Monday, February 10, 2025

The Rings Of Energy Season 2 Episode 4 Hints At The Stranger’s Identification (Once more)





“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy” has embraced the thriller field idea in two main methods to date. The primary was the “Who’s Sauron?” query, which was answered on the finish of season 1, when the exiled (and obvious human king) Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) turned out to be the Darkish Lord all alongside. The opposite thriller, although, dragged into season 2, and it focuses on Daniel Weyman’s character, generally known as “The Stranger.”

The query of who The Stranger is technically stays a thriller. However the camp that claims he is Gandalf has been loud from day one — they usually simply acquired one other little bit of ammunition in season 2 episode 4, the place a personality referred to him as a “grand Elf.”

On this busy installment (one that features assembly Tom Bombadil and seeing our first Entwife in motion), we additionally meet the proto-Hobbit race referred to as the Stoors. When Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) are questioned by the Stoorish chief Gundabel (Tanya Moodie), Nori explains that her good friend, The Stranger, is a huge. Anxious, the Stoors ask for clarification. When certainly one of them asks if he is like an Elf, Poppy clarifies, “Greater than that,” to which the Stoor matriarch responds, “Oh, so he is an amazing, huge, grand Elf.”

Did you catch that? Grand elf? Say it 5 occasions quick. See what they did there? Grand elf sounds an terrible lot just like the title of a Wizard, one that may be a frontrunner for the Second Age Wizarding guessing sport that we’re all ready to be over at this level.

What are the opposite hints about The Stranger?

Calling The Stranger the suspiciously Gandalf-sounding “grand Elf” could be only a coincidence, if it weren’t for the barrage of comparable hints and riddles that the present has included alongside the best way. In season 2 episode 2, Poppy and Nori consult with The Stranger’s want for a “gand,” which is one other title for a employees but additionally occurs to, as soon as once more, sound an terrible lot like Gandalf (which etymologically interprets to one thing like “Elf with a wand”). Season 1 had its justifiable share of teases, too. For example, one main trace concerning the Stranger’s identification got here within the finale when he informed his Harfoot companion, “When doubtful, Elanor Brandyfoot, all the time observe your nostril,” an instruction viewers of “The Fellowship of the Rings” would possibly acknowledge.

Regardless of all of those hints, there may be nonetheless doubt that The Stranger is, in actual fact, Gandalf. In truth, there are a few different individuals he could possibly be. We all know, because of the season 1 finale, that he’s an Istar (one other phrase for Wizard), in order that a lot is for certain. Which means he is doubtless Gandalf, Radagast, Saruman, or one of many Blue Wizards. (These are the 5 major Wizards in Lord of the Rings lore.) The one purpose the stranger could possibly be Saruman is that, in Tolkien’s writings, he technically wanders east with the Blue Wizards earlier than coming again on his personal. However The Stranger is an effective man, which makes it onerous to purchase that concept. He could possibly be Radagast and even one other Wizard completely (Tolkien technically says their quantity is unknown), however the greatest risk aside from Gandalf is that he’s a Blue Wizard. This pair of Wizards particularly is distributed to combat Sauron within the east of Center-earth, in areas like Rhûn, which Tolkien did not say a lot about and which the present is presently exploring. Whereas the bigger sweep of The Stranger’s story arc could level towards him being a Blue Wizard, the little hints at a Gandalf reveal are actually piling up.

When will we all know the Stranger’s identification?

The totally different Wizarding camps are firmly established at this level, with the Gandalf crowd clearly backed up by a number of hints and callbacks and the Blue Wizard hold-outs hanging on to the truth that theirs makes probably the most sense for the story and is canonically believable. (The Blue Wizards are the one ones who technically are round within the Second Age in any of Tolkien’s manuscripts.)

The query is, when will we lastly get a decision about this man? Excellent news: We really know the reply, no less than so far as timing goes. In an interview with IGN, showrunner JD Payne said, “We are able to say that sure, the title will probably be revealed by the top of season 2.” Thanks. Thanks a lot. 

We are able to maintain out for just a few extra episodes to seek out out. However the reality is, if this huge, multi-arc present goes to cease shifting ahead in suits and begins (pacing has been a problem all alongside to date), we have to clear the air about a few of these lingering questions, get everybody on the identical web page, after which begin pushing the first Sauron narrative ahead at full velocity. It labored in Tolkien’s books (the place Sauron drives the entire major occasions of the Second Age after the Rings of Energy are cast), and the showrunners may gain advantage from leaning on a few of that villainous vitality in the event that they wish to hold individuals of their seats and glued to their streaming screens for the total five-season expertise they’ve mapped out.


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