Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime has introduced franchise fans to a host of familiar characters in a past era, the Second Age. Episode 1 starts with world-building as we meet the Elves, humans, orcs, and Harfoots – the predecessors of the Hobbits. However, one character who remains a relative mystery has been aptly introduced to viewers as the Stranger. 

He arrives in a meteor and crashes near where the Harfoots camp. All we know of the character is what’s seen in the first two episodes. The Stranger seems to make mysterious marks on the rock and ground. He has supernatural powers, as seen in his interaction with Nori, the Harfoot who rescues him. 

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There is a hint of menace to the Stranger, from the first time he grabs Nori’s hand to when the forest turns dark as the being and Nori get acquainted. Even the fireflies the Stranger touches die out, hinting at a corrupting influence. However, the most telling sign is when he makes marks on the ground, looks at Nori, and chants something strange, and parallelly, the task of setting up a tent goes wrong for the Harfoots. The rope snaps and the pillar falls back on Nori’s father, who breaks his leg. 

Despite many reasons for not liking the Stranger, he hasn’t directly harmed Nori yet, and the two seem to have an understanding where neither will hurt the other. When Poppy comes to meet Nori, the Stranger seems defensive and tries to protect his new acquaintance. 

So, who is the Stranger? 

The internet seems to want to believe that Gandalf is the Stranger, but if the wizard were to appear in the Second Age, it would be a major deviation from JRR Tolkien’s original works, which speak of Gandalf’s coming in the Third Age. 

Saruman is also a great candidate, seeing as the Stranger shows some moral ambiguity – in his inherent tendency to oscillate towards darkness, but his desire to stay in the light. This is most visible across the interactions with the Harfoots. However, this theory has the same problem as Gandalf’s. Saruman arrived on Middle Earth in the Third Age. 

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The show creators teased that there would be characters in the same category when asked about Gandalf’s presence in the prequel. This has led some to theorize that the Stranger could be one of the Blue Wizards or a lesser-known Istari. This would explain the magic and since the source literature doesn’t have much on them, Rings of Power could build out the story without worries of deviating from the canon. 

One option that nobody is too willing to entertain- for the sake of Nori and Poppy- is that the Stranger could be Sauron. The evil general and Morgoth’s successor had vanished for a long time, though Galadriel the elf, insisted that evil never sleeps, it only lies in wait. 

In the source texts, Sauron is said to have fooled others as a celestial being, upon his return. Thus, the meteor landing could go a long way in building this reveal.