ca. 1200 : Sauron takes on a fair guise and, as "The Lords of Gifts", attempts to win the favor of the Eldar. Gil-Galad mistrusts him and refuses to deal with the Evil One. The smiths of Eregion however are seduced by his knowledgeable ways and nombrous gifts.
1200-1500 : Sauron instructs the Elven smiths of Eregion in news ways of forging.
ca. 1350-1375 : Sauron persuades the smiths of Eregion to rebel against the restraint of Galadriel. Celebrimbor, desirous of rivaling the skill of Feanor and coveting Dwarven craft lore, becomes "King" of Eregion.
ca. 1500 : The Elven smiths, now at the height of their power, begin making the Rings of power. Sauron's clever sugestions begin to take form.
ca. 1500-1580 : A number of greater and lesser Rings of Power are forged. Sauron returns to Mordor.
Around 1590 : Celebrimbor completes the Three Rings of Power : Nenya, Narya and Vilya.
Celebrimbor forging a Ring of Power by Angus MacBride (55,5 Ko)
Around 1600 : Sauron secretly forges the One Ring in Orodruin (Mount Doom), placing a good deal of his own power into its making. When the Dark Lord slips the Ring on, Celebrimbor realizes the truth. The Elves avoid wearing their Rings of Power in order to escape enslavement. With the One Ring, Sauron completes the fortress of Barad-Dur. Its fundation is forever tied to the Ring's destiny.
1695 : Sauron's host invades Eregion.
1697 : Celebrimbor is killed and Eregion falls. Sauron fails to secure the Three Rings, but still manages to seize sixteen other Rings of Power.
1699 : Sauron's armies overrun Eriador.
1700 : The men and Elves defeat Sauron.
1701-1800 : Sauron maintains his guard against the West, but turns his attention eastward in hopes of bringing more Men into his Fold.
ca. 1800-2251 : An insidious Darkness creeps into Numenor. Many Numenoreans believe the Undying Lands to be the source of immortality and question the Elven domination of a so holy place.
ca. 2000 : The captured Rings of Power are handed out to select Lords among the Dwarves and Men. Seven are taken by the Khazad and nine pass into the hands of men.
Around 2250 : The Nazguls first appear in Middle-Earth. Three - Adunaphel, Akhorahil and Murazor - are Black Numenorean lords.
Adunaphel, Murazor and Khamul on the road of Gorgoroth by Angus MacBride (50,6 Ko)
3320 : After the Downfall of Numenor, Sauron returns to Mordor in a hideous form, for he can never again take fair shape.
3441 : Barad-Dur falls. Sauron is overthrown when Isildur cut the One Ring from the Dark Lord's hand, but both Elendil and Gil-Galad are slain in the melee. The Ringwraith pass into the Shadows. Barad-Dur is razed, but the foundation cannot be destroyed while the Ring exists. Isildur elects to keep the Ring.
ca. 1000 : Sauron stirs once again. The Valar send five Maia Istari to Middle-Earth in order to maintain the balance of things.
Gandalf (Mithrandir) the Istar by John Howe (61,5 Ko)
Saruman (Curunir) the Istar by Angus MacBride (61,7 Ko)
ca. 1050 : The Nazguls reappear. Sauron goes to Dol Guldur; The Greenwood gradually falls under the Shadow. It slowly becomes "Mirkwood".
ca. 1300 : The Nazgūls are sighted once again. Their leader, the Witch-King, founds Angmar in the northern Misty Mountains. He plots again Arnor's three successor states : Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur.
ca. 1310-1350 : Rhudaur falls under the Shadow. Dunlendings seize control and ally themselves with Angmar. War erupts between Arthedain and Cardolan and their common enemies, Angmar and Rhudaur.
1409 : Cardolan is overrun by the armies of Angmar. Rogrog, the Angmar olog Warlord, slays Ostoher, the last Lord of Cardolan, during the fighting on the Barrow Downs (S. "Thyrn Gorthad"). Arthedain barely weathers the assault.
Ostoher and Rogrog on Thyrn Gorthad by Angus MacBride (74,4 Ko)
1635-37 : The Great Plague devasts the lands.
1856-99 : An Easterling confederation, the Wainriders, enters Rhovanion and drives the armies of Gondor westward across the Anduin. Gondor abandons its eastern holdings.
1974 : The armies of the Witch-King overrun Arthedain.
1975 : An army composed of troops from Gondor and their Eriadoran allies defeats the Witch-King. Angmar falls.
1980 : The Witch-King reentenrs Mordor and gathers his fellow Ringwraiths.
2000 : The Nazguls besiege the Gondorian mountain city of Minas Ithil.
2002 : The Nazguls take Minas Ithil. The place is renamed Minas Morgul.
2050 : The Witch-King slays King Earnur of Gondor outside Minas Morgul, ending the line of the Kings of Gondor.
2063-2460 : Sauron is in the East.
ca. 2460-2510 : The Balchoth, another wave of Easterling invaders, assails Gondor, and crosses the Anduin at the Undeeps. Much of Gondor's northern territories are ravaged, but the Balchoth fail to crush the Dunedain. The invaders are finally defeated at Parth Celebrant when they meet a Gondorian army supported by the Eotheod of Eorl.
2463 : A Stoor Hobbit named Deagol finds the One Ring in the Murky waters of the Gladden Fields. His cousin, Smeagol (Gollum), murders him and takes the Ring.
The One Ring (9,5 Ko)
2845 : King Thrain II, King of Durin's Folk, is captured by Sauron and imprisoned in Dol Goldur. The last of the Seven Ring of the Dwarves is lost with him.
2850 : Seeking Thrain, Gandalf the Grey slips into Dol Guldur. The Wizard discovers the true identity of the Necromancer.
2941 : The White Council (the Wizards, Elrond, Cirdan, Galadriel), drives Sauron from Dol Guldur. Bilbo the Hobbit acquires the One Ring from Gollum.
2951 : Sauron, now in Mordor, makes himself known and declares his intentions. Dol Guldur is reoccupied by the Nazguls and the Dark Lord begins to rebuild Barad-Dur.
3018-3019 : The War of the Ring. The One Ring is destroyed. Sauron and the Nazguls are cast out.
Frodo and Sam in Mordor (87,6 Ko)