Prologue
Saurons lust and arrogance soared above all else, and he decided to take over and make himself lord over everything in Middle Earth and destroy the elves, and if he could, also bring the Númenors to the brink of destruction. He did not accept free men or competitors and called himself Lord of the Earth. And still he could bear a mask, so whenever he wanted, he could deceive people and look wise and beautiful. But he preferred to rule with the hand of violence and terror. And those who saw his dark shadow extend over the world called him the Dark Lord and named him the Enemy.
He brought together the dark creatures from the time of Morgoths that was left on earth and under it. The orcs obeyed his command and increased themselves like flies. And so the Black Years Begun.
Under this time many elves of Middle Earth fled to Lindon and further over the seas never to return and many were broken under the forces of Sauron. But in Lindon Gil-galads rule was strong, and Sauron didn´t yet dare to go over the Ered Luins Mountain and attack the havens. And Gil-galad had the help of the Númenors.
But all over the other land Saurons hold was strong, and those that did not want to be under his rule took refuge in forests and mountains and was baited into constant terror. In East and South almost every human was under Saurons laws, and under him they grew strong. They built many cities and walls of stone, and they were fierce in battle and armed with iron. For them Sauron was a King and a God. And they feared him.
But finally Saurons upsurge on the lands of the west was stopped. For as it was told in Akallabéth he was faced before the Númenors power and greatness. And it was so great when their kingdom was at its top that Saurons minions did not dare to stand against them, but in hope that he could overcome them with cunning and list, so he left Middle Earth for a while. Imprisoned by the king Tar-Calion he sailed to Númenor. And there he stayed until he though his tricks had destroyed most of the populations hearts and driven them to war against the valar and thus accomplished his mission to destroy them from the inside out.
But their destruction proved to be far more terrible then Sauron expected, for he had forgotten the power the Lords of the West possessed in their rage. The world broke and the land was swallowed, the seas rose above it and Sauron himself plunged down in the abyss. But his spirit rose up from there and was flying on a dark wind back to Middle Earth were it searched for a host.
In Middle Earth he found that Gil-Galads powers had strongly increased under the years he had been gone, and that he now ruled over many big parts of the land in the North and West, and beyond the Misty Mountains and the great Flood, all the way down to the Green Forests border. Seeing all this Sauron retreated back to his stronghold in the Dark Lands and prepared a new war.
Under this time the Númenors that had been saved under the destruction in the east were fleeing. They were lead by Elendil the Tall and his sons Isildur and Anárion. They were kin to the king himself, Elros descendents, but had refused to listen to Saurons words and wage war against the Lords of the West. Instead they filled their ships with people that were still faithful and left the Númenors land before the destruction got t it. They were strong men and their ships were big and could stand much, but storms attacked them and they were thrown upwards by mountains of water, all the way to the clouds and fell down on Middle Earth like storm-birds.
Elendil was thrown with the powers of the waves up on the land of Lindon and became a friend of Gil-Galad. From there he traveled up the river Lhûn, the moon river, and build a kingdom of his own beyond Ered Luin, and his people established themselves on many places in Eriador by the river Lhûn, but the biggest city of them all Annúminas by Nenuial, the lake of twilight. The build cities also in Fornost on the north ridge, Cardolan, The Red Mountains Land, and among the Mountains of Rhudarus. They built towers on Emyn Beraid and on Amun Sûl.
Isildur and Anárion traveled south and sailed their ships upward Anduin, the Great River, that flows from Rhovanion, the Wild Land, out in the Western Sea. And here they build a kingdom they later called Gondor, while the realm in the north was called Arnor. Already had the voyager of númnerores built a haven in the days of their power by the entrance of Anduin, even though Saurons realm lay far too close in the East.
In the later years only those faithful to the Númenors had come to this haven, and many of the coasts habitants in the area were therefore hole or, part kin with the elves and the Númenors, and they welcomed Elendil´s sons. The Biggest city in Gondor was Osgiliath, which lay on both sides of the Great River. The Númenors built a large bridge over the water, and on both sides of this vast building they rose up towers and houses of stones that were beautiful for the eyes. And big ships came in to their haven and took place in the embankment. In the city they built the most beautiful towers: Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon, stood in the east like a threat to Mordor; and in the west they build Minas Anor, Tower of the Sun.
They built many other buildings across the land. In Argonath, Aglarond, Erech, and in Angrenosts ring, that the humans liked to call Isengard, they created Orthancs Scepter of a stone that could not be broken.
With those that fled the destruction of Númenor they had taken with them many treasures. Of all those treasures these stood out, the seven stones and the White Tree. The white tree had stood in the king's garden in Númenor before Sauron had it burned, it was a image of the Oldest of Trees, it was a memory of the eldar and of the light of Valinor. It was planted in Minas Ithil outside of Isildurs house since he had been the one to save the fruit from the destruction. But the Stones were split up. Three of them went to Elendil and the rest was split up between the brothers. The stones had powers, the one who looked in it could see visions of the future or what was happening somewhere across the earth. In that way the Númenors learned what Sauron was up to. The stones were called Palantirs, the all seeing stones.
He came in secret to his old realm Mordor beyond Ephel Dúath, Shadow Mountain. It was here he built his stronghold Barad-dûr, the Black Tower. And beside it stood the fire mountain, an volcano, that the elves called Orodruin. And it was just because of this mountain that Sauron had placed his stronghold there. For it was there in the fire that surged up from the heart of the earth he, with his black arts and his smithery, created the Lord of the Rings.
Now Sauron armed for war against the eldar and the humans of the west. And when the Númenors saw the smoke from Mordor they knew that Sauron had one again returned. It was also under this year that they gave Orodruin a new name. And the name was Amon Amarth that means Mountain of Doom. Sauron gathered a great army of servants from the east and the south, and among them were many of the Númenors high kin. For under his stay in their land before the destruction many of those he snared to him traveled to his realm and founded settlements there. They even got the Haradrim, a great and terrible people, to join Sauron.
When Sauron found the time to be right he attacked Gondor with vast army and conquered Minas Ithil and destroyed Isildurs White tree. But Isildur himself escaped and he brought with him a piece of the tree, and traveled with his wife and his sons with a ship and sailed in search of his father Elendil.
Meanwhile Anárion held Osgiliath against the enemy and drew him for a time back to the mountains, but Sauron gathered his army jet again and Anárion realized that his city would not hold long if he did not received help. Elendil and Gil-Galad conferred with each other, for they knew that Sauron would be to strong, and would be able to defeat his enemies one by one, if they did not join him. Therefore they created an alliance that was called the Last Alliance. And it is there, in the beginning of a war that we begin our story…