The Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, also called Meteor Man, is the younger Gandalf – or is he? Screenwriter Gennifer Hutchison sows doubt about the popular fan theory.
He already looks a bit like a young version of Ian McKellen’s Gandalf, is friends with Hobbit ancestor Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), is now officially identified as a wizard and then also says the familiar line from “The Lord of the Rings” films “When in doubt, always follow your nose”. For many “The Rings of Power” fans, it is clear after the season finale: the stranger (Daniel Weyman) who landed on Earth with a meteorite is Gandalf.
Somehow, after the Sauron revelation, the matter seems to be clear: There have been many hints that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) is in fact Sauron. Surely the clues to the Gandalf identity of the stranger must also be true? We won’t get a definitive answer until season 2 of “The Rings of Power”. But screenwriter and executive producer Gennifer Hutchison has let slip that the “nose” quote doesn’t necessarily have to be taken as Gandalf confirmation…
In an interview with Inverse, Hutchison was asked if the Gandalf quote was indicative of the Stranger’s true identity. After all, it was confirmed that he is an Istar – that is, one of the Maiar who were sent to Middle Earth as wizards. Hutchison explained that they were having fun playing with quotes and references to later events from the Third Age – i.e. the stories that most might know from “The Lord of the Rings”. Things that occur later could thus have found their origin in the Second Age and be passed on between generations – like the Gandalf quote.
Did you know? Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays Arondir in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, played Qin in The Mandalorian TheRingsOfPower pic. twitter.com/x3rbFUJdUo
– StarWars News German (@StarWarsNewsDE1) September 8, 2022
DID GANDALF COPY THE SPELL?
But it wouldn’t necessarily have to be Gandalf who invented the “always follow your nose” phrase himself! “Whoever the stranger is, the saying is either one he then says again later, or one he passes on,” said Hutchinson.
So it could well be that Gandalf took the line from his colleague – but who would that be? Apart from Gandalf, we know of four other Istari from Tolkien’s writings: Saruman, Radagast and the two Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando. While Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast only came to Middle-earth by ship in the Third Age, Alatar and Pallando were already present in the Second Age, in which “The Rings of Power” is set. And they went east to Rhûn , which is exactly where the Stranger is now heading.
LONG WAIT FOR SEASON 2
Naturally, Gennifer Hutchison was also asked in the interview if the Stranger is one of the Blue Wizards – and unsurprisingly, she revealed nothing: “Until he knows his name, we won’t know him. “
