Timeline of the Games

[Thatzombiegiraffe]

I calculate that this game takes place around 2964 Third Age (about 36 years before the Fellowship of the Ring)
Sauron Returns to Mordor in 2942 T.A
Sauron begins rebuilding Barad-dur 2951 T.A (this is refrenced in the game by grunts talking. How long does it take to build a tower?)
Mount Doom bursts into flame 2954 T.A (this is seen toward the end of the first game)
Inconsistencies
Ringwraiths retook Minas Ithil in 2002 T.A (this happens now during Shadow of War)
Around the same time they did this they retook the Black Gate(this happens in Shadow of Mordor).For this to make sense Talion has to be 962 years by the time the second game takes place this could be possible due to being attached to a wraith (unlikely). There is also a possiblity that Gondor Reclaimed the Black Gate and Minas Ithil within the 962 years and now are being retaken again by Mordor. (more likely but never mentioned). Another thing they could have just lost contact with The Black Gate and Minas Ithil for 900 years. (unlikely)
This is the biggest inconsistency out there.
Update
Shadow of Mordor seems to take place around 2940-2941 according to Torvin's Diary in Lord of the Hunt which seems to be a good indicator of when he meet Talion. So it is possible that this one take place 2951.

[liljay273]

Why is anybody even trying to wrap their brain around something that has already shattered canon. Don't put any thought in to it. The developers didn't.

[Thatzombiegiraffe]

Originally posted by liljay273:

Why is anybody even trying to wrap their brain around something that has already shattered canon. Don't put any thought in to it. The developers didn't.

I found it interesting, plus I love theories about inconsistencies what aren't really inconsistencies if you look into them.

[Angelous Wang]

This game starts before LOTR, just after the Hobbit.

The Ringwraths were assumed to be dead and still before the Hobbit (ending 2942 T.A)

So I cannot see how the following information as being true.

Originally posted by ThatAwkwardGiraffe:

Ringwraiths retook Minas Ithil in 2002 T.A (this happens now during Shadow of War)
Around the same time they did this they retook the Black Gate(this happens in Shadow of Mordor).

If they were up and around in 2002 T.A then surely the council of elrond would have noticed in 940 years they were freely roaming around. And wouldn't have been so shocked in the Hobbit.

That said Talion is undead, he is in state of undeath, like Vampire. He doesn't age, he is walking corpse. If anything he would rot rather than age.

[Thatzombiegiraffe]

Originally posted by Angelous Wang:

This game starts before LOTR, just after the Hobbit.

The Ringwraths were assumed to be dead and still before the Hobbit (ending 2942 T.A)

So I cannot see how the following information as being true.

Originally posted by ThatAwkwardGiraffe:

Ringwraiths retook Minas Ithil in 2002 T.A (this happens now during Shadow of War)
Around the same time they did this they retook the Black Gate(this happens in Shadow of Mordor).

If they were up and around in 2002 T.A then surely the council of elrond would have noticed in 940 years they were freely roaming around. And wouldn't have been so shocked in the Hobbit.

That said Talion is undead, he is in state of undeath, like Vampire. He doesn't age, he is walking corpse. If anything he would rot rather than age.

That White Council did not form until 2463 T.A the same year the one ring was found by Gollum three years after the peaceful watch ends. Plus the Ringwraiths can move around without the black cloaks on. So I persume that the capture was under the disguise of orcs taking Minas Ithil. They were only shocked in the movie version, In the books Gandalf knew that Sauron was in Dol Guldur in 2850- 2851 T.A but Saruman did not want to attack because he already started to crave the power of the One Ring. The Conuncil attacked in 2941 T.A and Saruman agreed because he thought Sauron was getting close to finding the One Ring. This 400 to 500 years after Sauron returned to Dol Guldur. So they could have missed the Nazgul running around for a few hundred years. And I am pulling these dates from the lore.

[eayoung1995]

The easiest way to figure out the timeline for this game involves the end of act one. Minas Ithil becomes minas Morgul. ( you see it coming the whole time and if you’re a fan of the books you know it’s inevitable, no spoilers here.)

This happens roughly around year 2000 of the 3rd era. Which is over 1000 years before the events of the Lord of the rings and the hobbit. This means the shadow wars could theoretically last almost 1000 years.

*Note this is the SECOND conquest of Minas Ithil. The first time it was eventually recaptured but that was in the second era. The final conquest of minas Ithil saw the corruption of the sorcerers spire and the nazguls took up residence in the tower. Giving the city the corrupted green lighting we see in the movies and other media.

[JP]

Originally posted by eayoung1995:

The easiest way to figure out the timeline for this game involves the end of act one. Minas Ithil becomes minas Morgul. ( you see it coming the whole time and if you’re a fan of the books you know it’s inevitable, no spoilers here.)

This happens roughly around year 2000 of the 3rd era. Which is over 1000 years before the events of the Lord of the rings and the hobbit. This means the shadow wars could theoretically last almost 1000 years.

*Note this is the SECOND conquest of Minas Ithil. The first time it was eventually recaptured but that was in the second era. The final conquest of minas Ithil saw the corruption of the sorcerers spire and the nazguls took up residence in the tower. Giving the city the corrupted green lighting we see in the movies and other media.

Nope, this game is set between the hobbit and lotr. It breaks canon like no tomorrow.

[Lucky]

It's not considered canon...
I am fine with that. Still has the feel of LotR but you can be surprised with new ideas.

[JP]

Originally posted by Lucky:

It's not considered canon...
I am fine with that. Still has the feel of LotR but you can be surprised with new ideas.

I know it's not considered canon but it still breaks canon nonetheless. Something doesn't have to be canon in order for it to break canon. And i'm fine with it aswell because i'm not a super fan but people who are will and do have a problem with it.

[Lucky]

Originally posted by CyTe:

Originally posted by Lucky:

It's not considered canon...
I am fine with that. Still has the feel of LotR but you can be surprised with new ideas.

I know it's not considered canon but it still breaks canon nonetheless. Something doesn't have to be canon in order for it to break canon. And i'm fine with it aswell because i'm not a super fan but people who are will and do have a problem with it.

I get your point and I do not understand that issue some people have.
A game can never be 100% canon. If it was, it could only be a long cutscene... and that would be a movie.
As soon as you start a game it is your story and could never be considered 100% canon because you walk the path and thousands of different paths cannot all be canon. So, then you have people who are fine with 99%, some with 98%,...., some with 50%...
And as a dev - you cannot make them all happy.

Just play the game and as long as you don't have to fight care bears in a LotR franchise... I'm having fun. ;-)

[JP]

Originally posted by Lucky:

Originally posted by CyTe:

I know it's not considered canon but it still breaks canon nonetheless. Something doesn't have to be canon in order for it to break canon. And i'm fine with it aswell because i'm not a super fan but people who are will and do have a problem with it.

I get your point and I do not understand that issue some people have.
A game can never be 100% canon. If it was, it could only be a long cutscene... and that would be a movie.
As soon as you start a game it is your story and could never be considered 100% canon because you walk the path and thousands of different paths cannot all be canon. So, then you have people who are fine with 99%, some with 98%,...., some with 50%...
And as a dev - you cannot make them all happy.

Just play the game and as long as you don't have to fight care bears in a LotR franchise... I'm having fun. ;-)

Obviously a game can't be 100% canon but we are talking about the story here and it ♥♥♥♥♥ up a lot of what we know about the universe, (SPOLERS) for example apparently Isildur is a Nazghul even though it's impossible since the Nazghul were made like over a 1000 years before he was even born along with other inconsistencies. So i can 100% see why people who are really into the lore, don't like this game. For me i have 100% the game on my main account (doing a second playthrough on this account with family sharing enabled since the game only has one save file) and i love this game.

[Lucky]

OK, true. There is BENDING the canon and BREACKING the canon... And the Nazghul issue is breaking it. I can see that. But for me and you... it's just a game