However, the auspicious acquisition—welcome good news after some recent behind-the-scenes casting drama—has seemingly been overshadowed by a clapperboard, some magic marker, and a renewed resolve by the fandom to discern the Lord of the Rings show’s title. While the obvious demands of brand marketing clearly call for the series to carry “Lord of the Rings” somewhere in the title, it needs to be differentiated from director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-reaping film trilogy while simultaneously evoking those movies. Thus, it would be safe to assume that the final title will start with The Lord of the Rings, followed by a subtitle. While your guess is as good as mine regarding what might follow, the title could tie into the fact that the series is set in Middle Earth’s Second Age—thousands of years before the Third Age adventures of Bilbo and Frodo of Tolkien’s main novels. With that era having lasted 3,441 years total, the show’s official synopsis identified, among other settings, “the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor,” which was formed in year 32 of the Second Age and sunk into the sea in 3,319 SA. While this particular period in the Second Age is covered across the late author’s scattered stories, the definitive lore remains a devoted section in 1977’s posthumously-published Middle Earth chronicle, The Silmarillion, specifically the chapter titled “Akallabêth,” which translates from Adûnaic—the arcane language of the Numenoreans—as “The Downfallen.” That chapter depicts the nadir of the once-great kingdom of long-lived Men, which came about after Sauron arrived on the island as a captive from his first failed attempt to take over Middle Earth. Eventually, the dark lord insidiously inserted himself into the minds of the populace, imbuing them with a power-coveting hubris that angered the Valar (the gods of Tolkien lore) that led to the entire island’s violent relocation to the bottom of the ocean. Indeed, the synopsis makes reference to “the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen,” seemingly indicating Sauron’s presence as a proper character on the series.
