News culture The stranger from the Amazon series “Rings of Power” is not Gandalf, but this other character from Tolkien’s universe
There is a lot of speculation about the Rings of Power series, the second season of which is currently airing on Amazon Prime Video. Among those that animate the fan community, the most common is the identity of the Stranger character. While some think it is the wizard Gandalf, others know deep down that this is not possible.
The stranger is not Gandalf
Amazon Studios has fun sowing doubts among viewers of the Rings of Power series. Since the very first episode of the first season aired in early September 2022, one question remains unanswered. Who is the stranger who literally crashed into Middle Earth on a comet? For many fans This character, played by British actor Daniel Weyman, can only be a young version of Gandalfan iconic character from Lord of the Rings.
It must be said that the evidence supporting this theory is numerous enough to make it tangible, provided one does not know the history of the universe presented by JRR Tolkien inside and out. This Istari, who travels with the Piévelus Elanor Brandyfoot, wears a grey robe and uses the emblematic phrase of the wizard “When in doubt, follow your nose”, which Gandalf already uttered in the film “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001). That was all that was needed to make the stranger into young Gandalf. However, it is simply impossible for these two characters to be one and the same person.
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Who is really the stranger?
According to the writings of the British author (especially the Silmarillion) Gandalf would have arrived in Middle Earth in the Third Age, several thousand years after the events recounted in the Rings of Power series. As a clue, the fall of Númenor took place in the year 3319 of the Second Age, while the Wizard arrived in the year 1000 of the Third Age. And the same goes for Saruman and Radagast, two other Istari who crossed paths in The Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first and The Hobbit for the second, and entered Middle Earth at the same time as Gandalf.
If the stranger is not Gandalf, who could he be? Other Istari traveled to Middle-earth long before the famous Grey Wizard. These blue magicians wore blue robes and were commissioned by the Valar to fight against Sauron in the East. Among these “divine” emissaries, two caught the attention of showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne: Alatar and Pallando. We know so little about them that it would be easy for the writers to shape their fate, and thus the history of Middle-earth, as they wish.
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