8 Stories Amazon's Lord Of The Rings Could Tell

5. The Fall Of Numenor

Sauron Lord of the Rings
Harper-Collins

J.R.R. Tolkien delivered his own spin on the Atlantis myth in The Silmarillion, telling the tale of a doomed island called Numenor and its watery fate.

The men of Middle-earth are often depicted as corruptible and power hungry, and Sauron exploits that in this tale, tricking the inhabitants of the island into invading the Elves' sacred Undying Lands.

Led by the king Ar-Pharazon, the armies of men are eventually defeated and later smited by the Elf god Eru Iluvatar, who goes full Old Testament on Numenor and sinks it beneath the waves for its inhabitants' act of betrayal.

This incident played a major role in shaping the world of Middle-earth as Lord of the Rings fans know it. The Elf god separates the Undying Lands from the mainland and the survivors of Numenor go on to establish Gondor and Arnor.

The fall of Numenor would be an ideal story for the TV series to adapt, since there's epic man-versus-Elf warfare, an appearance by Sauron in humanoid form, an apocalyptic event, and the opportunity to show fans of the movies how the world they know and love took shape.

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