The LOTRO Backstory
author: Snowlock
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=325195
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I created this (Well, more like formatted it) a long time ago as a simple guide for people who are not lore-monkeys so they could understand all the little details that Turbine puts into the game. What exactly are the Ruins of Cardolan? What was with the big reveal in Book 14? And who was Mazog? It's about five pages of word doc text. True lore monkeys can find lots of holes to poke in this, but as a quick reference for those players who don't get as deeply into the Tolkien lore as some of us, it seems to do the job. I posted this a long time ago on the forums prior to Moria and seemed to be well received. But alas, it was wiped out by one of the earliest forum prunes. So after updating for Moria and Mirkwood, I figured I'd share it again in case some find it useful. Thanks!
In the First Age of Middle Earth:
Before the count of years: Durin The Deathless and his Longbeard clan of Dwarves migrate southward down the Vales of the Anduin and discovers the Mirrormere. In the cave to the west, under the three peaks of the mountains Redhorn (Caradhras), Silvertine (Celebdil) and Cloudyhead (Fanuidhol) they discover natural caverns. Those caves in over the expanse of time would endlessly be dug and mined and become the Dwarven ancestral home: Kazad-Dum, The Dwarrow-Delf; or Moria as it was called in later years.
Years 545-587 - The War of Wrath. In this, the Elves, a tribe of Men called the Edain, and the Elven gods called the Valar fought a final battle with Morgoth, the master of Sauron, as well as Sauron himself, in the land of Beleriand, west of Ered Luin. Morgoth and Sauron were defeated and Beleriand utterly destroyed, sinking into the sea and ending the First Age.
In the Second Age of Middle Earth:
With the beginning of each new age, the numbering of years restarts at one.
Year 32 – For their help against Morgoth, the descendants of the Edain were granted by the Valar much longer life-spans than other mortal men. They were also given the island of Numenor off the shores of Middle Earth as their home. The first king of Numenor was Elros, the brother of Elrond. He and his brother were half elf and half man, and each was given the choice to become human and forgo immortality or stay of Elven kind and live forever. Elrond chose to remain among his people, while Elros decided to lead the kingdom of Men.
Circa Year 500 – Sauron returned after his defeat in the War Of Wrath and came to Middle Earth
Circa Year 700 – The Elves of sunken Beleriand migrate to the lands west of Moria and founded the kingdom of Eregion.
Circa Year 1050 – Sauron began building his fortress of Barad-dur in Mordor.
Year 1200 – The Lady Galadriel passes through Moria from Eregion and founds the Elvish realm of Lothlorien.
Circa Year 1500 – Donning a fair guise, Sauron came among the Elves and befriended them. He then deceived them into crafting the Rings of Power.
Circa Year 1600 – Unbeknownst to the Elves, Sauron forged the One Ring to rule all of the others. The fortress of Barad-dur was also completed that year.
Year 1693 – The Elves discovered Sauron’s true identity as well as his intentions concerning the Rings Of Power and the ‘War of Elves and Sauron’ had begun.
Year 1697 – The Elves were nearly defeated and their kingdom of Eregion was destroyed and abandoned. Elrond was forced to flee and founded the refuge of Rivendell for the survivors as Sauron’s armies occupied the region.
Year 1700 – At the behest of the surviving Elves, the men of Numenor sailed for Middle Earth and defeated Sauron who fled south
Year 2251 –Sauron’s Ring Wraiths first appeared as the Nine Rings of Power given to the kings of men overcame their owners and enslaved them to the One Ring.
Circa 3110 - The men of Numenor, envious of the Elves’ immortality, rejected their own Elvish heritage dating back to their friendships of the First Age. The language of the Elves was outlawed and the alliances with them broken.
Years 3261 to 3319 – In 3261, the emperor of Numenor, Ar-Pharazon, sailed to Middle-earth and took Sauron captive. By the year 3265, Sauron had begun to corrupt the Numenoreans to the path of Morgoth and became Ar-Pharazon’s court advisor. In 3300, Sauron openly declared himself the High Priest of Morgoth on Numenor. He urged the Numenoreans to reject the gods of the Elves and make war on them. A faction of Numenoreans, lead by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anarion, remain allied with the Elves and Valar. The Elendili, as they were called, suffered persecution by the rest of Numenor under de facto leadership of Sauron. Under the influence of Sauron, Ar-Pharazon and his people committed to waging war on the Valar to wrest for themselves their own immortality. In 3319, they set foot on Aman; the land of the gods, and were destroyed. The island of Numenor itself was drowned for the transgression of its emperor and people. Elendil and his sons are allowed to flee the destruction and arrive on the shores of Middle-earth
Year 3320 – The Kingdoms In Exile are founded; Gondor in the south was ruled jointly by Anarion and Isildur, and Arnor in the north by Elendil. Arnor was the parent kingdom, and its capitol was Annuminas. The exiled Numenoreas and their descendants were hence forth called the Dunedain; an Elvish name meaning “Men Of Westernesse”.
Year 3429 – Sauron, having survived the cataclysm of Numenor, attacked the realm of Gondor, and sacked one of its main cities/fortresses, Minas Ithil. Isildur, who was ruling there, fled to Arnor to gain the help of his father and the Elves. Anarion continued to fight in Gondor.
Year 3430 to 3441 –Elendil and the Elven king Gil-Galad formed The Last Alliance to defeat Sauron and his Ring. Sauron’s forces were destroyed at the Battle of Dagorlad in 3434. The Last Alliance then pushed into Mordor and laid siege to Barad-dur. Anarion, Elendil’s son, was slain during the siege. In 3441, Elendil and Gil-Galad defeated Sauron in hand to hand combat, destroying forever his physical form, and they themselves perished. Isildur took a shard of his father's shattered sword and cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger, taking it for his own.. With the total victory of The Last Alliance, the Second Age came to an end.
In the Third Age of Middle Earth:
Year 1 – With the death of Elendil during the War Of The Last Alliance, Isildur as the lone surviving son became the king of both Gondor and Arnor.
Year 2 – As Isildur traveled from Gondor to claim his kingship in Arnor, he was attacked and slain by Orc arrows during what came to be known as the Battle of the Gladden Fields. The One Ring he had worn since the Siege of Barad-dur betrayed him, slipping from his finger and coming to rest at the bottom of the Gladden River. Isildur’s youngest son became the high king of Arnor, but did not claim that title for Gondor. The single kingdom founded by Elendil was then split into the Kingdom of Gondor, which would be independently ruled by the line descending from Anarion and the Kingdom of Arnor which would be independently ruled by the line descending from Isildur.
Year 3 to 860 – As the Kingdom of Gondor grew, the Kingdom of Arnor shrunk in population and influence; never able to recover from the disastrous losses it incurred during the War of the Last Alliance. The capitol of Annuminas gradually reduced in population until at last in 861 it was abandoned.
Year 861 – The tenth king of Arnor, Earendur, had died and his three sons each waged war for mastery of the kingdom. As a result of the civil war that ensued, Arnor was split into three separate kingdoms, Arthedain, Cardolan & Rhudaur. Annuminas, the original capitol of Arnor, was within the boundaries of Arthedain, but the ruling seat was moved to the more prosperous city of Fornost.
Circa Year 1000 – The Wizards, among them Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White and Radagast the Brown, first appear in Middle Earth.
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Year 1300 – The leader of Sauron’s Ring Wraiths founded the kingdom of Angmar and was then known as the Witch King Of Angmar. Presumably at Sauron’s bidding, Angmar attacked the three kingdoms descended from Arnor.
Year 1356 – After years of internal strife, Hill-men indigenous to Rhudaur overthrew the vastly outnumbered Dunedain population and allied itself with Angmar. Arthedain and Cardolan would defend the Weather Hills as a frontier against Angmar and Rhudaur for many years, building multiple fortresses both in the Hills and along the Great East-West Road.
Year 1409 – Angmar annexed the kingdom of Rhuduar and with its doubled power, assaulted and destroyed the fortress on Amon Sul (Weathertop). The Orc hordes then pushed into Cardolan, killed its Dunedain king and finally destroyed the kingdom utterly, leaving Arthedain to stand alone. Elves from Lorien and the Grey Havens rushed to reinforce Arthedain and Angmar was pushed back.
Year 1601 - Two Hobbits named Marcho and Blanco sought permission from the King Of Arthedain to lead a group of Hobbits from Bree to settle in the lands west of the Brandywine River. The king granted the Hobbits permission on the condition that they acknowledge his rule, speed his messengers, and repair the roads and bridges. The land where the Hobbits settled became known as the Shire.
Year 1636 - The Great Plague came north to Arnor. Many of the survivors in the ruins of Cardolan died, and the last Dunedain there were wiped out entirely. The tombs in the Barrow-downs in Cardolan were occupied by evil spirits called Barrow-wights from Angmar and Rhudaur.
Year 1974 – Arthedain was overrun by Angmar and Fornost was destroyed. The city was filled with the Witch-king's minions, and the Witch-king himself came there to dwell in the King's house.
Year 1975 – The last king of Arthedain, now in exile to the north, died in a ship wreck. Gondor finally marched north to avenge the destruction of Arthedain led by it's crown prince, Earnur. Angmar’s forces faced the full might of Gondor, the Elves of Ered Luin and Rivendell and the surviving forces of Arthedain, and were crushed. The Witch King tried to flee to his fortress of Carn Dum in Angmar, but was cut off and instead was forced to escape to Mordor. Now leaderless, Angmar itself would fade away. The son of the last king of Arthedain declined to rebuild the kingdom and instead became the First Chieftain Of The Dunedain. These Dunedain would later come to be more popularly known as the Rangers Of The North.
Years 1980 - 1981 - The miners of Khazad-dûm delved so deep that they disturbed or released a balrog, an ancient demon from long before, forgotten, and powerful. This balrog of Morgoth killed King Durin VI in that year, and in the following year Náin, his son. The Dwarves are forced to flee Moria for Erebor.
Year 2050 - The Witch-king challenges Eärnur (now King of Gondor and of the Battle of Fornost fame) to combat. Its actually the second time and this time he accepts. Eärnur rides out of Minas Tirith to meet the Witch-king in Minas Morgul. He enters the city's gates and disappears.
Year 2460 – Sauron had finally managed to recover from his defeat during the Siege Of Barad-dur and built Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, east of the Misty Mountains.
Year 2463 – While fishing in the Gladden River, Deagol discovers Sauron’s One Ring, lost by Isildur all those years ago. He is killed by his brother, Smeagol, for mastery of the ring. Smeagol would later be known as Gollum. In that same year, in response to the growing threat at Dol Guldur, the Wise, comprised of Elves and Wizards, formed the White Council.
Year 2760 – Orcs had managed to reorganize after their defeat at Fornost and began to build fortresses in the Misty Mountains. They would raid Eriador from them continually through the years.
Year 2790 - Driven from Erebor by the dragon Smaug, the dwarf thane, Thrór, heir of Durin, foolishly attempted to re-enter his ancestral home of Moria despite warnings not to. He was slain by the Orc chieftain Azog, an infamous murder that precipitated The War of the Dwarves and Orcs culminating in a bloody battle outside Moria's eastern gates nine years later.
Year 2799 - Azog himself was beheaded by Dáin II Ironfoot before the great orc could reach the safety of the gates of Moria in the last battle of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. But the Dwarves had suffered great losses and remained unwilling to face Durin's Bane. So they retreated back to their homes in the Iron Hills instead of attempting to retake Moria.
Year 2850 – Gandalf The Grey entered Dol Guldur and confirmed that Sauron had returned.
Year 2941 – In the bowels of Goblin Town, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire gained the One Ring which had slipped from the fingers of it's former master Gollum; the very same halfling named Smeagol that killed his brother for it five hundred years before. Gandalf, Elrond and the rest of the White Council drove Sauron from Dol Guldur. He would turn up in Mordor, his fortress of Barad-dur rebuilt.
Year 2989 – Balin’s Expedition enters Moria to reclaim it.
Year 2994 – Balin and his expedition are destroyed. Balin, first, is killed by Orc Arrow in the Dale beyond the Dawn Gate. The remainder of his companions are besieged and fall in the Chamber of Mazarbul.
Year 3001 – Bilbo Bagins celebrated his astounding 111th birthday and then left the Shire for Rivendell. He passed the One Ring to his ward, Frodo Baggins, not knowing what it truly was. Aragorn of the Rangers (also known as Strider) and Gandalf began to hunt for Gollum.
Year 3017 – Aragorn found Gollum and discovered that he had been a captive of Mordor and learned that he confessed everything he knew about Bilbo Baggins and the Shire to the enemy.
Year 3018 – The War of The Ring
April - Gandalf races to the Shire ahead of the Ring Wraiths and tells Frodo to get ready to leave and that Gandalf would return for him soon.
July - Gandalf then goes to Saruman , the leader of the White Council, to tell him that the One Ring has been found. Saruman though, has long been secretly allied with Mordor and imprisons Gandalf.
Here is where LOTRO picks up the story:
Shadows of Angmar:
September – Gandalf escapes Saruman’s clutches and begins the long journey back to the Shire. Meanwhile, Frodo decides he can wait for Gandalf no longer as the Ring Wraiths have been sighted in the Shire and finally leaves, chased by the Witch King and his riders to Bree where he meets Aragorn at the Prancing Pony. Aragorn joins the party fleeing with the Ring and they head for Rivendell.
October – At the ruins on Weathertop, Frodo is finally caught by the Ring Wraiths and wounded, but at last the party reaches Rivendell and Frodo is partially cured of the wound. The Council of Elrond is held and they decide Frodo and his companions are to journey to Mordor and throw the One Ring into the Cracks of Doom from which it came thus destroying it and Sauron utterly. The Fellowship of the Ring (consisting of Frodo Baggins, and fellow hobbits Samwise Gamgee, Meridoc Brandybuck, Pippin Took; as well as the dwarf Gimli son of Gloin, the elf prince Legolas of Mirkwood, a captain of Gondor and son of its steward, Boromir; the wizard Gandlaf the Grey, and to lead them, a Dunedain Ranger named Aragorn son of Arathorn) will rest here in Rivendell for a time.
Mines of Moria:
December – The Fellowship sets out from Rivendell.
Year 3019 –
January – The Fellowship descends into Moria, Gandalf falls. The fellowship continues without him to rest in Lorien.
Siege of Mirkwood:
February - The Fellowship pass the Argonath and camp at Parth Galen. The Breaking of the Fellowship.
March - Frodo begins travelling through the Dead Marshes.
Haakon Stormbrow's LOTR Timeline, and Genealogy : LOTRO - Discussions
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