty mountains.
Though the Dwarves resisted the influence of Sauron, it was believed the rings of power
nonetheless contributed to the devastation they faced as it made them greedy and reckless
in their pursuit of wealth.
As for humanity, many Easterlings and Haradrim continued to serve Sauron, as did other peoples
like the Variags of Khand and Corsairs of Umbar, participating in wars primarily with
Gondor, developing great animosity between them.
However, support for Sauron may have been less than it might have, were it not for the
Order of Wizards, 5 Maiar sent from the Undying Lands to help defeat the Dark Lord in the
Third Age.
Although Gandalf the Grey, and Radagast the Brown largely focused on the North west of
the continent, Saruman the White and the two blue wizards travelled the east and south,
doing what they could to combat the Dark Lord’s influence.
Knowing that Sauron was once a faithful Maia, like the wizards, the Valar understood the
temptations awaiting them, as they would be surrounded by beings incapable of magic, and
so could easily use their powers to make themselves kings.
Elevating this threat even more, was the possibility that a wizard might take the one ring and
succumb to its corruption, becoming yet another Dark Lord seeking the conquest of middle-earth.
In order to minimize this threat, the Valar forbid the Istari from overt use of their
powers or facing the Dark Lord directly, and had them take the form of elderly men, so
they could offer council to Elves, humans and dwarves while appearing as equals.
The most prosperous human realms of the Third Age, Gondor and Arnor were populated by the
descendants of Numenor, and became close allies to the Northmen, descended from the Middle-men
who eventually founded the Kingdom of Rohan, where they became great horse-lords.
In the later years of the Third Age, the diminutive Hobbit race appeared, an offshoot of men who
made their home along the Andor river near the greenwood forest, but eventually migrated
west to found the peaceful realm of the Shire, where they lived in isolation as farmers.
For much of this Age, Sauron waited, recovering his strength and growing his support across
the continent, while also striking out at enemies through agents like the Nazgul, resulting
in the defeat of Arnor and weakening of Gondor.
Though Sauron acted in secret, Gandalf suspected his growing influence and so in 2941 TA, aided
the Dwarven king Thorin Oakenshield in reclaiming the Mountain of Erebor which the Dragon Smaug
made his home.
This was the setting for the Hobbit Novel, as Gandalf sought to eliminate the dragon,
thereby preventing Sauron from making him an ally.
Eventually, the Dark Lord returned to Mordor where he raised armies of Orcs, Trolls, wicked
creatures and human allies, culminating in the War of the Ring, when the One Ring of
Power was discovered in the possession of a hobbit named Frodo Baggins, the nephew of
Bilbo.
This then became the setting for the LOTR novels, taking place 60 years after the events
of the hobbit.
Fortunately for the free peoples of Middle-earth, they defeated the Dark Lord thanks once again
to the efforts of the wizard Gandalf the Grey, who organized and united the realms of Elves,
Dwarves and Humans in the northwest, and won the war by distracting enemy armies long enough
for Frodo to destroy the one ring in the fires of mount doom.
With the ring destroyed, Sauron’s spirit diminished to such an extent he could no longer
interact with the world.
The same occurred to the Saruman the White who betrayed the other wizards and sought
the one ring for himself while also aiding the Dark Lord.
As for Gandalf, he returned to Valinor, as did many more Elves, with their kingdoms gradually
disappearing throughout the Fourth Age that followed.
Dwarves meanwhile again remained in their mountains and were rarely seen, while Humans
thrived for many years, especially those under the reign of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor
and Arnor, ruled by King Elessar after the war, and then his son Eldarion.
Little is known about what went on in the later years of the Fourth Age and beyond,
yet prophecies claim the final days of this world would come during Dagor Dagorath, a
final battle in which Morgoth would return to invade Arda.
But he would be defeated, thus bringing an end to the world and the vision of Arda sang
long ago in the timeless halls.
What would happen after that none could be certain, but one theory stated that the Dwarves
would help Eru and the Valar build a new world populated by humans who were finally granted
the unknown destiny promised through the gift of mortality.