The Stranger’s identity is still one of ‘The Rings of Power’s most intriguing mysteries
Blue, white, or grey?
The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 are here, which means it’s time to dive right back into speculating over one of its biggest mysteries. Who is The Stranger, the character played by Daniel Weyman?
There are plenty of theories; from Reddit to X, and since season 1, fans have been discussing and dissecting all available clues to figure out the identity of The Stranger. Until the earlier episodes of season 1, there was still a possibility that The Stranger could be Sauron. Those three evil witches seemed to believe that, and every time The Stranger used his power, it caused some destruction, which didn’t bode well.
In Tolkien’s legendarium, there is another important character who arrived in Middle-earth from Valinor in a sort of rebirth during the Second Age. But, the legendary hero Glorfindel, who also returns with powers on par with a Maiar, is an elf, and last we checked, The Stranger’s ears are not pointy. Besides, there was no indication in the lore that Glorfindel lost his memory upon his arrival.
Of course, now that we know who Sauron is, and that The Stranger is one of the Istar, it narrows down the possibilities quite a bit. But first, let’s indulge in a little bit of lore dump.
Who are the Istari?
The Istari are an order of wise men, or wizards, who were sent to Middle-earth as the emissaries of the Valar to guide and help its people in the fight against Sauron. The Istari were Maiar once, a race of angelic beings to which Sauron also belongs. Trying to rectify some of their mistakes from the earlier ages, the Valar decided that when these Maiar arrived on Middle-earth, they would have no memory of who they were, their bodies would be that of men, and they would be prone to all the weaknesses and follies of the other peoples of Middle-earth so that they could assimilate better with the world’s inhabitants instead of being their superiors.
The plan was for the Istari to merely help and guide the people of Middle-earth, and for them to rarely use their powers for any other cause. They were not meant to assert any dominion over Middle-earth’s various races. In the book Unfinished Tales, it is also mentioned that there is no knowledge of how many Istari came to Middle-earth; however, of those who came, there were five chiefs, three of whom we know from the Peter Jackson movies—Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast.
There were two more, known simply as the Blue Wizards, who were part of the Istari, and who have been briefly mentioned in Tolkien’s writings. However, he doesn’t write much about them, because they are said to have passed into the East, and the events of the War of the Ring mostly do not concern those regions.
So who could The Stranger from The Rings of Power be?
We can safely assume that The Stranger is one of the Istar; even those creepy white witches from season 1 say so before he magics them away to the Unseen World. But which wizard is he? Let’s weigh the options, shall we?
Mild spoilers ahead for The Rings of Power season 2 episodes 1-3!
Saruman the White
It’s a testament to Sir Christopher Lee’s performance in the LOTR movies that we have come to hate Saruman the White so much for how he stabbed Gandalf and practically all of Middle-earth in the back. As the chief of the Order, he was supposed to help them! But remember Galadriel’s opening monologue from The Rings of Power season 1? Nothing is born evil, even Sauron wasn’t. And neither was Saruman.
It’s possible that Saruman arrived an age early and actually witnessed the rise of Sauron. In the movies, Gandalf mentions that Saruman is the best authority on the rings of power because he spent an obsessive amount of time studying them. All of this makes it a possibility, though it’s still a bit of a stretch, that The Stranger could turn out to be Saruman.
Radagast the Brown
This one’s the least likely possibility right now because we haven’t seen anything in The Rings of Power’s episodes that would indicate that The Stranger is the animal-loving wizard. But, The Stranger does spend a lot of time wandering with the Harfoots, who are utterly in touch with the earth, nature, and wildlife. So who knows? Maybe we’ll see more of that in the episodes to come.
One of the Blue Wizards
This seems like an interesting possibility, especially when you realize that according to Tolkien’s timeline of the Second Age, in which The Rings of Power is set, the Blue Wizards were the first of the Istari to arrive in Middle-earth. They are assumed to have arrived together in SA 1600, whereas the other three came in the year 1000 of the Third Age, thousands of years later.
Furthermore, it is said that the Blue Wizards went to the Far East and stayed there, believed to either have fallen under Sauron’s thrall or formed a resistance against him by establishing magic cults of their own. With Ciarán Hinds being cast as an unnamed Dark Wizard in Rhûn in the east, where The Stranger is journeying to with Nori and Poppy, there is a chance that this could be a reunion of the Blue Wizards, one of whom has gone dark and the other’s leanings remain a mystery. Or, could this Dark Wizard be a foil, and that is indeed Saruman in the promotional image? We shall see!
Gandalf the Grey
It’s not just our fangirl hearts that want this to be true. There are so many signs that The Stranger is Gandalf that we’d probably be heartbroken if he turns out to be someone else! He looks the part. He said one of Gandalf’s most memorable lines from The Lord of the Rings in the first season of The Rings of Power. He is pally with the Hobbit-like Harfoots, and his dreams in The Rings of Power season 2 are about a wooden staff. These seem like things you’d associate with the grey wizard that we all know and love.
We’ll have to wait until the end of The Rings of Power season 2 to know who The Stranger is for sure. After all this theorizing, I’m certain it’s going to be worth it!
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