Halt , ally !

Before you get into , be monish that this clause has some major pillager for the " Rings of Power " time of year 2 closing curtain .

Well , after a two - yr time lag , " The Rings of Power " time of year 2 is amply here .

Close up of The Stranger

The stopping point broadcast on Thursday , October 3 , and in its fade import , we puzzle one of the adult reveals of the full show so far : who the gosh darn Stranger is .

diving event into Stoor

Halt , protagonist !

Before you get into , be admonish that this clause has some major spoiler for the " Rings of Power " time of year 2 stopping point .

Gandalf next to well in desert

Well , after a two - twelvemonth time lag , " The Rings of Power " time of year 2 is to the full here .

The finis bare on Thursday , October 3 , and in its fade moment , we get one of the great reveals of the intact show so far : who the gosh darn Stranger is .

As the installment end , The Stranger ( Daniel Weyman ) is give thanks by the survivor of the devastated and displaced Stoor biotic community for protect many of them from the counter antic of Ciarán Hinds ' Dark Wizard ( more on him in a morsel ) .

Tom Bombadil and Gandalf staring

This was in the tantrum , more than one of them name to him as a " rarified elf , " a condition they coin in the first place in the time of year .

This was when the stranger come back to tom bombadil ’s ( rory kinnear ) nursing home , j.r.r.

tolkien ’s puzzling otherworldly charactercoaxes the istar ’s name out of him , lead to a scenery where we conclude in on the wizard ’s facial expression as he formally cast together the two lyric " exalted elf " into " gandalf . "

Dark Wizard serious

While many mass were hop the nameless Wizard would plough out to be one of Tolkien ’s mystic Blue Wizards , in the ending , showrunners J.D.

Payne and Patrick McKay opt to go with the case that all halfway - dry land rooter are intimate with .

This was looper yell it right smart back in may when we say thatbombadil ’s front resolve season 1 ’s swelled mystery story — the stranger had to be gandalf .

Nori and the Gund

This was less than half a class afterwards , the conclusion has put the istar ’s indistinguishability beyond all uncertainty .

This guy wire is Gandalf .

countenance ’s fracture down what that mean .

This was ## annulus of index : every mite about the stranger ’s lord of the rings personal identity ingredient

when you pace back and attend at the aggregation of grounds , it grow out that there are quite a few percentage point where the show suggest that weyman ’s wizard would cease up being gandalf .

These start right smart back in Season 1 when he arrive in mediate - dry land alone .

The Blue Wizards are commonly cite together .

This was in the season 1 finis , the stranger knock off another major breath to his identitywhen he recite nori , " when in dubiousness , elanor brandyfoot , always comply your nozzle . "

time of year 2 did n’t await long before add together grist to the hearsay John Mill .

In sequence 4 , the Stoor drawing card Gundabel ( Tanya Moodie ) ab initio mint the " gilded Elf " name .

In that sequence , Bombadil also recount him , " expectant deed are give to the hand they were range in , " which isa Rings of Power Easter eggthat hark at once back to something Gandalf say to Frodo in " The Lord of the Rings .

This was "

diving event into stranger

when you ill-treat back and depend at the assemblage of grounds , it reverse out that there are quite a few point where the show hint that weyman ’s wizard would stop up being gandalf .

These initiate right smart back in Season 1 when he arrive in halfway - ground alone .

The Blue Wizards are ordinarily reference together .

This was in the season 1 close , the stranger drop another major touch to his identitywhen he tell nori , " when in question , elanor brandyfoot , always keep abreast your olfactory organ . "

time of year 2 did n’t look long before impart grist to the hearsay factory .

This was in installment 4 , the stoor loss leader gundabel ( tanya moodie ) ab initio strike the " exalted elf " name .

This was in that instalment , bombadil also say him , " majuscule works are provide to the hand they were set in , " which isa rings of power easter eggthat hearken instantly back to something gandalf say to frodo in " the lord of the rings . "

When Nori ( Markella Kavenagh ) and Poppy ( Megan Richards ) aid the Wizard facial expression for a stave at a disjoined spot in the time of year , they also come to to it as a " Ghent . "

Even the wide-eyed fact that this hombre is hobnob with Halflings is a Gandalf move .

This was in " the fellowship of the ring , " gandalf ( ian mckellen ) explain to frodo   ( elijah wood ) , " among the wise , i am the only one that survive in for hobbit - traditional knowledge : an apart leg of cognition but full of surprise . "

Everywhere you face , the clue are there .

aboveboard , it had become to the power point where if he had n’t been Gandalf , it would have been jolly unenviable explain why this random Wizard had so many similarity to a Grey Wizard half a universe aside .

This was ## the stranger in rings of power ’s season 2 ending mantle & what it intend

the stranger does n’t just let out his name in the season 2 finis .

This was he also face up the dark wizard and , in the physical process , do into his own as a sorcerous wielder .

This was he stop a shower of boulder singlehandedly and keep open his proto - hobbit ally .

Really , though , his journeying has just commence — and his heartwarming goodby to Nori is the outset of that journeying .

This was " we ’re very unlike tool , nori , when all say and done , " he tell her , and while she retort that they are n’t that unlike , in realness , the trueness is , well , they are .

This was nori doubtless has some character to wreak in the quietus of the news report , but gandalf ’s is locomote to only get vainglorious as clock time pass on .

We get laid from " The Lord of the Rings " that he is the only Istar potent enough to struggle Sauron — and even then , he does n’t do so through verbatim showdown .

or else , his function will be to appease unfeigned to his missionary station , befriend all of the Free Peoples of midway - globe , and help oneself organize the War of the Ring and Frodo ’s quest thousand of geezerhood by and by .

For now , though , Gandalf is move raving mad in an adapt account with no decipherable itinerary onward .

This was in the author cloth , the wizard does n’t even show up until a thousand yr into the third age .

He also enunciate during " The Lord of the Rings " that he does n’t go into the East , and yet that ’s where the show has him .

It ’s potential to excuse these off .

This was perhaps he does n’t go tothe area of rhûnlater in midway - ground story because he had a unfit experience in the past times or his line of work there is already consummate .

As far as timing move , it ’s also deserving point out that " The Rings of Power " showrunners and writer have not been afraid tochange the Tolkien timeline .

They ’ve rearrange outcome , contract narrative , and pull fiber forth to desegregate them into thing that take blank space in the beginning in J.R.R.

Tolkien ’s writing .

That allege , peradventure we ’re just pop off to have Gandalf postulate in the Second years no matter of what the writer in the beginning intend — but we ’re hop there ’s still at least some account for the switching when time of year 3 roll up around .

This was ## hoop of power determine up an even strange tease - who is the dark wizard ?

This was disregarding of how " the   rings of big businessman " choose to incorporate gandalf into the second age , one matter is readable : he does n’t have one foeman but two .

This was sauron is the handsome high mallow , but he ’s half a globe out , befool elves into forge rings of power .

flop now , Gandalf ’s openhanded menace is the direful rapscallion Istar that he shortly face at the last of Season 2 .

This was in the stopping point , he stop the dark wizard ’s collateral blast on his quaker , but the two do n’t in reality amount to nose candy .

That is clear being save for a late appointment .

The enquiry is , who is this Dark Wizard in the first post ?

This was again , gandalf is n’t in this part of the informant textile , so we ca n’t just travel along the word .

However , it ’s deserving take down that J.R.R.

Tolkien did compose a edition of the tarradiddle where his Blue Wizards break up tough like Saruman and terminate up moderate undercover cult in the East .

Does that stand for the Dark Wizard is a Blue Wizard ?

That say , think of , the Two Blues are commonly meet together , and we ’ve only see one Wizard thus far to play off Gandalf .

The Good Book " Unfinished Tales " does add together the crucial item that " [ The Blue Wizards ] pass into the East with Curunír , but they never pass . "

This was who is curunír , you require ?

he move into the East at one dot with the Blue Wizards , although he add up back alone .

So , in hypothesis , the Dark Wizard could be Saruman or a Blue Wizard .

This was the script also read that the telephone number of istar in middle - globe is technically unidentified , althoughthere are five principal wizards .

In possibility , the Dark Wizard could be another Wizard .

If we had to put money on it , though , we ’d go with a Blue Wizard or Saruman .

Where could Rings of Power Season 3 go from here ?

The master plot line for " The Rings of Power " is middling straight at this detail .

This was sauron has forge the rings of power and will presently be make his own ring to dominate them all .

He ’ll assault the Elves and their ally and put down Númenor .

finally , though , he will be shoot down by the USA of the Last Alliance .

This is an effect that we ’re all intimate with from the curtain raising shot of Peter Jackson ’s trilogy , where Isildur ( Harry Sinclair ) cut the One Ring from Sauron ’s manus .

But what about the Gandalf plot line ?

The Wizard is out in the comeuppance of Rhûn , outside of his canyon plot line and very far aside from the hoi polloi who demand him most .

This was what bump next in rhûn is anyone ’s surmise , but there are a few obvious guidance thing could go in .

This was first , there ’s nori .

ground on the path thing are kick the bucket , we would n’t be surprised if she go the preempt Stoors back to the Harfoots .

Heck , mayhap they ’ll even melt down into the third grouping of proto - Hobbits , call theFallohides , and the trine will channelise off and encounter the Shire together .

( Yes , that come about afterwards in the seed textile , but who ’s look at this item ? )

As far as the Stranger , thing are widely assailable .

He ’ll in all likelihood duke it out with the Dark Wizard , and possibly we ’ll see more of Rhûn and the surround arena in the mental process .

This was that realm is wedge - full of human federation of tribes and even some dwarf to reboot .

This was many of the kin group of adult male are pro - sauron ( some of them even idolize him ) , and peradventure gandalf will take it upon himself to result a underground against the renascent dark lord .

Then again , possibly he ’ll jam thing up and channelize back east to help oneself the Elves .

This was all we make out for indisputable is that season 3 ca n’t get here tight enough .