My personal opinion is the next 'Dark Lord' whose defeat will bring the end of the Fourth age will be the Witch King. I base this on a little throwaway line in ROTK which state the Chief Nazgul's voice '- was not heard again *in that Age of the World*'. Sure sounds like forshadowing to me. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] And it has the virtue of symetry. As Morgoth was succeeded by his chief lieutenant Sauron, so Sauron is succeeded by his.
Of course the ground of the south and east must be pretty well littered with black sorcerors, (such as Herumor) who will from time to time cause trouble. And there must be other leftovers from Sauron and Melkor's reigns capable threatening the Reunited Kingdom. But I don't feel these will qualify as the kind of all encompassing 'end of the world as we know it' that makes a 'Dark Lord'.
A Dark Lord who is a Man, or like the Witch King was once a Man, will in fact be the greatest threat of all for Men have the power to change the Music and remake fate. Misused this power could do incalculable damage that only other Men can repair or prevent.
And we mustn't discount the possibility of a fallen Elf as a 'Dark Lord'. As the power of Men waxes there are bound to be those among the remaining Elves who desperately desire to reverse that trend and might turn to evil means to do so.
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