Is The Stranger in ‘The Rings Of Power’ really Gandalf – and how does that fit into Tolkien’s lore?
With a huge budget and an even bigger legacy to live up to, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is arguably Amazon’s biggest TV gamble.
Created by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the prequel series is set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and depicts the rise of Sauron in Middle-earth’s Second Age.
The show’s cast is led by Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, alongside Robert Aramayo, Benjamin Walker, Charles Edwards, Daniel Weyman and Charlie Vickers. The first season debuted in 2022, with season two airing its finale earlier this month.
Who is The Stranger in The Rings Of Power?
After almost two seasons of speculation, the season two finale confirmed what some had already assumed – The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is in fact, Gandalf.
The revelation is made during a conversation with Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) in the finale after The Stranger discovers his staff. When they meet in his hut, Bombadil remarks: “A wizard does not find his staff, it finds him, like his name.”
To this, The Stranger replies: “Gandalf… that’s what they’re going to call me, isn’t it?”
Does this make sense in relation to J.R.R. Tolkien’s books?
On the surface, this revelation doesn’t align with Tolkien’s source material. Gandalf doesn’t come to Middle-earth until the Third Age, according to Tolkien’s works, which is when The Lord Of The Rings is set – while The Rings Of Power takes place thousands of years earlier during The Second Age.
There is, however, some wiggle room in the interpretation. Gandalf The Grey comes to Middle-earth in the Third Age, but with his transformation into Gandalf the White in The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, there’s a chance another iteration of the character existed before he became Gandalf The Grey.
In Tolkien’s books, Gandalf The White even acknowledges that he lost some of his memory in the transformation, so Gandalf may not remember visiting Middle-earth prior to the Third Age (if he did).
“I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted,” Gandalf The White states. “I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. I can see many things far off, but many things that are close at hand I cannot see.”
This ambiguity is what showrunner Patrick McKay is toying with in The Rings Of Power. In an interview with LA Times about the The Stranger’s reveal, he said: “What we do on this show all the time is we look for ellipses in the mythology and then those become great opportunities to hopefully fill in the blanks.
“Gandalf The Grey falls to the Balrog and then is sent back as Gandalf The White, who’s not exactly the same guy but he is the same guy. This is the idea that perhaps there was an even earlier iteration before he was ‘The Grey’.”
Daniel Weyman, who plays Gandalf in the series, said: “I’m playing Gandalf at the very, very beginning of a journey, as opposed to what we might know later on – thousands of years later. He has to experience things. He has to make mistakes. So that gives us license to be different from where Gandalf might end up. The only way of becoming wise is through lots of life experience.”
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Adam Starkey
NME
