The writers have put themselves in a no-win situation.
Rings of Power Season 1 was always going to end on an intriguing note. With so many fans of the film trilogy and book series tuning into the show, the writers had plenty of opportunity to hint at what might come without giving the game away.
But there was one avenue that should have been off-limits. And that’s the one they chose.
Ian McKellen ‘s Gandalf is the standard by which all future portrayals will be judged
You don’t even have to like the Lord of the Rings trilogy to appreciate that Ian McKellen’s version of Gandalf was pretty much perfect. That’s why he received two Oscar nominations and won two Screen Actor’s Guild Awards for his performance.
But perhaps more important than any award, or being a key member of a trilogy that grossed nearly $3 billion, is that avid fans of the series loved him. That’s the true measure of McKellen’s performance, but it was always going to be a problem for Amazon’s Rings of Power TV show.
Having the Stranger utter a line so closely related to one uttered by McKellen’s Gandalf was a risk.
Fans are already divided
In the finale of Rings of Power Season 1, the Stranger (played by Daniel Weyman) said: ‘When in doubt, Eleanor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose.’
This is almost an exact rip-off of Gandalf’s line: ‘When in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.’ There’s no way the screenwriters didn’t know what they were doing, so this must be a deliberate attempt to link the Stranger to Gandalf. But it was a poor choice.
The true identity of the Stranger was a major focus of the season. Having arrived with no Tolkien baggage, the writers were free to do with the character as they saw fit – as long as they didn’t mess with the canon.
The mere suggestion that he might turn out to be Gandalf has some fans wondering if the show will break that rule. The canon is clear; Gandalf doesn’t appear until the Third Age. To introduce him at this chronological stage would go against that well-known fact.
Other fans are excited by the prospect of the Stranger being Gandalf. These are presumably fans who are less strict about canon and are willing to bypass it for the sake of a good story.
The problem for the writers is that they can’t possibly satisfy both groups of fans.
What are the options for confirming the Stranger’s identity?
At this point, it has not been confirmed that the Stranger is Gandalf. It is possible that viewers could be kept in suspense throughout Season 2 with just a few more clues to his identity.
But that seems a bit of a cop-out.
Other options include:
- Revealing the Stranger as Olorin (Gandalf’s Maia name) could be seen as a bridge between the two – but when the Stranger fought the Dweller, he was referred to as ‘Istar,’ which means wizard.
- Confirming him as Gandalf would satisfy a section of the fandom, but would break canon and put enormous pressure on Weyman by comparing his performance to that of Ian McKellen.
Ignore the hint altogether, which would seem to cheat all fans. - Of course, writer Gennifer Hutchinson has hinted that the third of these options might be the one they go with. Speaking to Inverse, she said that the line in question simply ‘anchors’ things in the same world as those movies.
And when asked directly about the Stranger’s use of the phrase and whether it was indeed a clue to his identity, she said: ‘Whoever the Stranger is, that saying is either one he says again, or it’s one he passes on.’
Really? Either would be a real cop-out. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this.
