The grand finale of The Rings of Power has finally revealed the identity of the stranger who fell in a meteor at the beginning of the series.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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– Warning: Spoilers for “The Rings of Power” follow! –
In “The Rings of Power” Galadriel (Moryfdd Clark) embarks on a quest to find Sauron thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Unlike the other Elves in Middle-earth, she is convinced that Sauron is still in hiding, just waiting for an opportunity to continue the work of his master Morgoth. In the first episodes of the Amazon series, a lands with a meteorite mysterious stranger (Daniel Weyman) in Middle-earth who has been speculated to be Sauron. Now his identity is finally clear.
The final episode, Farewell, starts by fooling the viewer and claiming that the stranger is actually Sauron. But as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that he is one of the Istari, who are wizards who came to Middle-earth to aid the Men and Elves in the fight against Sauron. The stranger’s apparent magical abilities, his whispering to the fireflies and similar phrases from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy clearly indicate that the meteor man is after all Gandalf acts. The staging alone, when he says that when in doubt you should always follow your nose, can only be meant as a pointer to the audience. Finally, a virtually identical line from Gandalf in the film trilogy is legendary, after all, it set the Fellowship of Moria on the right path. However, like the other wizards, he actually only comes to Middle-earth in the Third Age, which the series apparently ignores.
With their arrival in the Third Age, the other four Istari could actually also be excluded – i.e. in addition to Gandalf also Saruman, Radagast and the two Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando. Were it not for the alternate origin story from Tolkien’s Nachlass, published posthumously in the “Messages from Middle-earth”: Here the two Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando sent to Middle-earth by the Valar as early as the Second Age. In Tolkien’s words, they “had a great influence on the history of the Second and Third Ages in weakening and confusing the forces of the East” – but little is recorded of their concrete actions.
There is even more information about the fantasy series in the video:
That is why it was suspected that Sauron was behind the stranger
The crater where Nori Brandyfuss’s (Markella Kavenagh) Stranger was found in the first episode was reminiscent of the Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings movies. Also, Nori notes that the flaming crater isn’t hot at all. A circumstance that Galadriel associates with evil at the beginning of the series and that also exists in the films. Furthermore, the meteorite man uses magic spells to ensure that Nori’s father gets injured, that a swarm of fireflies dies and that Nori’s brother is almost hit by a falling branch.
Both Sauron and the wizards are Maiar, unearthly beings who serve the gods, the Valar. When asked if the stranger was one of the well-known wizards, showrunner Patrick McKay told Vanity Fair, “I would say they aren’t the only beings of this species. So maybe, maybe not. And I would say that the puzzle and the journey are the most fun.” Now it’s clear that it’s one of the magicians. While the show has yet to definitively confirm that the Stranger is Gandalf, everything in The Rings of Power speaks in favor of it. All episodes of the series are now available on Amazon Prime.
How well do you know the Lord of the Rings movies? Find out in the quiz:
Lord of the Rings Quiz: How well do you know Hobbits, Elves and Orcs?
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