Fans Have Already Mapped Out The Entire The Rings Of Power Story
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is going to be a busy show. From the little we already know, the storyline will take us all over the Middle-earth map. A synopsis leaked a year and a half before the show's premiere date already highlighted the fact that the series will go "to the furthest reaches of the map." The first trailer for the show went as far afield as the northern waste called the Forodwaith. We also know we'll see far-off areas like the Southlands and the island of Númenor. Along with the vast geographic scope, we also expect the show to spend plenty of time following a large and diverse cast of Elves, Dwarves, Men, and even an unexpected group of Halfling-size Harfoots.
While the peoples, characters, geography, and overall story of "Rings of Power" are slowly coming into focus, that hasn't stopped fans from jumping the gun and self-scripting as much of the show as possible. One Reddit thread, in particular, has done a thorough job predicting where all five seasons of the show will take us ... starting with a slow, detail-oriented beginning.
Way back in early 2022, Reddit user Jlway99 created a post on the r/LOTR_on_Prime subreddit titled "Prediction: Season 1 will be almost entirely Original events." The content of the post that followed proceeded to outline the user's projection of the show storyline for not just one but five seasons of "Rings of Power," inviting others to chime in with their thoughts on where the first season, in particular, is likely to take us.
Tolkien fans predict the first season of Rings of Power
For some context, the prophetic Reddit post starts with the disclaimer that "Yes, this is a premature thing to say, we haven't seen a single piece of footage." From there, it goes on to reference the Vanity Fair First Look article that was published days before the first trailer went live during the Super Bowl. Using the limited knowledge available at the time, the post points out that Sauron likely won't be a big deal in the first season. It ends by asking what others think could fill up the screen time in that early season while the show finds its sea legs and introduces a global audience to a period of Middle-earth that was previously only own known to the few and the faithful amongst Tolkien fandom.
The highest upvoted comments that follow tend to agree with the original post title's implication that "original events" will probably be the central focus of the first season. This could include both world-building and character development.
User larkire points out that the majority of the audience for the show won't be familiar with the intricacies of the larger non-"Lord of the Rings" Middle-earth. They add that the first season should be used to set up the world and introduce the characters.
The busy Reddit feed doesn't forget the fact that Amazon Studios has signed on for a whopping five seasons of "Rings of Power" too — of which Season 1 is nearly complete, and Season 2 is already in production. With that in mind, the original post also took the limited information from the Vanity Fair article to roughly sketch out the other four seasons.
What story will we get with the rest of the show?
After spending the first season building the world and establishing the characters, the Redditor thinks the show will spend Season 2 focusing on the titular event itself. It will follow Sauron in his disguise as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, the Elvish smith Celebrimbor, and the forging of the Rings of Power themselves.
Season 3 would then pick up with the War of the Elves and Sauron. That conflict takes place after Sauron is revealed when he forges the One Ring to rule them all. His plan of Ring-driven domination backfires, and the Dark Lord invades the Elvish lands with fire and war. He captures most of the Rings and takes over vast areas of Middle-earth in the process.
Season 4 would center on the Akallabeth. This is the Atlantean destruction of Númenor, an event that is precipitated by the capture of Sauron — yes, Sauron — by the people of the island nation. Eventually, he corrupts their king, ruins their island, and sends a few scattered survivors sailing for the mainland.
Season 5 would be comprised of the final Second Age showdown between the exiles of Númenor and the resurgent Dark Lord. This is briefly depicted in the opening scene of Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring" movie. While it's still separated from the rest of "The Lord of the Rings" story by three thousand years, it's symbolically a good connecting point between the two narratives.
The entire thread is worth a read. It's a fun sketch that uses a lot of deep fan knowledge to predict an adaption of Middle-earth that we'll be watching unfold for several years to come. The question is, how accurate is it? That's something that only time will tell us.