The ending of the first episode of The Rings of Power introduced us to what seems to be one of the biggest mysteries of the entire series. Who is the man in the meteorite? What is the identity of this giant fallen from the sky who terrorizes Middle-earth? Where do his supernatural powers come from? Portrayed by Daniel Weyman, he appears in the credits as “the stranger”, as Amazon wants his true identity to remain anonymous for the time being. However, several theories and speculations have already emerged about it. Let’s review some of them.
Meteor Man Powers
First, let’s start with what we know so far. Let’s start with his powers. Or with some of them, at least. The Meteorite Man is able to intimidate with his voice, as Gandalf did when he scolded Bilbo, causing everything around him to go dark and the trees to rise above the others. He seems to dominate nature and even communicates with animals, as he gives various instructions to the fireflies to explain their mission to Nori and her friend Poppy, the fluffy protagonists.
Not everything is good either. When the giant gets mad at Nori and breaks the stick he was drawing with, the hairy girl’s father breaks his foot. That is to say, there is also something a little dark inside. Another example is the way snails are eaten, shelled and greedily alive, or what happens with fireflies, which die once they’ve been used. It could be that Meteor Man lacks control over his powers (and so it’s all unintentional), but it could also mean that he doesn’t feel much empathy for the creatures around him and doesn’t hesitate to kill them. Will it be bad?
His temporary, or selective, amnesia is again reminiscent of that of Gandalf and other wizards from Valinor, who have always had difficulty remembering and describing this land. Their powers seem similar, so you might want to revisit our article on the origin of Middle-earth, the Valar and the Maiar. Maybe that’s just it, a maiar.
Is Sauron the man with the meteorite?
This is perhaps the most absurd theory, but it should not be ruled out. Amazon has been promising for some time that Sauron’s identity will come as a surprise, and it looks like it won’t be revealed until the end of the season. Maybe when Meteorite Man completes his mission, he’ll regain his memory and show himself as such?
On the one hand, it must be remembered that the man with the meteorite arrives in Middle-earth at the precise moment when the elves who have gone in search of Sauron seem to be leaving it. It would make sense for the Dark Lord to return just as his pursuers lay down their arms and believe they are victorious.
Added to this are his dangerous powers, the crater that looks like an eye (…) and the fact that barely landed in Middle-earth, a contaminated leaf falls into the hands of Gil-Galad, king of the elves. Now that we know the meaning of Sauron’s mark, who tells us that the constellation the giant was looking for doesn’t mark the location of Mount Doom?
Is Gandalf the man with the meteorite?
As much as comparing his supernatural powers and abilities with those of Gandalf has led many to wonder if he is not a younger version of the wizard. Because Gandalf wasn’t always Gandalf, stupid as that statement might sound. Before being the friend of the hobbits, Ian McKellen’s character was a spirit who lived in Valinor and was known as Olórin. He was described as a curious entity of the inhabitants of Middle-earth and who knows if he had not visited it thousands of years before it took the form we know.
Gandalf has always been associated with fire (now he comes in a meteorite) and his relationship with Nori draws all sorts of parallels with Frodo. Isn’t there already between hairy and hobbit? Besides, isn’t the series called The Rings of Power? And didn’t Gandalf receive the elven ring of fire in his time, Narya? (Here you can consult all the rings that were and who had them).
Of course, it should be clarified that everything is speculation and that the man with the meteorite could well be a character created solely and exclusively for the series. It wouldn’t be the first, but on the contrary, there are so many that recently we had to collect all the characters from the series that appear in Tolkien’s work and all the originals, to distinguish them. For now, it will be time to wait for the new episodes to collect even more pieces of the puzzle and thus reveal the identity of the character before Amazon himself.
