Hey, guys.
As I said in my Rings of Power finale breakdown, I’m going to do a re-watch of season one
for what I’m sure will be a very lengthy review of what I felt worked and what didn’t
in Season 1.
I’ve been a bit busy with… other things…
so I’m just about to begin my rewatch.
But these past couple weeks, I’ve been surprised how many folks have determined The Stranger
is Gandalf to be 100% confirmed.
While I do believe there’s a very good chance he could turn out to be Gandalf, I don’t
think it’s a done deal.
So today, I wanted to go over why I think there is still hope that The Stranger is indeed
a Blue Wizard.
First off is the most obvious reason to believe The Stranger is a blue wizard - the fact that
he’s here in the Second Age.
Now obviously, there’s no guarantee that the show will adhere to Tolkien’s lore here,
but as we know in Tolkien’s later writings he said the two blue wizards arrived in 1600
SA.
This would fit just fine within the condensed timeline of the show.
And while we have reason to think otherwise, the showrunners did claim they weren’t bringing
Third Age stories into their Second Age show - and bringing Gandalf into the Second Age
would be bringing in arguably the most popular character of the Third Age.
That being said, Gandalf is arguably the most popular character of the Third Age - meaning
he is incredibly recognizable to even casual fans.
Being realistic, I can see from a marketing perspective that having Gandalf would pique
the interest of casual fans, despite the annoyance it would cause for diehards.
But let’s pause on the external reasons regarding the Stranger’s identity and look
at what the show has setup in-world.
Now that we’ve seen the entirety of season 1, we now know that from the very beginning,
The Stranger is looking for a constellation that is visible in Rhun.
As Aragorn says during the council of Elrond: I have crossed many mountains and many rivers,
and trodden many plains, even into the far countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars
are strange.
Now, this to me screams blue wizard.
While he doesn’t say what his particular mission is, we know he must go to Rhun, the
very lands we are told the blue wizards travel to.
Another thing that I think many folks have missed is something the mystics say when they
realize the Stranger is not Sauron.
They refer to him as “The Other” and “The Istar”.
The latter reveals he is indeed a wizard, but I think the former may indicate more than
him being simply not-Sauron.
What if “The Other” instead means this is not the first istar the mystics have encountered?
In the books, we are told only Cirdan, Elrond, and Galadriel ever knew the truth about the
Istari being maiar.
So it’s entirely possible these mystics know only that he is another of the istari
- not that he is another being on par with Sauron.
More on this in a bit.
Another big question the show raises throughout is whether The Stranger is good or dangerous.
In the end, it’s determined he is both.
This is one aspect I’m curious to see how it plays on re-watch, but the question of
whether he is good or bad is one felt throughout the season.
If he is Gandalf, that becomes a superfluous question - he’s good and he’ll go on adventures
to help save the world, yada yada.
However, I think a far more interesting possibility is him being a blue wizard BECAUSE we don’t
know for certain which direction he will ultimately go.
In Tolkien’s earlier writings, the blue wizards are named Alatar and Pallando, and
we are told they ultimately fail in their mission and likely found secret cults and
magic traditions.
In his later writings, in which they appear in the Second Age, they are quite successful
in the East and South.
Here their names are Morinehtar and Romestamo - darkness-slayer and east-helper - which
I must say are pretty great names.
This ambiguity of whether the blue wizards were good or evil - whether they succeeded
like Gandalf, or fell like Saruman - gives the show some great flexibility for the journey
on which they take this character.
Presuming we would get to meet the second blue wizard, a natural question stemming from
Tolkien’s own writings would be will these wizards succeed or fail?
Will they stay true or fall?
Or, perhaps even more interesting, will one blue wizard remain true while the other turns
to evil - taking inspiration from both versions of Tolkien’s story.
It makes me wonder - if the other blue wizard has already made his way to Rhun and potentially
encountered the mystics - what could he already be doing?
Could he be the one who turns to darkness - indeed, could he even have been the one
who sent the mystics?
Thus far, the biggest evidence for this being Gandalf are some visual similarities, his
affinity for halflings, his manipulation of fire, and his line of “always follow your
nose.”
While I, like many others, initially thought the “always follow your nose” was the
final proof of his identity, I’ve thought about this more and I think this could just
as easily be another in a long line of connections to Peter Jackson’s films.
We got a lot of Peter Jackson references and nods in this show - far more than I ever thought
there would be - and honestly I thought they were a bit too much and actually undermined
the show at times.
That being said, I think there’s a decent chance that this is simply just another of
those nods.
This show has certainly enjoyed having its mysteries - much to the frustration of some
like myself.
Even now, the folks behind the show are insisting that The Stranger’s identity hasn’t been
proven.
And at this point, having him be Gandalf would be pretty anticlimactic as it’s what the
majority of people are expecting.
If he does turn out to be Gandalf, I would expect at least one more twist in an attempt
to draw out the mystery before a final Gandalf reveal.
Another reason for blue wizard is in the appearance of The Stranger.
Both his robes and his hair are definitely brown.
While I’m sure he will trade his wardrobe for a more indicative look perhaps in Season
2, the hair color could be telling.
While the wizards did age during their time in Middle-earth, we are told they only aged
slightly in their thousands of years of existence.
Presumably, his overall appearance here would be pretty darn close to what it will be in
a few thousand years.
His brown hair led many fans to guess he could be Radagast - and while I wouldn’t complain
about a Radagast sans-bird poop, I think this is also a point toward blue wizard, as we
aren’t told what color their hair is.
While I can’t say for certain, I highly doubt Tolkien envisioned the wizards hair
matching their robes in this case.
I’ve mentioned this in livestreams before, but circling back to practical real-world
reasons to hope this isn’t Gandalf is the burden that will come along with this.
Gandalf is a hugely popular character even among casual fans - thanks in no small part
to Sir Ian McKellen’s iconic performance across six films.
Now, I think Daniel Weyman’s has been one of the best performances in the entire series.
Nearly the entire season he had to rely heavily on non-verbal communication or at least a
very limited vocabulary - and his story still managed to bring some of the most heart-felt
moments to the show.
While I have a reasonable amount of confidence that he could do a younger version of Gandalf
quite well, I would really enjoy Weyman having the opportunity to make a character fully
his own without having to keep in mind all we’ve seen before.
Now, I’ve made it no secret that I’m firmly hoping The Stranger is a blue wizard, and
it’s possible this hope is simply a fool’s hope.
Personally, I think a blue wizard is the more fun option and is just flat out the smart
move from my perspective as a Tolkien fan.
Unlike the blue wizards, we know a lot about Gandalf.
We know so much more about his history, personality, his life and even how he truly first encounters
the hobbit race.
Going forward with The Stranger as Gandalf is a potential lore minefield, whereas going
forward with a blue wizard is much more open to creative interpretation and in my mind
no less interesting for even casual fans -in fact, I’d argue it actually has the potential
to be more interesting for all audiences.
We’ve seen it many times in franchises before - the inclusion of popular characters is no
guarantee of said characters resonating with fans.
With Gandalf, I think there’s a likelihood of having the show choosing between what it
believes is a compelling story and staying true to what we know of Gandalf.
With a blue wizard, I think there’s a clear path to having both and the potential win-win
of entertaining both book fans and casuals should they do it well.
Let me know if there’s any other theories or topics about the show you’d like me to
cover.
With the exception of my eventual Season 1 review video, I’ll be pretty light on Rings
of Power going forward unless there’s big newsworthy things, but I’m open to covering
a few topics here and there if there’s something you all want to see.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to chatting more about the other adaptations
on the horizon.
Not only the War of the Rohirrim anime, but also the handful of video games coming over
the next couple years that I’m pumped to dive into.
In the meantime, let me know in the comments what you guys think about The Stranger.
Are there things I’m forgetting about this character that sways you one way or the other?
And which option do you find most compelling?