Some time passed after the beginning of the Fourth Age in the Middle-earth. Everything was calm but then strange things began to happen. Crop failure for several years in a row made a bag of wheat cost more than its weight in gold. Gangs of robbers spread around; though they were quickly pacified by the assembled squads, and people gradually began to adapt to a shortage of food..
But suddenly… something appeared in the far east, far beyond Mordor. Strange shadows began to thicken there… And then very strange creatures began to appear everywhere; such creatures that they could not even imagine before – abominable mutants and disgusting hybrids..
At first, there were rumours that the new leader of Black Numenoreans, the Necromancer, appeared and was gathering a new army for marching west. But then it became clear that…
The Dark Lords is back. By destroying the Ring, heroes freed part of Sauron’s power (fëa) and when his envelopment spirit was scattered around the Middle-earth – it was able to combine with the released powers of the Ring into a reincarnation in a new ‘spirit’ body. While the Ring and Sauron were separated from each other – part of Sauron in the Ring was entrapped and wasn’t able to combine with his master. With the Ring’s destruction, which also destroyed Sauron’s emanation – they became scattered, but at the same time were able to merge together.
But there must have been a power that helped Sauron to bring his spirit intact so fast.. It should have taken several centuries for Sauron to reincarnate…
The New Council, with the help of the Palantir, was able to discover that everything was much worse than it was at first glance. Morgoth was finally able to extend his thoughts into Middle-earth from the Void… And His will empowered Sauron to embody once more.
But Sauron doesn’t do anything active, which was very strange. He did not build an army, as he did before; even though the remnants of darkness from all over Middle-earth flock to him.. Combined Palantirs’ powers reconnaissance showed that Sauron is preparing some strange ritual… He makes terrifying human sacrifices to perform some darkest magic which could be imagined. It appears that he is planning to bring his Master back.. Bring Morgoth back to Middle-earth from the Void. Alone Sauron does not have these powers, but Morgoth managed to tunnel part of his power to the Arda which strengthened Sauron enormously.
So Sauron made attempts to open the Portal to the Void to rescue his Master. As no one knows how to get to the Void exactly, Sauron crude attempts made certain interference in another dimension. Cracks and rifts appeared in Reality Borders from which strange creatures started to appear which were unknown in Middle-earth before. Some of them appeared to be very dangerous – unicorns, djinns and other unknown magic creatures. At the same time, some Middle-earth creatures started to mutate because of radiation coming from these rifts… Here and there, various dangerous mutants appeared, who immediately became outcasts. And this all was imposed by dire hunger…
The Valar recognized danger too late (their foresight didn’t penetrate to the Void, so they weren’t able to read Morgoth’s mind there) and now they have to make a decision on how to act. They saw the biggest threat not in actually in Morgoth (not speaking of Sauron, who is just a nasty flea to them), but in rifts which appeared at Reality Borders. It’s not possible to cease these rifts from the inside, from Arda’s side. To close them – you have to go inside, to visit another dimension and to close it from there (it’s like closing a door after yourself while stepping inside).
But Valar don’t have much time – because there is always a risk that something even more powerful than Morgoth could intrude through these rifts. The Universe has an endless number of dimensions and even Arda’s masters could have not enough power to match the Unknown.
At the same time they fear to go through rifts to other dimensions to cease exits.. as they do not know what to expect in other worlds; in some they could be like tiny ants compared to habitants of those places… There is always a chance not to come back. The other reason – that by entering the realm they (as quite powerful entities) could bring attention to the Arda dimension which could provoke an invasion; while for now such rifts may not be known to its inhabitants from other side.
The Valar made a woeful decision – to destroy the sphere of Middle-earth. These rifts and cracks are spreading like cancer and there is still a hope to save Valinor from destruction and this dimension from invasion if Valar will quickly destroy Middle-earth. But first they have to finish Morgoth, who almost finished his impersonation in Middle-earth. Valar cannot destroy the Sphere while there is Morgoth, who is getting stronger every second by absorbing his fëa which was spread in Middle-earth. And Morgoth is thinking only about revenge against the Valar and he doesn’t care about worlds destruction or rifts. He just needs time to collect enough power and then…
The Valar foresaw that one hero will have powers to defeat Morgoth, so they almost do not interfere in this particular battle (and they just can’t interfere because of the Scale’s Balance); at the same time they’ve blocked ‘The Straight Road’ between Aman and Middle-earth and are now working on building their defenses and getting prepared for Middle-earth destruction magic ritual – beginning of Dagor Dagorath.
You are one of these heroes who have a chance to stop Dagor Dagorath, to save your beloved people and homeland from destruction.
First you need to destroy Sauron, so he won’t be able to complete Morgoth embodiment. But at that time when you reach Sauron, Morgoth will already get a certain physical form by gathering some part of his fëa; he is weakened, but still terribly powerful.
If you will manage to defeat Morgoth – you could obtain his Massive Iron Crown which contains much of his power. With its powers, you would be able to comprehend the Valar ‘s plan to destroy Middle-earth to cease rifts in Reality Borders.. You can’t let it happen.
// Note, that at the time when you fight Morgoth – you do not know about Valar decision; actually if you won’t wear the Crown – you will never know about it and you could just go to a tavern and drink beer till the End.
So, to save Middle-earth, you should travel to Valinor to persuade the Valar to stop Dagor Dagorath ritual.
If you will manage to do it… You should know that you’ve intervened in Eru Iluvatar’s plan. It wasn’t Manwe decision to destroy Middle-earth, but just his fulfillment of Eru’s will. It means that eventually you should meet The Master of this dimension and to answer for your deeds. To meet Eru you will have to travel to Timeless Halls, to the Abyss.
No one knows how it would end. But even if you manage to save Middle-earth from the prey of Morgoth, defeat Valar and even face Eru – there are still dimension rifts which spread. You will have eventually to travel to other dimensions to close them. Some of them are a big threat to the world right now, so you could consider to visit them even before you will face Morgoth. Visit dimensions, get to its Essences to cease the rifts – and eventually you will be able to safe Middle-earth… Once and for all.