Every Villain That Might Appear In Amazon's Lord Of The Rings Series

Amazon's upcoming Middle-earth television series, currently operating under the working title of "The Lord of the Rings," is set to be the studio's biggest ever production. In 2021, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed rumors that suggested the show's budget would amount to nearly half a billion dollars, putting the final figure at $465 million for the first season alone.

Over the past couple of years, a number of details have emerged about the series. In 2019, Amazon revealed that it will take place primarily during the Second Age of Middle-earth, some 5,000 years prior to the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring. In 2021, the studio released a brief glimpse of a scene from the show, depicting what appears to be the Two Trees of Valinor towering above the Undying Lands. We've also got a substantial cast list (via The Hollywood Reporter) and a full roster of producers, directors, and writers.

As for actual plot details? Nobody's got a clue. There are a few key story beats to the Second Age — such as the forging of the Rings of Power, the fall of Númenor, and the War of the Last Alliance — but Tolkien never explored this era in much detail. There are any number of narratives the show could follow, locations it could visit, or heroes it could spotlight. One thing you can bet on, however, is that it'll be awash with the nastiest villains and monsters Middle-earth has ever known. Here's every villain that might appear in Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings" series.

Where Sauron goes, the Nazgûl are sure to follow. The Black Riders are among the most notorious villains in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," and the Amazon series' creative team are unlikely to pass up the opportunity to include them in their own story. Luckily, the Nine are very much active during Middle-earth's Second Age. Described by Tolkien as "kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old," each of these powerful men were gifted a Ring of Power, thereafter obtaining "glory," "great wealth," and "unending life." Before long, however, they had become twisted into Sauron's servants, forced to walk unseen in the realm of shadows. As Tolkien writes, "Darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death."

Peter Jackson touched on the roots of the Nazgûl (and the Witch-King of Angmar in particular) in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," but the actual fall of the Nine has never been depicted onscreen. Unsurprisingly, Amazon hasn't exactly been forthcoming about the involvement of the Ringwraiths; as such, we have no idea who could be playing them, what they might look like, or how much of their story we'll get to see. But considering the Second Age is the era in which they first fall to darkness — as well as the fact that three of them come from Númenor, where much of the series is certain to take place — it's probably fair to say that they're very likely to make an appearance.

At the end of Book Five of "The Return of the King," Aragorn and his compatriots are confronted by the Mouth of Sauron, a devoted messenger and servant of the Dark Lord. Although he appears only briefly, Tolkien chooses to give the Mouth of Sauron a little expository background in "The Lord of the Rings," writing that "he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named the Black Númenóreans."

The Black Númenóreans are among the cruelest men living in Middle-earth during the latter Second Age, having emerged from the anti-Valar faction known as the King's Men. Before the destruction of Númenór, they embark on imperial campaigns in Middle-earth, establishing "lordships" in the southern regions of Umbar and Harad; after the Downfall, they openly ally with Sauron in his war against the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.

If Tolkien's writings are anything to go by, a Black Númenórean could make for a pretty terrifying antagonist. In "The Return of the King," it's said that he gains favor with Sauron thanks to his cunning ways, and as a result "he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than any orc." It's easy to imagine that a similar character, or characters, might act as a foil to the orcs in the Amazon series, giving a very human face to the evil of Sauron's reign.

Gandalf the Grey's confrontation with the Balrog of Moria is one of the most memorable passages in the novel version of "The Lord of the Rings," and it's by far the most iconic moment depicted in Peter Jackson's adaptation of the story. If you're hoping to see one of these demonic creatures make an appearance in Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings," well, we've got bad news and good news.

The bad news is that there's almost no chance whatsoever of that specific Balrog turning up. Better known as Durin's Bane, Gandalf's foe is mentioned by Tolkien to have "lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West." Here, the author is referring to the War of Wrath, a world-shattering conflict that took place at the very end of the First Age. This means that Durin's Bane was sleeping under Moria for the entirety of the Second Age.

The good news, however, is that, according to Tolkien himself, Morgoth counted as many as seven Balrogs among his personal entourage. Durin's Bane was one, and another was Gothmog, who was slain by the elf Ecthelion during the Fall of Gondolin. One more, who is given no name, was killed by Glorfindel during the same battle. The rest, however, are unaccounted for. Who's to say that Durin's Bane was the sole survivor of the War of Wrath? As it stands, there's no contradiction by Tolkien himself to prevent Amazon's writers from bringing a Balrog into the upcoming series.

J.R.R. Tolkien's most famous dragon is, of course, Smaug. The scourge of Erebor is met by Bilbo towards the end of "The Hobbit," before being shot down and killed by Bard the Bowman during the attack on Lake-town.

In "The Hobbit," Smaug describes himself during his attack on the Lonely Mountain as "young and tender," and that event took place towards the end of the Third Age, so he's unlikely to make an appearance in Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings." Luckily — or unluckily, if you're a denizen of Middle-earth – there are always other dragons.

Although Morgoth's worms are at their most prolific during the First Age, many are said to have fled the War of Wrath, eventually establishing their own realm in the Withered Heath, located in the northern regions of Middle-earth. Now, there's no real indication that these creatures ever owed their allegiance to Sauron (having been bred and controlled by his master, Morgoth) but Tolkien writes in "The Lord of the Rings" that dragons began to stir in the Third Age "when evil reappeared," referencing the return of the Dark Lord. There must be, therefore, some correlation between the two powers — and it stands to reason that the dragons of the Second Age also took to the skies when Sauron first rose to power.

The story of the Blue Wizards is one of the most intriguing mysteries of Middle-earth's vast mythology. They're briefly alluded to by Saruman in "The Two Towers," but they never properly appear in any of Tolkien's works.

Curiously enough, although the other Istari (i.e. Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast) were sent to guide the Free Peoples during the Third Age, Tolkien suggested later in his life that the Blue Wizards might have arrived during the Second Age. In one of these later writings, he claims that the Blue Wizards had been sent to stir up rebellion in the eastern and southern regions of Middle-earth. He also writes that they were successful in their task, having "very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age."

An earlier interpretation, however, has the Blue Wizards taking on a much more sinister role. In Letter 211, written in 1958, Tolkien says, "I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to 'enemy-occupied' lands, as it were ... and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron."

Should the Amazon series opt to tell Tolkien's earlier version of the tale, the Blue Wizards might appear as villains, wielding strange powers and ruling their own factions in the far-off lands of Middle-earth. If nothing else, this would be fascinating new territory for "The Lord of the Rings."

Nobody's really expecting Morgoth, the Dark Lord of the First Age, to actually show up during Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings" — except maybe during a prologue sequence. That said, Morgoth's influence is likely to be felt far more than it ever was during the "Lord of the Rings" novels and movies.

During the Second Age, Morgoth's legacy lives on in Sauron. Thousands of years earlier, Sauron had acted as one of Morgoth's chief lieutenants, and many of his cruelest atrocities during the Second Age were committed in his master's name. In fact, Tolkien specifically writes that Sauron "rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void." During his time on Númenor, Sauron even establishes a Morgoth-worshipping cult, building a great temple in the island's capital city and offering human sacrifices to the original Dark Lord.

So while Morgoth himself may not warrant more than the occasional mention in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," there's a reasonable chance that his name, and his evil, will linger on throughout Amazon's series.