Full spoilers follow for The Rings of Power season 2 episode 4. Potentially big spoilers are also discussed about The Stranger’s identity.
The Rings of Power season 2 episode 4 is out now on Prime Video – and it’s given us another huge clue about The Stranger’s true identity.
The hit Amazon series’ latest entry, titled ‘Eldest’, reunites us with Markella Kavenagh’s Nori and Megan Richards’ Poppy, who were separated from Daniel Weyman’s amnesiac wizard in season 2 episode 2. The pair were accidentally blown away by The Stranger’s latest spell – a gigantic sandstorm, no less – after he lost control of his abilities once again.
Nori and Poppy’s fates are left up in the air throughout episode 3, meaning we didn’t know if they survived their latest life-threatening situation. But, yes, save for a few bruises, the pair are alive and surprisingly uninjured. Hey, one of the best Prime Video shows around is fantasy-based, so I can forgive the fact that neither was gravely injured after they were thrown hundreds of feet into the air before landing in an area full of jagged rocks.
But I digress. It isn’t long before they cross paths with Gavi Singh Chera’s Merimac, who belongs to another pint-sized race of Middle-earth dwellers known as Stoors. Essentially, like the Harfoots, they’re just another type of proto-Hobbits but for the fact that they permanently settled in Rhûn.
Anyway, after Merimac agrees to lead the duo to his home, Nori and Poppy are greeted – with a great deal of suspicion, mind you – by Tanya Moodie’s Gundabel, the Stoor community’s leader. It’s during this interaction that the latest big tease about The Stranger’s real name raises its head above the proverbial parapet.
Concerned about who these outsiders are and why they’re travelling with another wizard – the Stoors have already dealt with one Istar, aka Ciaran Hinds’ Dark Wizard, for decades at this point – a sceptical Gundabel asks who they are and what they’re doing in these parts. Nori pleads their case – well, until Gundabel cuts her off to ask for more information on The Stranger. It’s here when Poppy interjects to say “he’s a giant”, to which Merimac asks “what, like an elf?”. That leads Poppy to say: “bigger than that.”
And then, out of nowhere, The Rings of Power all but confirms our own suspicions about the biggest mystery surrounding The Stranger. Responding to Poppy, Gundabel sarcastically says “oh, so he’s a great big grand-elf?”. Grand-Elf… hmm.. sounds an awful lot like a clever twist on the name Gandalf, the most famous and popular of all of The Lord of Rings‘ wizards, doesn’t it?
“So he’s a great big Grand-elf”…👀#TheRingsOfPower #TROPspoilers pic.twitter.com/BPjJuSuJobSeptember 5, 2024
This isn’t the first hint we’ve had that The Stranger is actually Gandalf. In The Rings of Power season 1 finale, The Stranger uttered one of Gandalf’s most iconic phrases – “always follow your nose” – to Nori. That, coupled with how well-spoken he is, his bushy gray beard, and general demeanor, have convinced fans that The Stranger has to be Gandalf.
Now, there’s every chance that this could all be a smokescreen. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material, only two of Middle-earth’s five Istari – those simply known as The Blue Wizards – ventured into the lands of Rhûn, so it’s possible that The Stranger is one of this duo. That said, The Rings of Power has played fast and loose with some of Tolkien’s literature, so it’s also plausible that The Stranger/Gandalf traveled to Rhûn at some point in Prime Video’s non-canonical TV adaptation.
For what it’s worth, Weyman, plus The Rings of Power‘s showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, continue to play it coy over this mystery. Indeed, only The Rings of Power‘s cast and writers know who The Stranger is and even then some of them didn’t find out that he was one of the five wizards until the very end of season 1.
Still, with only four episodes left to go until the series’ second season ends, fans are hoping that The Stranger’s name will be revealed before the finale’s end credits roll. Will Tom Bombadil help The Stranger to solve this mystery? Or does The Dark Wizard have a big part to play? We’ll find out soon enough (at least, I hope we do).
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
