[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Yeah, the war in Kaza-Duhn is still to come, the fall of Numenor, the establishing of Gondor, the turning of the 9, Gandalf meeting the elves and getting the 3rd elven ring, dol guldur, Saruman setting up shop. Tons of meat left in the 2nd age to weave around in and make 5 seasons.

Spoiler for theory and source material reference.

Spoiler!

Gandalf might not get the elven ring. He could "die" and then get sent back in the 3rd age as per the source material. The same thing could happen to the dark wizard. I'm thinking Gandalf's main arch is going to be to lead the hobbits to their promised land (the Shire).

My understanding of the licensing agreement is they are permitted to fill in, but not contradict Tolkien. Obviously they are compressing time and some things are out of order, but the big events are still happening as per the source material. So maybe Gandalf was still sent in the 3rd age to help in the fight against Sauron, but that doesn't mean he wasn't also sent in the 2nd age.

I'm guessing the 5th season will end with Isildur picking up his fathers sword, cutting off Sauron's hand, Elrond taking him to mount doom to destroy it only for him to get corrupted by the ring.

I'm enjoying the show, but it is a little less fun when you know where things are going to end up.