If you caught the latest episode of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” then there was likely a specific descriptor that stuck out to you. When the Harfoots Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) find their way into Stoor territory, they describe their missing companion, the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), as a giant. When the Stoor leader, Gundabale Earthauler (Tanya Moodie), hears this, she off-handedly calls him a “Grand-Elf.” Because of the Stoor dialect, it almost sounds as if Gundabale is calling the Wizard “Gandalf,” which seemingly confirms who this beloved Istar hero has been this whole time.
Of course, the Stranger’s identity has been in question since he first appeared in Season 1. For a while, many wondered if he was indeed Sauron (Charlie Vickers), while others still held onto the notion that he is a younger Gandalf the Grey. Last week’s episode, “The Eagle and the Sceptre,” pushed this theory forward as Nori refers to the Stranger’s potential staff as a “Gand.” The word “gand” comes from the Old Norse word “gandr,” meaning “wand,” which connects directly to the meaning of Gandalf’s name: “wand elf.”
With Season 2 centering on the Stranger’s quest to control his magical abilities, hoping to use a staff as a conduit, we should be getting some definite answers here pretty soon. At this point, it seems undeniable that the Stranger is actually Gandalf, having come to Middle-earth in the flesh to thwart the works of Sauron — he just doesn’t know it yet.
Who could the Stranger be other than Gandalf?
Of course, Gandalf isn’t the only potential Wizard that the Stranger could be. According to J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology, there were five Istari Wizards sent out by the Valar into Middle-earth to help guide Elves and Men. Among them were Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown, and two Blue Wizards sometimes called Alatar and Pallando. Because of the mysterious nature of the Blue Wizards, it’s been speculated that the Stranger — and now perhaps Ciarán Hinds’s Dark Wizard as well — is one of the two Istari whom Tolkien never wrote much about. Considering that the lore speaks of them going East and South, not unlike the Stranger’s own journey, it certainly seems possible.
Another possibility is that this is a younger, more noble Saruman (a character Christopher Lee embodied in the famed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) before his eventual downfall. Saruman’s backstory shows that like Gandalf, he has a complex relationship with Hobbits, with the end of “The Return of the King” novel seeing him take over the Shire. But prior to his turn to evil, Saruman was eager to come to Middle-earth and aid creation against the forces of darkness. While Gandalf seems like the most likely Wizard to be chosen for this Lord of the Rings prequel, there is an argument to be made that, like Maxim Baldry’s Isildur, “The Rings of Power” could effectively work to redeem the fallen White Wizard — or at least embellish his backstory.
