Who Is The Stranger In Rings Of Power?
Contents
- 1 Who is the stranger supposed to be in Lord of the Rings of Power?
- 2 Who is the stranger in Rings of Power season 2?
- 3 Is the stranger not Sauron?
- 4 Is Radagast in The Rings of Power?
- 5 Why is Radagast not in LOTR?
- 6 Is Gandalf the GREY immortal?
- 7 Is the stranger a blue wizard?
- 8 Is the meteor man Gandalf?
Who is the stranger supposed to be in Lord of the Rings of Power?
The Stranger, Meteor Man, Sauron. who is he, really? Credit: Ben Rothstein / Prime Video Since the start of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, one of the show’s biggest mysteries has been: Who is the Stranger (Daniel Weyman)? Now, after the finale, we know.
Kind of. The Stranger crash-landed in Middle-earth in episode 1 and has been tagging along with Harfoot Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) ever since. Due to his memory loss, the only clues we really have about who he is are his appearance and his magical abilities — which have attracted the attention of a group of white-cloaked women known as the Mystics (Bridie Sisson, Kali Kopae, and Edith Poor).
Early in the Season 1 finale of The Rings of Power, the Mystics finally catch up to the Stranger and hail him as Lord Sauron. As we quickly learn throughout the rest of the episode, that isn’t true. Sauron is someone else entirely. The Mystics realize their mistake and a fight ensues, but the Stranger takes up one of their staffs, proclaims that he’s a force of good, and magics them away.
Is the stranger in Rings of Power a wizard?
The Season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power resolves many of the series’ biggest mysteries. The episode finally confirms that The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) isn’t Sauron in disguise but is, instead, an Istar — a.k.a. Wizard — sent to Middle-earth via an otherworldly meteor strike.
- That said, the Rings of Power finale, titled “Alloyed,” stops short of confirming which of the Istari from J.R.R.
- Tolkien’s legendarium The Stranger is.
- While the episode sees him utter one of Gandalf’s most famous lines, it also places him on the same mission given to the mysterious Blue Wizards who came to Middle-earth during its Second Age.
Tolkien fans, consequently, remain uncertain about The Stranger’s true identity. If he is a Blue Wizard, though, it is fair to assume that The Rings of Power Season 2 may add a second wizard to the Lord of the Rings prequel’s already sprawling cast of characters.
- The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) may not be the only wizard in Middle-earth right now.
- Prime Video One of Two — Throughout his life, Tolkien wrote that there were five wizards/Istari who the Valar sent to aid the citizens of Middle-earth in their fight against Sauron (Charlie Vickers).
- Three of the wizards come during Middle-earth’s Third Age, and they come to be known as Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast.
But Tolkien wrote that the other two Istari, the Blue Wizards, came to Middle-earth thousands of years before their fellow Maiar. Tolkien wrote that the Blue Wizards were initially charged with exploring the eastern and southern regions of Middle-earth.
However, while he originally claimed that the Blue Wizards were unsuccessful in quelling the growing support for Sauron among Middle-earth’s Easterlings and Southerners, Tolkien later revised that plot point. Before he died, the author revealed that the Blue Wizards played a key role in ensuring that Sauron’s forces in the East and South never outnumbered the forces of the West.
Taking that into account, if The Stranger is a Blue Wizard, then we could meet his Istar companion at some point in The Rings of Power Season 2, Daniel Weyman as The Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 8. Prime Video A Trip to Rhûn — This theory is, notably, one that Tolkien fans have had ever since The Rings of Power premiered.
- One of the most popular fan theories surrounding the show even suggests that The Rings of Power Episode 1’s ending montage may show not just The Stranger’s meteor strike but also the arrival of another.
- If true, that means another Istar has already landed in Middle-earth and, much like The Stranger, may be traveling to the Eastern lands of Rhûn,
While that may seem far-fetched right now, it’s worth noting that there are plenty of places in Middle-earth yet to be explored in The Rings of Power. These locations may be where a potential second meteor landed. Another compelling fan theory, meanwhile, speculates that The Stranger may face another Blue Wizard in The Rings of Power Season 2 only to discover that his fellow Istar is corrupted and evil.
- Not only would that twist prove how instrumental Nori (Markella Kavenagh) was in saving The Stranger in The Rings of Power Season 1, but it would also allow the Amazon series to pay homage to the two versions of the Blue Wizards that Tolkien envisioned when he was still alive.
- The Inverse Analysis — Unfortunately, Tolkien fans will likely have to wait a while before they find out whether The Stranger is Gandalf or a Blue Wizard.
Right now, both options seem equally possible. However, if he does turn out to be one of Tolkien’s mysterious Blue Wizards, then it seems like only a matter of time before it’s revealed that The Stranger isn’t the only Istar who is currently roaming the lands of Middle-earth in The Rings of Power,
Who are the three mysterious strangers in Rings of Power?
Who Are The Rings of Power ‘s White Cloak Characters? – Prime Video The three figures who first appeared at the site of the Stranger’s meteorite crash are known as The Ascetic (Kali Kopae), The Nomad (Edith Poor), and The Dweller (Bridie Sisson), the group’s apparent leader. Prime Video refers to them as “mystics,” and their attire certainly contributes to a religious ethos.
The figures also seem like they could easily be seen as witches on The Rings of Power, In fact, in an interview, Patrick McKay, one of the showrunners on The Rings of Power, likens the White Cloaks to MacBeth’s trio of witches. He notes, “We’rethinking about Macbeth, and we’re thinking about the old crones and the three witches and just trying to come up with something strange and weird.” Thanks to one of the show’s executive producers, we also know where they hail from.
Lindsey Weber told Time that The Dweller comes “from far to the east,” specifically the lands of Rhûn, a place seeped in J.R.R. Tolkien’s darkest lore.
Who is the stranger in Rings of Power season 2?
This Lord of the Rings article contains spoilers of The Rings of Power. It seems clear now: the Stranger is Gandalf.
Is the stranger Gandalf or Radagast?
The Stranger’s identity in The Rings of Power has been revealed – thanks to one key line (Image credit: Amazon Studios) Warning: Spoilers follow for episodes 1-8! Turn back now if you’re not caught up on Amazon Prime Video! Just who is the Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves since the mysterious giant crash-landed on Middle-earth in the first episode. (Image credit: Amazon Prime) No, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is not Sauron, Saruman, or even Radagast the Brown. While it is revealed in the season finale that The Stranger is an Istar/Istari (otherwise known as a wizard in Middle-earth parlance), one line clues us in even further to The Stranger’s identity. (Image credit: New Line) Read up on more of The Rings of Power’s big mysteries with our complete explainer to the and all the clues that you may have missed. Plus, there’s our guide to as well as to help you make sense of Middle-earth’s centuries of conflict and chaos.
Is The Stranger Gandalf or Saruman?
Why The Stranger Is Gandalf – Immediately after arriving in Middle-earth, fans were quick to label the Stranger as a Second Age version of beloved Gandalf the Grey. Other than being tall with a large beard and wearing a tattered robe, there are quite a few indications that the Stranger is Gandalf.
- In the third episode, Nori and her friend Poppy watch the Stranger speak to fireflies in a similar fashion to Gandalf speaking to the moths when he was imprisoned by Saruman.
- The other major indication is the advice he gives Nori before they travel to Rhun.
- He tells her “when in doubt, Elanor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose” which is nearly identical to what Gandalf said in the Mines of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Although Gandalf didn’t arrive in Middle-earth until the Third Age according to Tolkien’s books, The Rings of Power has already adjusted much of the source material, so it’s not inconceivable it would bring Gandalf into the fold a bit early. There’s also the chance of the Stranger being confirmed as Gandalf but dying at some point, only to be resurrected later in the Third Age, like he was after being killed by the Balrog in Moria.
Is the stranger a Balrog?
‘The Rings of Power’: Who Is That Guy? Six episodes in, the true identities of several new characters in Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” series remain unknown. Our resident Tolkienologist speculates. “Rings of Power” viewers have speculated that the mystery man known simply as the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is Sauron, a Balrog, or Tilion — or even Gandalf. Credit. Amazon Prime Video Many of the biggest unsolved in J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling “Lord of the Rings” trilogy have resulted from the tiniest scraps of writing he left behind — a line here, an aside there, or some tiny revision that raised a question he never answered before dying in 1973.
Six episodes in, the Amazon series “The Rings of Power,” set before Tolkien’s trilogy and drawing from details in its six appendices, seems poised to solve some of them, including longstanding questions about the origin of the orcs, the fate of the Blue Wizards and what Sauron got up to during the centuries after Morgoth’s defeat.
More than likely, those answers will relate to several mystery characters in the series — characters who, so far, are unfamiliar to even the best-read Tolkienologists. Who is Adar? Who is Halbrand? Who is the Stranger from the sky? And what about those three ominous priestesses? All must wonder what has woken in the darkness; with only two episodes left in the first season, their true identities are still unknown.
Here are some theories that may light the way. There is no shortage of theories about the confused celestial traveler known to many as simply the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), or more affectionately as Meteor Man. Some say he is, or a, or — or even, That last possibility has emotional appeal. Also, he traveled by meteor: Surely, he must be a — who, as Gandalf later, originate in the spiritual realm before arriving to Middle-earth in physical form.
Being newly corporeal could explain the Stranger’s difficulty controlling his immense magical powers. (One of his special skills — spellcasting in the Elvish tongue Quenya, such as the healing/renewal incantation “envinyanta.”) This facility recalls, or, such as the Grey, the White and the Brown, but most don’t arrive in Tolkien’s saga until the Third Age.
There are two others in this same order, though, and they could be in Middle-earth as early as the Second Age, in time for “Rings of Power.” These are the : Pallando (also known as Rómestámo, which means “East-helper”) and his colleague Alatar (also known as Morinehtar, which means “Darkness-slayer”).
Tolkien wrote contradictory versions of their tale, but it seems likely that the Stranger might be searching for a fellow fallen friend. Ominously closing in on Meteor Man are, known as the Dweller (Bridie Sisson), the Nomad (Edith Poor, in a helmet) and the Ascetic (Kali Kopae, in a hood).
They definitely appear to have uncanny powers, so it would make sense if they turned out to be members of a creepy Sauron cult — specifically the — what with their celestial and ritualistic talismans. But Sauron’s minions don’t wear white; maybe these interlopers are cultists of a different order. One of the show’s producers that the three beings have traveled from the lands of, far to the east, which is where the Blue Wizards traveled.
Bridie Sisson plays an ominous stranger known as the Dweller, one of three creepy, culty characters who are tracking the Stranger. Credit. Amazon Prime Video Tolkien was of two minds about his Blue Wizards. As captured in letters and outlines published in “Unfinished Tales” and “The Peoples of Middle-earth,” his conception of them changed over time.
- At first, he speculated that they had failed in their original mission and became the leaders of secret magic cults; later on, he suggested that they had succeeded in helping to block Sauron.
- But what if both versions could be true? What if the wizards operated independently, on opposite sides? The mystics could belong to one such wizard cult and seek to welcome — or thwart — any newly arrived member of the order.
“You are Sauron, are you not?” When Waldreg (Geoff Morrell) asks this question, the dark elf Adar (Joseph Mawle) erupts in anger. Why? Because Sauron is actually an insult, meaning “the Abhorred.” Because it was Adar, called “father” by his orc followers, who killed Sauron to protect his people.
Later, when the supposedly virtuous Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) advocates, Adar makes a persuasive case to join the orc sympathizer camp. Galadriel and Adar articulate both versions of Tolkien’s competing orc origin theories: that orcs were bred as mockeries of elves (“The Book of Lost Tales” version), and that they were actually corrupted elves (“The Silmarillion” version).
Tolkien himself struggled with this dilemma, second-guessing whether orcs were completely irredeemable. Adar argues for orc rights. If you prick us, he asks, do we not bleed (black)? Adar himself is still more elf than orc, or uruk, his preferred nomenclature.
He is still immortal, for one thing, having lived since the First Age. He can stand in the sun. And he observes the tradition of planting seeds before battle. Instead of threatening to kill his “children,” Galadriel might better have asked how many more elves like him had been transformed by darkness. Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, whom many fans suspect is Sauron in disguise.
Credit. Amazon Prime Video At the very start of the show, Galadriel says, “Nothing is evil in the beginning.” What she doesn’t say — but it is said in the book — is that “even Sauron was not so.” It’s worth noting that Sauron is a Maia, a being who can be severed from his physical form and come back in a new body, or without a body at all.
- And during the Second Age, Tolkien wrote, the Dark Lord spent some time in, which is why there are now so many characters who are suspected of being,
- Of the various Sauronic possibilities, the show leans hardest toward Galadriel’s shady shipwreck buddy (and smithing enthusiast), Halbrand (Charlie Vickers).
Has she not been too eager to believe that he is a ? Does that seem to be the end of his secret? All the furtive camera angles suggest not. In Tolkien’s letters, he writes about a moment when Second-Age Sauron tried to repent; the nature of that repentance kept changing.
It’s possible that Halbrand is not just a reluctant hero but also a reluctant villain. Halbrand’s “binding” chat with Galadriel, then, would read less as romance than as a sign of a struggle not to relapse into a darker form. As Halbrand says himself, “Looks can be deceiving.” A version of this article appears in print on, Section C, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘The Rings of Power’: Who Is That Guy?,
| | : ‘The Rings of Power’: Who Is That Guy?
Can Rings of Power use Gandalf?
There aren’t many characters in the Lord of the Rings who carry quite as much weight — or fandom love — as Gandalf, The character is one of the wisest that J.R.R. Tolkien ever created, and his magical abilities make him a formidable force for good in Middle-earth.
- It’s for those reasons that Amazon has a bit of a problem with its Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power,
- While the upcoming TV series does have the chance to bring several beloved Tolkien stories to life on-screen, none of them include Gandalf.
- That’s because The Rings of Power will be set primarily in the Second Age of Middle-earth, and Gandalf doesn’t come to the land until its Third Age.
Fortunately, Gandalf’s absence during the Second Age doesn’t mean The Rings of Power has to premiere with a Wizard-shaped hole in its ensemble. In fact, there are actually two characters who can fill this particular void. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,
New Line Cinema The Theory — Tolkien fans know that there were five Istari (a.k.a. wizards) who were sent to Middle-earth to help its citizens combat Sauron’s corruptive influence. Three of them — Sauron, Saruman, and Radagast — all came to Middle-earth together. However, Tolkien wrote later in his life that the remaining two Istari traveled to Middle-earth in the Second Age, around the same time that Glorfindel did.
Little is known about the other two Wizards outside the fact that they wore blue clothing and were sent to the Eastern and Southern regions of Middle-earth in order to subdue some of Sauron’s support in those lands. This means that The Rings of Power could include Tolkien’s two Blue Wizards at some point, and even use their journey as a way to further explore little-known regions of Middle-earth.
- Just because The Rings of Power can’t bring Ian McKellen back as Gandalf doesn’t mean it can’t try to make up for his absence with certain other characters.
- Warner Bros.
- Pictures Introducing the Blue Wizards — There’s already been a fair amount of speculation over whether The Rings of Power will use Middle-earth’s Blue Wizards.
There are several mysterious, unidentified characters shown in the first Rings of Power teaser, and fans have understandably been quick to theorize that one of them could be a Blue Wizard. Additionally, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Rings of Power showrunners J.D.
- Payne and Patrick McKay were asked if the Amazon series will break Tolkien canon by bringing Saruman, Gandalf, or Radagast to Middle-earth before the Third Age.
- McKay’s response was interesting, as he said those three Wizards are “not the only beings in that class” and teased “the mystery and the journey of it is all of the fun.” The Blue Wizards are the only other members of the Istari outside of Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast.
So if The Rings of Power wants to feature the Istari without breaking Tolkien canon, the Blue Wizards are the only characters it could include. Unsurprisingly, that seems to be something both McKay and Payne understand. Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Sylvester McCoy as Radagast in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,
Warner Bros. Pictures The Inverse Analysis — Amazon is being very secretive about The Rings of Power, Only a select number of the show’s characters have been officially confirmed by the streaming service, and there are still plenty of cast members whose roles in The Rings of Power remain unknown. As a result, while there’s plenty of reason to believe they actually will be in the show, Tolkien fans may just have to wait until The Rings of Power ‘s September premiere to find out whether the Blue Wizards have a presence in it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres September 2, 2022 on Prime Video.
Is the meteor man Gandalf?
Is the meteor man Gandalf? – Meteor Man is an older guy with a big beard who seems to have magical powers. Does this remind you of anyone from The Lord of the Rings ? The answer is yes and that anyone is Gandalf, literature’s most famous wizard. In The Lord of the Rings, that’s all we really know about him.
Obviously he’s a badass, but where did he come from? The Silmarillion provides the answer. Gandalf is a Maia, a kind of demigod who came into existence before the beginning of time. He and the rest of the Maiar live in Valinor, a continent on the other side of the ocean from Middle-earth (it’s where the elves go when they sail west).
But he and the other wizards are sent to Middle-earth in its hour of need to help the free peoples of that land fight the evil of Sauron, who is himself an extremely powerful Maia who has gone bad. Perhaps Meteor Man, who seems scatter-brained and unable to communicate, is Gandalf fresh arrived in Middle-earth from Valinor, still dazed and confused from his trip? Well, no, because Tolkien stipulates exactly how and when Gandalf arrives in Middle-early.
- To start, he gets there pretty deep into the Third Age, well over a thousand years after The Rings of Power takes place.
- Also, when he gets there, he encounters the elf Círdan, who gives him Narya, the Ring of Fire.
- None of that happens to Meteor Man.
- Hell, Narya isn’t even forged yet; it’s one of the Rings of Power from the title.
Unless Gandalf secretly arrived thousands of years before Tolkien said he did and looped back around later to pretend he arrived during the Third Age, Meteor Man is not Gandalf. And if this guy does turn out to be Gandalf, The Rings of Power will have committed a pretty big canon violation.
Published on 09/03/2022 at 8:00 AM CDT Last updated on 09/03/2022 at 8:00 AM CDT
Where did the stranger come from Rings of Power?
! | Non-canon alert The subject of this article originates from non-canonical sources. To learn about what is considered “canon”, see LOTR:Canon, | ! |
When in doubt, always follow your nose. ” — The Stranger ” The Stranger ” was a moniker given to one of the Istari who arrived in Middle-earth during the Second Age via meteorite. The precise identity of the Stranger remains unspecified.
Who killed Morgoth?
Legacy – Morgoth remains in the Void, watched by Eärendil and unable to return to Arda as long as the Valar maintain their power over it. However, the lies he put in the hearts of the Children of Ilúvatar still remain and will create their evil results till the end of days.
- Morgoth’s will was suffused into the matter of Arda, so in a sense he is never truly gone.
- Arda was marred by him so deeply that only Eru could fully repair the damage.
- Those who wished to follow in Morgoth’s footsteps, such as Sauron, found that by using his residual influence, they could easily corrupt races they wished to dominate.
About his servant and heir Sauron it is said that ” in after years he rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void “. Also, during the last days of Númenor in the Second Age, Sauron corrupted the King Ar-Pharazôn and the King’s Men to the worship of Melkor, describing his old master as a god of deliverance while denying the existence of the One,
- Thus he began a cult in the Temple in which the Númenóreans made sacrifices to Melkor.
- By the Third Age, Sauron’s pride overreached itself yet again and ” he claimed to be Morgoth returned “.
- Nevertheless, according to the Second Prophecy of Mandos, Morgoth will come back and attack Arda.
- He will fight in the Last Battle against the Valar and their allies, but will ultimately be slain by Túrin Turambar, the Man he cursed.
By finally defeating Morgoth, Túrin will avenge not only himself, but all members of the race of Men.
Who is the bad elf in Rings of Power?
Adar is an elf who was manipulated with evil magic. He served under Morgoth and claims that he killed Sauron. He does not seem to recognize Halbrand as Sauron, and yet he carries out what we can assume is his master’s evil bidding by setting in motion the events that burn the Southlands and create Mordor.
Is Gandalf from Ruhn?
Gandalf’s Connection To Rhûn In Lord Of The Rings – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is largely inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s notes and appendices on the history of Middle-earth, and in the essay “Glorfindel” he hints that Gandalf (also called by the name Olorin) had visited Middle-earth before the Third Age seen in The Lord of the Rings, traveling among the people and becoming ” acquainted ” with them.
- Tolkien finished these notes on Gandalf the Grey’s forgotten history with the words “,nothing is said of this, ” but later amended it to “,nothing has yet been said of this.
- The Rings of Powers is showing Gandalf in his previously untold past, including an adventure in the lands of Rhûn.
- Gandalf has no known connection to Rhûn in the lore of The Lord of the Rings,
Indeed, by the Third Age he insisted he would never go to the east of Middle-earth, leaving that area for the Blue Wizards. Ironically, until now it had seemed his ally Aragorn was more familiar with Rhûn than Gandalf himself; speaking at the Council of Elrond, Aragorn claimed he had ” crossed many mountains and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into the far countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars are strange.
Gandalf is seeking the lands of Rhûn based in part on his sketch of constellations, so Aragorn’s comment can be taken as confirmation he will indeed find answers in Rhûn in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2. All episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are streaming now on Amazon Prime.
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Is the stranger not Sauron?
Sauron’s true identity wasn’t the only secret revealed in the Season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, We’ve learned who the Stranger — a bearded man who fell from the sky in the series premiere — really is. Well, not exactly, but we’ve narrowed it down to just a few possibilities.
- SPOILER WARNING! This interview contains spoilers for The Rings of Power.** Although the finale, “Alloyed,” opens with the reveal that the Stranger is Sauron, that’s a fakeout, and the trio of white-cloaked women who were after him was mistaken.
- We later learn that Halbrand is Sauron, while the Stranger is one of the Istari — the formal name for wizards in Middle-earth.
Though the episode stops short of confirming which Istari the Stranger is (the safe money is on him being Gandalf, but there are other possibilities, for sure), the revelation gives the Stranger more control over his magic powers and he’s able to speak and think clearly.
I loved the idea of starting with this blank slate as he arrived in the crater,” actor Daniel Weyman says of the Stranger’s story arc. “Whatever the audience watching didn’t know, he didn’t know either. He’s had to patch bits together and he’s had to learn stuff on the journey.” RELATED: Sauron revealed! The Rings of Power actor explains the twist and the Dark Lord’s motives.
For his part, Weyman was learning along with the Stranger, too. Much as Halbrand/Sauron actor Charlie Vickers told SYFY WIRE he shot two full episodes before learning who he was really playing, Weyman spent most of the season knowing about as much of the truth of the Stranger’s identity as the Stranger himself did at any point.
In an interview with SYFY WIRE following the season finale, Weyman talked about playing a character who doesn’t know who they are, discussed changes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore, and revealed what it takes to pull a Harfoot cart. Now that he’s talking in crisp English, how much of the Stranger is, for lack of a better word, formed ? He still doesn’t know exactly who he is or what his mission is, but he’s much more coherent and put together.
Is this him remembering how to act or did he arrive as a blank slate and he’s picked up everything from the Harfoots? I think that is a really, really good question. The short answer is that I don’t really have definite points to tell you about that. I know that the last thing he says on the hillside to Nori is that fragments have come back — images and things like that.
But, when we leave him in Episode 8, it’s not like he knows exactly everything. I think that’s where I am, certainly where the viewers are, and I’ll have to wait to see what want to do with the second season and his journey going forward. It’s an exciting, fun place to be because it leaves so much open.
How much do you know about your character? I know you’re not going to be able to confirm that he’s Gandalf, but is the Stranger a stranger to you? I think now we’re up to what I know about the character. That’s all I’ve been given. I felt comfortable, when we were filming, to really learn it scene-by-scene, episode-by-episode because I didn’t need to know the future to play the character.
The character came with nothing until the point at which he’s given some momentous insight. Now he knows he’s a wizard, now that that word resonates through time for him. Even before time itself as an idea came to being, he was sort of floating around in the ether. Until that really comes through into his core, I didn’t think he needed to know what the future is.
I suppose that’s what it is for J.D. and Patrick, they’ve got the arcs in their head and I feel a huge amount of respect for them and inspiration from listening to their stories and getting a chance to play them. For me, I fully trust that when I need to take on board anything, if they need to give me more information in the future, then they will give it to me with enough time for the thing I’m playing to make sense.
Not to harp on this, but am I correct in that it’s not that you’re not telling people if you’re Gandalf or Saurman or a Blue Wizard or whoever, but you don’t know as an actor yet? No, I think nobody in our world knows the identity of the Stranger, including the Stranger himself. I’m actually much more excited by the honesty of that.
I think we’ll get a much better performance from me and therefore the audience will understand the Stranger and be better able to empathize with his journey if that’s where I am. The mystery of the Stranger and who the Stranger was growing into was enjoyable both for me to play day-to-day and also for the people watching it.
- Because there were certain things we knew we had to hit.
- Numenor will fall, at some point.
- Isildur will cut the Ring finger off, if we get that far.
- There are certain things in the lore that we know we’re going to have to hit.
- And the pockets of space where J.D.
- And Patrick are able to extrapolate and invent the extra ideas of Tolkien feel like real gems.
The finale did confirm that the Stranger is one of the Istari, and that’s caused some consternation amongst die-hard Tolkien fans because the wizards were explicitly not around during Middle-earth’s Second Age. I don’t mind it, personally — I’d rather have a Lord of the Rings show with wizards than without — but what is your response to criticism about this change of established lore? One of the really great things about being on the show is to hear how many people there are in the world that have ownership of Tolkien’s stories because they have lived with them, taken them to heart, researched them, and delved deep into them.
- I as an actor really have enjoyed doing that myself.
- Far from feeling like I need to respond or say somebody’s right or somebody’s wrong, I’m much more excited by the idea that people’s own theories are bubbling through and saying, “Well this does or doesn’t fit with my view.” For me, I think that there are all sorts of parts of Tolkien’s writing that have allowed me to feel really comfortable with where JD and Patrick have got.
They really respect Tolkien’s work and the way that they’re trying to bring this massive time period of the Second Age to the TV screen is really awesome. I tend to feel like, if people keep watching, they will fall in love if they haven’t already. Were those Harfoot carts a pain to pull? They looked heavy and rickety.
I have to give a huge shoutout to my scale double, Paul Sturgess, who ended up having to pull the big, big carts for most of the time. Because, of course,, who played Nori, and her family unit, when they were pulling carts — those carts were too big for my scale, so Paul was the guy who had to pull an even bigger cart.
When I had to pull a cart, it was actually much smaller than what everyone else was pulling. When I had to pull, it wasn’t too bad. But, the big hills and things like that, it was often Paul who was pulled in. Big shoutout to him, I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to pull it myself.
Is Radagast in The Rings of Power?
In the books, it’s Radagast who sends the eagle to save Gandalf from Saruman’s clutches, though the character doesn’t appear in the film version. Radagast then essentially disappears from the story.
Is Radagast the weakest wizard?
7 Radagast The Brown – As one of the most powerful beings in The Lord of the Rings, Radagast the Brown is one of the five wizards who came to Middle-earth on a mission to oppose Sauron and was a friend of Gandalf in the series. Instead of focusing his energy on helping the humanoid creatures of Middle-earth, he turned instead to helping plants and animals.
Why is Radagast not in LOTR?
Why Isn’t Radagast in The Lord of the Rings? – Radagast never appears in The Lord of the Rings, but he is mentioned, and plays a small and fairly significant role in the events of the story: Saruman takes advantage of his trusting nature to rope him into his schemes, and Radagast unwittingly uses his affinity for animals to help the traitorous Wizard amass a wide network of avian spies.
He also unknowingly helps to lure Gandalf to Isengard to be captured and held atop the tower of Orthanc. That mistake is balanced out when Radagast sends the great eagle Gwaihir to Gandalf’s rescue, although this is also by accident, because he is still unaware of Saruman’s true intentions, and thinks he is sending the eagle to bring critical war news.
Gwaihir sees that Gandalf is in trouble when he arrives at Isengard and promptly saves him. Regardless of Radagast’s knowledge, the rescue still wouldn’t have been possible without his unique gifts and connections to nature. Tolkien wrote that Radagast eventually became too obsessed with the natural world, spending his days deep in the wild communing with animals and studying their ways.
- He became something of a recluse, which led him to stay out of the War of the Ring.
- When Elrond calls upon his allies to unite against Mordor, Radagast fails to respond, leaving Gandalf as the only Wizard on the side of those actively opposed to Sauron.
- Scouts are sent to Rhosgobel to seek out Radagast following the Council of Elrond in Rivendell, but they find it empty.
After that, Radagast is never heard from again. By failing to show up to battle against Sauron, Radagast forsook his divinely mandated mission to help the people of Middle-earth, Thus, Tolkien mused in his private writings that Radagast would likely not be invited back to Valinor along with the likes of Gandalf, at least not at first.
However, his failure was not nearly as bad as Saruman’s, as Radagast didn’t commit a deliberate betrayal. Furthermore, because he was a servant of Yavanna, it was only to be expected that he would feel the same deep love she holds for wild creatures. In a sense, he actually succeeded at his mission by taking his stewardship of nature seriously and devoting himself to it.
Therefore, there is a chance he may have been forgiven and allowed to return to Valinor at a later time. KEEP READING: Lord of the Rings: Sure, Sauron Is Evil – But Another Villain Was Worse
Did Radagast betray Gandalf?
And did the guilt of it drive the brown wizard into solitude? One of the biggest perils for the heroes in Tolkien’s stories is knowing who to trust. That is definitely a lesson that Radagast the Brown learned the hard way when he unwittingly helped Saruman trap Gandalf on the tower of Orthanc, almost ensuring the downfall of Middle Earth itself.
Unfortunately for the heroes of any epic adventures, it can be hard to tell friend from foe. The villains in these tales aren’t always what they seem, and often pretend to be a friend or an ally as part of their trick. A wizard like Saruman is able to sway the emotions of others with his words, and take on different appearances to suit his purposes.
This theme has been explored in the recent Rings of Power series, with the revelation of Halbrand’s true identity as Sauron. He is the prime example of a character that disguised himself to get close to Galadriel in her most vulnerable moments, and was thus able to worm his way into her confidence and her heart.
It is the ultimate betrayal, which may be why she doesn’t tell the others Halbrand’s secret once she learns who he is. And in the Lord of the Rings stories, Saruman takes this ultimate betrayal, this twisting of a friendship, one step further. In the beginning, he actually was a friend, and the leader of the order of the wizards for many long years.
He was able to abuse this trust and the sway he had over Radagast to further his own selfish desires. This is a part of the Fellowship of the Ring that is little known, because it isn’t depicted in Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations. However, it is discussed extensively in Tolkien’s original book.
When the Council of Elrond gathers to discuss the fate of the Ring of Power and how it shall be destroyed, Frodo questions Gandalf about why he never showed up to meet them like he promised. Gandalf felft Aragorn to meet Frodo and Sam at the Prancing Pony, as well as Pippin and Merry who tagged along for the journey.
It is here that Gandalf explains that he was on his way to their agreed destination when he ran into an old friend near the borders of Bree, Radagast the Brown, a fellow wizard who came to Middle Earth to help guide its people against the evil of Sauron. Gandalf says that it was a surprise to see him after so many years, but Radagast had an urgent message. He had sought Gandalf out at the behest of Saruman, to warn the gray wizard that the nine Nazgul (the ring wraiths) were once again roaming the lands in search of the One Ring, and were headed towards the Shire.
Radagast informs Gandalf: “He told me to say that if you feel the need, he will help, but you must seek his aid at once, or it will be too late!” This was a very clever ploy of Saruman’s. He used this information to misdirect Gandalf into rushing to the tower of Orthanc in Isengard, rather than going to meet the hobbits as planned.
Saruman’s true intentions are to convince Gandalf to join forces with him to serve the Dark Lord and seize power for themselves. When that doesn’t happen, he locks the gray wizard up with no way down from the impossibly tall turret. This is his attempt to waylay him long enough for the Nazgul to reach the shire, kill Frodo, and reclaim back the One Ring. In being the messenger that hurries Gandalf right into Saruman’s trap, Radagast unknowingly helps Saruman in his evil plan. The white wizard almost succeeds in his own terrible plot. Luckily, Gandalf has the good sense to know that Radagast was an innocent player in the betrayal of the Saruman.
- He knew that Radagast had never intended to betray him: “He had concealed his mind and deceived his messenger.
- It would have been useless in any case to try to win over the honest Radagast to treachery.
- He sought me in good faith, and so persuaded me.” Gandalf therefore told Radagast to send a message of any further news to Orthanc so that they could keep in contact about the whereabouts of the ring-wraiths.
That’s why Gwahir the giant eagle arrives at the tower, and helps Gandalf to escape from its terrible heights. So although Radagast accidentally helps Saruman almost achieve his evil plan, he helps Gandalf escape too. It is mentioned in the books that little is seen of the Brown wizard after this encounter.
Radagast at the end of the Third Age is thought to have wandered far into the eastern lands of Middle Earth, as the Istari purpose of helping protect the free peoples from Sauron was achieved after the War of the Ring, Perhaps his part, no matter how innocent, in getting Gandalf trapped, was too much guilt for him.
As such, it seems he decided to remove himself from the fray in order to avoid being misled and manipulated further. MORE: LOTR: Did Sauron Regret Forging The One Ring?
Is Gandalf the GREY immortal?
Gandalf | |
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Tolkien character | |
Detail of Gandalf (right) turning the trolls to stone in one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s drawings for The Hobbit | |
First appearance | The Hobbit (1937) |
Last appearance | Unfinished Tales (1980) |
In-universe information | |
Aliases | See Names |
Race | Maia |
Affiliation | Company of the Ring |
Weapon |
|
Gandalf is a protagonist in J.R.R. Tolkien ‘s novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien took the name “Gandalf” from the Old Norse “Catalogue of Dwarves” ( Dvergatal ) in the Völuspá,
As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings, Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring,
He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire, while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed.
- In The Hobbit, Gandalf assists the 13 dwarves and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins with their quest to retake the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon, but leaves them to urge the White Council to expel Sauron from his fortress of Dol Guldur,
- In the course of the quest, Bilbo finds a magical ring.
- The expulsion succeeds, but in The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf reveals that Sauron’s retreat was only a feint, as he soon reappeared in Mordor,
Gandalf further explains that, after years of investigation, he is sure that Bilbo’s ring is the One Ring that Sauron needs to dominate the whole of Middle-earth. The Council of Elrond creates the Fellowship of the Ring, with Gandalf as its leader, to defeat Sauron by destroying the Ring.
He takes them south through the Misty Mountains, but is killed fighting a Balrog, an evil spirit-being, in the underground realm of Moria, After he dies, he is sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission as Gandalf the White. He reappears to three of the Fellowship and helps to counter the enemy in Rohan, then in Gondor, and finally at the Black Gate of Mordor, in each case largely by offering guidance.
When victory is complete, he crowns Aragorn as King before leaving Middle-earth for ever to return to Valinor. Tolkien once described Gandalf as an angel incarnate; later, both he and other scholars have likened Gandalf to the Norse god Odin in his “Wanderer” guise.
- Others have described Gandalf as a guide-figure who assists the protagonists, comparable to the Cumaean Sibyl who assisted Aeneas in Virgil ‘s The Aeneid, or to Virgil himself in Dante ‘s Inferno,
- Scholars have likened his return in white to the transfiguration of Christ ; he is further described as a prophet, representing one element of Christ’s threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, where the other two roles are taken by Frodo and Aragorn,
The Gandalf character has been featured in radio, television, stage, video game, music, and film adaptations, including Ralph Bakshi ‘s 1978 animated film, His best-known portrayal is by Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson ‘s 2001–2003 The Lord of the Rings film series, where the actor based his acclaimed performance on Tolkien himself.
Is Saruman also Sauron?
Saruman –
Saruman, also known as Saruman the White, is the one Istari Sauron was able to lure into his service. While Saruman was Sauron’s ally, the Wizard had the ultimate goal of taking the Ring and wielding its powers for himself.
Is the stranger a blue wizard?
Okay hear me out. The stranger is a blue wizard. He goes east, fails, and dies. He is then in the future sent back to middle earth with the name Gandalf. The blue wizards are the first sent. In one version of the story, they fail. Nothing further is known.
- If one of them died, they would return to Valinor.
- If the Valor decided to send another Ishtar, they might decide to send one already familiar with middle earth.
- This would make sense as to why Gandalf was sent last.
- The Valinor saw Gandalf’s value and that he still had more to do.
- Gandalf was returned once (canonically) in the 3rd age, and took on a new position as the white wizard, so this would not be unprecedented for him (nor among other heroic figures in Tolkien’s writings).
He could have started as a blue wizard, become a grey wizard, and ended as a white wizard. This would explain why Gandalf says he has headed in every direction but east (because he had already done that in a previous life). It works with this bit of lore as well as it would explain why he has a fondness for Hobbits, and works with the idea of someone as powerful and righteous as him being sent last.
Where does the stranger come from in Rings of Power?
! | Non-canon alert The subject of this article originates from non-canonical sources. To learn about what is considered “canon”, see LOTR:Canon, | ! |
When in doubt, always follow your nose. ” — The Stranger ” The Stranger ” was a moniker given to one of the Istari who arrived in Middle-earth during the Second Age via meteorite. The precise identity of the Stranger remains unspecified.
Is the meteor man Gandalf?
Is the meteor man Gandalf? – Meteor Man is an older guy with a big beard who seems to have magical powers. Does this remind you of anyone from The Lord of the Rings ? The answer is yes and that anyone is Gandalf, literature’s most famous wizard. In The Lord of the Rings, that’s all we really know about him.
- Obviously he’s a badass, but where did he come from? The Silmarillion provides the answer.
- Gandalf is a Maia, a kind of demigod who came into existence before the beginning of time.
- He and the rest of the Maiar live in Valinor, a continent on the other side of the ocean from Middle-earth (it’s where the elves go when they sail west).
But he and the other wizards are sent to Middle-earth in its hour of need to help the free peoples of that land fight the evil of Sauron, who is himself an extremely powerful Maia who has gone bad. Perhaps Meteor Man, who seems scatter-brained and unable to communicate, is Gandalf fresh arrived in Middle-earth from Valinor, still dazed and confused from his trip? Well, no, because Tolkien stipulates exactly how and when Gandalf arrives in Middle-early.
To start, he gets there pretty deep into the Third Age, well over a thousand years after The Rings of Power takes place. Also, when he gets there, he encounters the elf Círdan, who gives him Narya, the Ring of Fire. None of that happens to Meteor Man. Hell, Narya isn’t even forged yet; it’s one of the Rings of Power from the title.
Unless Gandalf secretly arrived thousands of years before Tolkien said he did and looped back around later to pretend he arrived during the Third Age, Meteor Man is not Gandalf. And if this guy does turn out to be Gandalf, The Rings of Power will have committed a pretty big canon violation.
Published on 09/03/2022 at 8:00 AM CDT Last updated on 09/03/2022 at 8:00 AM CDT
Is Adar and Sauron the same?
For the most part, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has done its best to keep Adar (Joseph Mawle) on the outer edges of its story. That may seem like an odd decision, especially considering that Adar is the closest thing The Rings of Power ‘s first season has had to a villain up to this point.
- However, by focusing so little on Adar, the Amazon series has been able to keep up a veil of mystery around the character, in place since The Rings of Power premiere.
- The cracks in Adar’s measured façade are, nonetheless, beginning to show.
- In The Rings of Power Episode 5, for instance, Adar even has one interaction with a would-be follower that calls to mind an important detail about Sauron himself.
Joseph Mawle as Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 5. Prime Video Adar or Sauron? The Rings of Power ‘s fifth episode sees Adar and his army of orcs meet with a group of Southland villagers. The group, led by Waldreg (Geoff Morrell), pledge their fealty to Adar and offer to help him take full control of the Southlands.
- Things quickly take an interesting turn, however, when Waldreg directly refers to Adar as Sauron.
- In response, Adar walks up to the Southlander and promptly throws him to the ground.
- He then forces Waldreg to eliminate one of his fellow human villagers, telling him that “only blood” is powerful enough to bind them together.
Throughout the whole scene, he, notably, never says out loud whether or not he is Sauron. “Only blood can bind.” Prime Video A Villain of Many Names — While his angry outburst in The Rings of Power Episode 5 makes it seem like Adar definitely is not Sauron, that isn’t necessarily the case.
- As a matter of fact, Adar’s enraged reaction to being called Sauron may actually be a hint that he is, indeed, Middle-earth’s second Dark Lord.
- After all, in The Two Towers, J.R.R.
- Tolkien has Aragorn note that Sauron doesn’t “use his right name, nor permit it to be spelt or spoken.” It’s a moment that makes it clear that Sauron likely isn’t a fan of his given name and that he makes a point of forbidding his followers from ever writing it or speaking it out loud.
It’s not difficult to see why, either. Not only does restricting his own supporters from referring to him by name only increase his power over them, but it also stops them from further espousing a name that was given to him against his will. Indeed, Sauron was originally known as Mairon, which means “the Admirable.” He only became known as Sauron, which means “the Abhorred,” after he allied himself with Morgoth.
- It is notably said that the Dark Lord continued to refer to himself as “Mairon the Admirable” after the events of the First Age, which proves that he likely preferred it over Sauron.
- Is Adar secretly Sauron in disguise? Unfortunately, we still don’t know for sure.
- Prime Video The Inverse Analysis — On the surface, Adar’s reaction to Waldreg’s name drop in The Rings of Power ‘s latest episode might seem like a way for the show itself to confirm that he is not, in fact, Sauron.
That’s not necessarily the case, though, as Tolkien’s own writings prove that Sauron was not a fan of his followers referring to him by his given name. In other words, while it still seems likely that Adar isn’t Sauron, the door isn’t nearly as closed on that possibility as some Rings of Power viewers might think.
Who is Celeborn in Rings of Power?
Celeborn in Tolkien’s Writings There is enough information to analyze what Galadriel says in The Rings of Power, though, as Celeborn’s origins — or his ‘celebirth’, if you prefer — were roughly outlined by Tolkien. He is a Sindarin Elf, meaning he is not of the same race as his wife, who is a Noldor.