Who is the Stranger? The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay laid the groundwork for an overarching mystery in season 1 and don’t seem keen to reveal anything too early in season 2. But actor Daniel Weyman tells Polygon an encounter later in this season may not bust open the mystery box, but promises to shake up whatever’s inside.
When The Rings of Power picks back up with the magical man who fell to Middle-earth in a meteor, the wizard and his harfoot companion Nori (Markella Kavenagh) are trekking to the land of Rhûn to [checks notes] find a star pattern that will unlock his memories? Wizard Business. The deeper the Stranger — and the series itself — delves into Rhûn, the more Payne and McKay are carving out what J.R.R. Tolkien left to the imagination in his original writings and threading in more mystery; the trio of premiere episodes also introduces a new Dark Wizard (played by Ciarán Hinds) whose identity is sure to be a point of fan speculation as well.
Meaning the reintroduction to Weyman’s character does little to dispel any theories on who or what the Stranger is in the broader context of Middle-earth — but the possibilities seem narrower than ever. At this point, now that we know Sauron’s identity, that the Stranger is an “istar,” and that Tom Bombadil is already out there roaming the woods, there seem to be three options:
The Stranger is Gandalf
Would Gandalf arrive in a giant ball of flame? It’s a strong connection, and true to the istar’s history as a wizard known for dealing in fire. (In the books, he has referred to himself as “a wielder of the Flame of Anor!” meaning he literally wields the power of the sun.) The filmmaking in The Rings of Power also leans heavily into the iconography of Gandalf as rendered in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy, from his look to his aptitude for singing ditties to hobbit-like creatures.
There are lots of other little connections between the characters — many think the Stranger drew the same rune symbol that Gandalf scrawled on Bilbo’s door in The Hobbit back in season 1 — but the biggest discrepancy might be the timeline. But so far in season 2, the Stranger is also desperate to find his name… and there aren’t too many named wizards who would fit the bill of a kindhearted, staff-supported bearded Middle-earth man.
The Stranger is a new Blue Wizard
Gandalf is not the only istar of Middle-earth, and Tolkien paved the way for Payne and McKay to create their own magic-wielding icon if they didn’t want to be too tidy about building connections to The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As the theory goes, two Blue Wizards roamed Middle-earth in the Second Age (one of Tolkien’s retcons that helps with the timeline issues) and the Stranger could be one of these istar “tests” sent by the Valar. A reveal may not have the same oomph as “Hey, it’s Young Gandalf!” but the Stranger’s Gandalf-ness could simply be more of an echo of a classic character than a literal reimagining.
The Stranger is both Gandalf and Saruman but he’s gonna get struck by lightning or something and be split into both
I just wanted to throw this out there.
For all the theorizing and seismic godly activity that might be at the heart of his character, Weyman’s pursuit in playing the Stranger is to keep him tied as closely to the earth around him as possible. The actor tells Polygon that the Stranger’s season 2 arc is all about wielding his raw magic, and becoming comfortable in his own body.
“I was quite keen to avoid, or I felt that the Stranger would want to avoid, some of the mistakes that he made in season 1,” he says. “So some of the ways that he channeled energy he wanted to avoid in season 2.”
The unexpected chaos of a self-aware istar comes into play early on in season 2, when Nori, desperate for food, begs the Stranger to use his powers and produce some grub. The conjuration backfires, blowing the tree to bits (although Nori gets some literal grub, in the form of a bug colony scattering in every direction). The misfire is indicative of what Weyman sees as the Stranger’s great hurdle.
“At the end of season 1, he’s used a staff to, I felt like, connect the sort of heavens, the metaphorical heavens, with the earth,” Weyman says. “That seems to work for him. And so he’s sort of yearning to do the same thing — he thinks he’s figured it out. And when he gets to this tree, rather than using that kind of raw, aggressive strength, he wanted to do something that was more nurturing. And so he actually went toward the root. That feels to me like a repetitious thing that he’s trying to do when it doesn’t work. He’s trying to figure out a new way of using energy. Well, if it was, if that wasn’t the right way of me using my powers, how could I do it? He’s always trying to think outside the box, and I think that’s part of his problem. He’s not really trusting, not really relaxing into himself. He’s trying to force the issue all the time. He’s impatient. He thinks he’s got an idea of what it should be. And I think that’s where lots of the problems originate from.”
As teased in trailers, the Stranger will have his world rocked by Middle-earth’s highest-rated motivational speaker and life coach, Tom Bombadil. “Tom is going to upturn his world and take him totally out of his comfort zone, and maybe that’s the thing he needs to reset and to finally be present enough to let things happen. We will see.”
Whether shooting in New Zealand in season 1 or around England in season 2, Weyman stresses that, when it comes to feeling connected to the Stranger, it’s less about lore than land. But the connection was at slight risk in season 2 thanks to the addition of footwear. The second biggest question the actor got during season 1 after “Who is the Stranger?” was “When will the Stranger get shoes?” and while his wizard has acquired slippers for his journey to Rhûn in season 2, Weyman struggled over the sartorial choice.
“With the Stranger, so much of season 1 came from his feet being sort of in the earth, in the ground, and the elemental forces around, you know, the wind, the natural world,” he says. “I think we were very worried about his feet being ripped to shreds on the Tenerife rocks [on the Canary Islands]. I was a bit worried that I would lose that connection to nature. But for me that is the thing that I try to hang on to because I think it’s such a central, core part of him, and from that everything else will flow.”
New episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stream Thursdays on Prime Video through Oct. 3.
The post Rings of Power’s the Stranger actor digs into his own mystery and the Tom Bombadil of it all appeared first on Polygon.
