The Rings of Power: What’s Going On With the Meteor and the Stranger? In the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Po...
The Rings of Power: What’s Going On With the Meteor and the Stranger?
In the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there's a lot to take in. There are new people and cultures from all over Middle-earth and beyond, shots of beautiful new places, and a quick history of the First Age and the war against Morgoth. But one of the strangest things had to be the crash landing of what looked like a fiery comet but was actually a dirty man with no clear name.
In a world where there are dark gods and elves, a naked man falling from the sky like a meteor doesn't seem that strange, does it? Most likely not, but right now it is the biggest question about The Rings of Power. Who is this weird guy? From where did he come? Is he even a man in the strictest sense? And what does he have to do with the rest of the show's story?
Here are some of our favorite ideas about who the Stranger is and what they might mean for the future of The Rings of Power...
Even though The Rings of Power mostly goes its own way through J.R.R. Tolkien's stories, no one can tell me that if Amazon saw a way to add one of the franchise's most popular characters, they wouldn't do it. And I can't say I blame them, even though the Stranger's presence doesn't fit perfectly with what we already know about where Gandalf came from and when he got to Middle-earth. (Did you get that?) But Gandalf is one of the Maiar, which are angelic, ancient spirits who sometimes visit Middle-earth to see how things are going. So it's not impossible.
First of all, the Stranger looks like a crazy wizard, and his strange skills (like his loud scream, the way he likes to talk to bugs, and the way he likes to write in symbols) make it seem like he has some kind of magic. His relationship with the harfoot Nori could be a sign of Gandalf's long-term interest in and connection to the hobbits who will one day be their descendants, and his fall to earth while encased in fire is eerily similar to Gandalf's fall through Moria with the Balrog and his subsequent resurrection
Sauron
The Dark Lord likes to be dramatic (see also: the huge flaming eye that will eventually sit on top of Barad-dur), and this is definitely the most dramatic entrance any character has had in the series so far. We wouldn't think that Sauron would do something as common as take a boat back across the Sundering Seas to Middle-earth like an elf, would we?
It's already very clear that Sauron's return is a big part of what makes The Rings of Power so emotional. Yes, he lost when Morgoth fell at the end of the First Age, but since a Sith apprentice always comes back after their master loses, we all know he'll be back. This would be a dramatic way to bring the series' biggest threat back into the spotlight and show a link between Sauron and the ancestors of the people (hobbits) who will one day be his downfall. Plus, the fire crater he makes when he crashes can't be a coincidence, can it? It looks a lot like the Eye of Sauron.
Another Istari
Though viewers of The Rings of Power will be familiar with several other members of Gandalf’s Istari order—fellow wizards Radagast the Brown and Saruman the White—it’s unlikely that either of them is the Stranger, simply given what we know about their respective stories and histories. Saruman’s web of deceit and betrayal is complicated enough without thrusting him into this series, and the Stranger doesn’t seem in tune enough with nature to be Radagast, though he’s got the borderline madness thing down.
owever, the Stranger could be one of the beings we’re less familiar with. Two unnamed Blue Wizards were also part of the quintet of Istari initially sent to Middle-Earth in response to Sauron’s growing power, but we know virtually nothing about them. (Their names–Alatar and Pallando–are mentioned in Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, but that’s it.) Either of them would offer the show a relatively blank slate and the chance to add a wizard to their canvas without messing with a previously established story.
Tom Bombadil
If The Rings of Power wanted to do something really weird, they could have the Stranger turn out to be Tom Bombadil, one of Tolkien's most mysterious and, well, weird characters. An immortal figure, he could be Eru Iluvatar (also known as God) in a human-like form, one of the fourteen Valar (the first and strongest beings sent to shape the world), or something else entirely. His motivations and powers are, at best, confusing and, at worst, make no sense.
He doesn't seem to be affected by the One Ring. He likes to speak in awkward rhyming poetry! But as one of the oldest beings, he must be strong enough to have survived crashing into Middle-earth while on fire. We know so little about what he is and what he has done in his very long life that the writers should be able to find a way to include him in this story.
