Three mysterious figures appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 5: The Nomad (Edith Poor), The Ascetic (Kali Kopae) and The Dweller (Bridie Sisson). Who are the Mystics, the women in the white robes, and what do they want?
Even in the trailers for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, strange figures in robes could be seen that could not be classified directly. Some quickly believed that one of the characters could possibly be Sauron himself, while others felt more reminiscent of Eminem because of their hair color. After “The Rings of Power” Episode 5, the Sauron theories have finally been settled – but it seems as if The Nomad (Edith Poor), The Ascetic (Kali Kopae) and The Dweller (Bridie Sisson) are behind the strangers (Daniel Weyman).
The nomad, the ascetic and the resident so – the names don’t reveal much. Fortunately, however, there is an official statement: producer Lindsey Weber revealed to him Time Magazinethat Bridie Sisson’s character “is from the Far East, from the land of Rhûn”. Accordingly, the nomad and the ascetic should also come from Rhûn.
Rhûn and the East of Middle-earth
Rhûn is a realm in eastern Middle-earth about which little is known in the works of JRR Tolkien. Originally the Elves, Men and Dwarves awoke there after being created, and later the Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando traveled there.
Yet Above all, the people living in Rhûn, i.e. in the east, are known to Tolkien as followers of the dark forces, much like the people of the southern lands. Even before the plot time of The Rings of Power, they joined Sauron’s master Morgoth in the First Age, then fell under Sauron’s influence in the Second Age, and finally fought for Sauron in the War of the Ring in the Third Age.
It is therefore quite reasonable to assume that Nomad, Ascetic and Dweller (officially called “Mystics”) are also on Sauron’s side. And maybe one of them will even become one of the Ringwraiths? One of them, named Khamûl, is said to have come from the east.
What do the three women want?
So the nomad, the ascetic and the resident belong more to the bad guys, but what exactly is their mission? They investigate the crater where the Stranger once landed in Middle-earth. So are they looking for the Stranger, perhaps because he is Sauron and they are his disciples? That would fit with what we know of the people of Rhûn.
But we believe: No, the stranger is not Sauron and the women are not directly after him either. Rather, they are looking for the same star constellation as the stranger. The ascetic is holding a kind of metal shield in her hands, on which you can see the constellation that the meteorite man scribbled in the ground in episode 2 and studied on the star charts of Harfuss leader Sadoc (Lenny Henry) in episode 3:
Amazon Studios The same constellation in “The Rings of Power” Episode 2, Episode 3 and Episode 5
What this constellation is all about and why different parties are looking for it remains to be seen for the time being. What is certainly interesting here is the path taken by the Stranger and the Harfeet – for it seems to be slowly but surely leading them towards Mordor, evidently along its northern border. And in Mordor (which may not be called that at the time) many of the previous storylines seem to converge…
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 6 will be released on September 30, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. You can also learn more about the mystics in the video above.
Who is the Meteor Man in The Rings of Power? This important clue is hidden in Episode 5
