After the conclusion of Season 2 of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, nothing will be the same again. This not only affects the elves, who have to prepare for war against Sauron and his newly taken over Orc army, but also the mysterious stranger.
Since season 1, Lord of the Rings fans have been wondering whether the nameless Istar played by Daniel Weyman could be Gandalf, Saruman or another wizard from the world of JRR Tolkien. Episode 8 now provides the clear answerwhich pushes the history of Middle-earth in a new direction.
Warning, massive spoilers for the Lord of the Rings finale follow:
The Lord of the Rings series finally answers the big Gandalf question in the season 2 finale
At the start of The Rings of Power, the mysterious stranger fell from heaven to Middle-earth as a meteorite. At the side of harpist Nori Brandyfuß (Markella Kavenagh), he went on a search for answers to his true identity. After season 1 revealed him to be Istar, a sorcerer, season 2 was dedicated to him Look for a staff and its name.
In episode 8 of season 2 of the Lord of the Rings series, the stranger surprisingly finds both. Because the Istar chooses the right path and chooses friendship over power, he is finally rewarded with his own magic wand. And it is very reminiscent of the mighty branch that Gandalf carries with him in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films.
The final name confirmation finally follows in the presence of Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), who reveals to the Istar that a magician does not find his staff and his name himself, but rather they find it. And so the stranger realizes: “Gandalf. That’s what they’ll call me, right?“.
All the clues have led fans on the right track from the start: the wizard is actually a younger Gandalf. Anyone who watches The Rings of Power in the original English version saw the origin of Gandalf’s name already shine through a few episodes earlier, when the stares heard it for the first time “Grand Eleven” called.
In Tolkien’s works, Gandalf is not the only name of the gray wizard. In the Quenya language, his original name is Olórin. It was only humans who gave it its well-known Middle-earth name. However, among the elves he is addressed as Mithrandir (translated: gray wanderer). However, we should assume that, for the sake of simplicity, the Lord of the Rings series will initially only focus on Gandalf.
What does the Gandalf reveal mean for The Rings of Power season 3?
At the end of the second season of The Rings of Power, Gandalf and his companions Nori and Magsi (Megan Richards) part ways for the time being. The Harfuß friends join the Starlings, who leave their destroyed home and go on a journey for the first time. In the next few seasons, her story will now take her towards the legendary Sûzat and could end with the founding of the Shire.
The separation of the dissimilar trio, however, opens up completely new possibilities for Gandalf to continue his story. On the one hand, of course, there is another one Confrontation with the Dark Wizard whose identity has not yet been finally revealed. But after his training with Tom Bombadil, his path will ultimately lead him to the west of Middle-earth.
Until now, the story surrounding Gandalf has been completely separate from the rest of the storylines in the Lord of the Rings series. That will change from season 3 and the gray pilgrim can meet elves and humans in the future – and support them in the fight against Sauron. From now on, The Rings of Power follows completely new narrative paths, which will certainly divide fans.
In Tolkien’s works, Gandalf’s past is unexplored territory
In Tolkien’s literary works Gandalf central to the events of the Third Age and the War of the Ring. His prehistory, however, is largely unexplored and after his arrival he spent 2,000 years wandering through Middle-earth. Everything is a little different in the Lord of the Rings series.
The change began with the revelation of the existence of the Istari in Middle-earth. The Rings of Power takes place in the Second Age and thus long before their actual arrival in the Third Age. However, the Amazon series is known to be very liberal with the passage of time and changed the chronology of the Second Age in favor of a serial and coherent narrative by combining many centuries into one plot.
You can hear more about Season 2 of the Lord of the Rings series in the podcast:
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Although the five wizards in Tolkien’s stories only play a role much later, they could have been in Middle-earth before. This does not contradict later events. With a history spanning thousands of years, one or two Middle-earth chroniclers may have miscalculated by a few years.
Since Tolkien’s explanations of mythology are very different from the major works complex and sometimes contradictory are, these should not be viewed as a fixed fact and basis for the Amazon series. Instead, The Rings of Power now has the unique opportunity to delve deep into Gandalf’s backstory and illustrate his previously untold pilgrimage.
Many years later, the Gray Wizard himself gave a fitting answer as to whether Gandalf landed in Middle-earth too early: “A magician is never too late, nor too early. It arrives exactly when it intends to.“