The Rings of Power Episode 8: Who is the Stranger? Is It Confirmed That He Is Gandalf?
Could it be, in the end, Gandalf? They wanted us to believe that he was Sauron and that he could even be Saruman, but this Istari who goes to the lands of Rhun together with a hobbit, it is clear that he can only be a character.
Who is the Stranger (Daniel Wayman) in The Rings of Power? It’s not just any question. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has played the fool with viewers since episode 1 and has even tried to confuse fans in Episode 8, Allies, by making the most unwary believe that it was none other than Sauron. The series, in its infinite ambition (it must all be said), has wanted to play cluelessness so much with the experts in Tolkien’s Universe, that they have read every one of the books of The Lord of the Rings and who know perfectly well where Sauron and Gandalf are during the Second Age of Middle-earth, when it was still flat, and who only know this universe from the movies and have now been attracted by the continuation of this universe in the form of a prequel and for them, this was a new enigma.
The Rings of Power Episode 8: Who is the Stranger?
Episode 8 has only officially confirmed that the Stranger is an Istari (there are five ‘officials’ in Tolkien’s universe, Saruman and Gandalf being the two most notable), a wizard, and that, at least for now, he’s good (this I say this because Saruman, the white man, was also good at first and then things went wrong), but he later added two small details: the moths and a very peculiar phrase that alludes to the power of smell, characteristics of Gandalf. Now let’s go with it. Amazon has seen fit to inform viewers in this episode “many stories have been told about wizards or Istari in ages since, but some are still waiting to be heard.” The Serie The Rings of Power understands that the time is now, or rather, The Rings of Power season 2. If you ask me, the most curious thing of all is how someone can get inside a meteorite curiously with a loincloth, look how modest.
When we met this character in the official trailers of the series, we already raised our hands to our heads wondering if it could be Gandalf who was going to appear in The Rings of Power series. Just from the info in the trailer, which was biased and intentional, he just seemed lost and ragged and strongly reminiscent of Gandalf, although, you know, he couldn’t be Gandalf. Nori (Markella Kavenagh), our hairy person in charge of taking us through this old new Middle-earth, gave him an apple, a universal symbol of good faith when the person who delivers it is a good person (and a symbol of the opposite when it is delivered by someone chungue).
How have they managed to play cluelessness with the character of Daniel Wayman? In the books, Sauron also arrived like this… but also Gandalf (both are Maiar), before the very creation of the planet on which Tolkien’s characters live. As this arrival in Middle-earth is not recorded in the books as they have told us in the series, the books could not be used to clear up any doubts. Just as we could not trust the original dates of the books to conclude, because the series, as they all do, although they respect the universe, play for dramatic purposes with when exactly what happens and how old exactly who is (Game of Thrones did it, The House of the Dragon does it and it has done it more blatantly The Rings of Power).
In the same way that the mistake is played by letting it be the villain (until an elf smells it we will not know for sure), some signs have always pointed to Gandalf long before episode 8. Above all the fire. Fire is also related to the physical manifestation of Maiar spirits, and Gandalf is a Maiar. Remember when Gandalf stands on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum and says: “I am the servant of the Secret Fire, bearer of the Flame of Anor!” (He says it right after yelling his iconic “You can’t comeaaaaaay in!”). But, of course, since with Gandalf the dates didn’t add up, we let it go. What they are telling us is supposed to happen 3,000 years before it arrives… it’s a mess. It’s one thing to move dates, but 3.000 years? And so, we come to Episode 8 of The Rings of Power, Allies.
The strongest clue yet linking the Stranger to Gandalf comes near the end of the episode when Daniel Wayman’s character and Nori (Markella Kavenaugh) are about to leave for the land of Rhûn. Nori admits that she doesn’t have the foggiest idea where they should go, but then the Stranger chooses a direction because the air smells sweeter that way. “When in doubt,” she tells her, “Always follow your nose.” Alarm. Alarm. This phrase takes us to the first film of The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring), and mind you, not to the books. Gandalf is in the Mines of Moria. They don’t know which direction to go. Gandalf chooses the path that smells the freshest, saying, “When in doubt, always follow your nose.” A lot of coincidence seems to me, don’t you think?
Then there are the moths. In previous episodes, the Stranger had been linked to fireflies, which many viewers already wanted to see as a sign that it was Gandalf. However, in episode 8, when he confronts the mystical followers of Sauron he turns them into moths. Who talks to the moths in Peter Jackson’s trilogy? A certain Gandalf. In the same way that the Rings of Power series has wanted to tell us the origin story of Sauron (to a certain extent and with many nuances), it is also clear that it wants to tell us the origin story of Gandalf.
