The Stranger’s True Identity Could Be Confirmed By Power Clue | Pretty Reel

Warning: The following may contain spoilers for Rings of Power The identity of the Stranger in Rings of Power is still a mystery, but the flower he made in episode 7, “The Eye” , could be a major clue to its true origin. As one of the most mysterious characters in the first season of The Rings of Power, popular theories say that The Stranger’s true identity is Sauron or Gandalf or another wizard, but none of his stories have explicitly confirmed who he is or where he’s from, but a few big tips help narrow down the options.

After The Stranger’s magic seems to have backfired while trying to revive a dead apple tree for the Harfoots, a small yellow flower sprouts from the trunk, revealing that The Stranger’s magic has in fact restored the tree, which is found thriving the next morning. The mysterious character, The Dweller, arrives later, apparently stalking The Stranger and takes a particular interest in the flower on the tree, possibly serving as an important clue to the origin of the two characters.

The stranger is probably not from Middle-earth

It’s entirely possible that The Stranger hails from another part of Middle-earth, as nothing in the series has revealed information that completely rules out Middle-earth, but a number of big clues suggest that he comes from another place. First, the fact that it arrived in, on, or as a meteor is a pretty big indicator that it came from somewhere far, far away. To be fair, The Rings of Power revealed that molten rock from volcanoes can still reach the Harfoots from other areas, so it’s possible there was an off-screen volcanic eruption tied to The arrival of The Rings of Power. Stranger several episodes before the eruption of Mount Doom from the Adar Trigger, but the way it’s presented is far more consistent with a meteor shooting out of the sky than a boulder hurled from a volcano.

Second, The Stranger cannot identify stars. Sadoc Burrows says the constellation the alien is looking for hasn’t been seen for thousands of years, so the alien has either come from a place where that constellation is still visible or he’s been oblivious all this time , or he is a time traveler. Time travel seems way too sci-fi to fit Tolkien’s version of the show, and The Stranger’s disorientation and language barrier doesn’t seem to suggest he’s ever been on the Middle Earth.

Tolkien’s map outside of Middle-earth isn’t as well established, but the only other place in all of Arda (the Earth) that gets much attention is Valinor and the Undying Lands. The Stranger’s arrival came at the same time as the way to Valinor was opened for the Elves in the first episode. The other option is that he could literally come from the stars, but most of the creatures that became stars (other than Elrond’s father, Eärendil) originally lived in Valinor.

The flower of the stranger looks a lot like Elanor

The flower that grows from the tree after the Stranger heals it is a small yellow flower that Tolkien describes as being star-shaped in The Lord of the Rings and in one of his letters he calls it “a pimpernel.” (maybe enlarged a bit)” which matches many of the characteristics of the flower created by The Stranger in The Rings of Power. Artists’ depictions of Elanor tend to give the flower five petals, consistent with a chickweed, and The Stranger’s flower has six petals, but the size, shape, and color are similar enough in all detail. explicitly described by Tolkien to make it right. possibility.

Elanor is only mentioned a few times in The Lord of the Rings, but it is always given special meaning, not least because Samwise Gamgee falls in love with her during their stay in the woods of Lothlórien and ends up naming her daughter Elanor. She eventually inherits the Red Book of Westmarch, which is the story told by the Ringbearers, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam, making her something of a heir to the Ringbearers and keeper of the stories we know as The Hobbit. and The Lord of the Rings. .

The first reference to Valinor in the timeline is a reference to the Elves of Tol Eressëa in the Undying Lands, offering elkor to the Isle of Númenor during the Second Age. Tol Eressëa was originally part of Middle-earth, but it was moved off the west coast of Valinor, so it would make sense for their flowers to come from Middle-earth, but in appendix A to the End of Return of the King, it is stated that after the Elves have gone to the Undying Lands and Lothlórien has deteriorated “elanor and niphredil no longer bloom east of the sea”. If the flower is indeed Elanor and Lothlórien has not yet been created by Galadriel, that means the Outlander would only know of it if it also came from the Undying Lands to the west.

Elanor’s flower from abroad is further proof that he is a blue wizard

If the Stranger’s magic produces Tol Eressëa flowers, the only beings who would be familiar with these flowers (before the rest of the Fellowship retreats to the Undying Lands at the end of Return of the King), are either the Valar, or Maiar, basically higher level angels and the spirits created to help them. The Valar are too powerful to make sense, so it’s fair to assume The Stranger is a Maia.

Sadly, this doesn’t actually narrow down his real identity beyond popular theories of the alien’s identity that already exist, since Balrogs, Istari (wizards), and even Sauron himself are all Maiar. Luckily, The Stranger seems less and less of a likely candidate for Sauron every week, and he’s definitely not a Balrog, which means the Istari are the best bet. That means there’s a good chance he’s one of the Blue Wizards, the first two Istari to travel to Middle-earth during the time of the Rings of Power’s forging – that is. say when the show takes place. Conveniently, another mysterious character, The Dweller, seems to share a history or connection with The Stranger, especially considering his flower while following The Stranger’s trail.

Tolkien wrote very little about the Blue Wizards, Allatar and Pallando, and was not entirely sure of their origin or history himself, but he wrote in The History of Middle Earth “I fear they failed , as did Saruman, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were the founders or starters of secret cults and ‘magical’ traditions…” which seems consistent with The Dweller’s portrayal thus far. Tolkien said they were sent to “circumvent Sauron: to bring aid to the few tribes of men who had rebelled against the cult of Melkor”, which ties in perfectly with what is happening in the Southlands in The Rings of Power.

There have been many theories about The Stranger, and the character’s true identity could be any number of characters, but if the flower he makes in Episode 7, “The Eye,” is really elanor, suggesting that he came from the Immortal Lands, the odds that he was a Blue Wizard (and The Dweller was the other Blue Wizard) increase dramatically. As The Rings of Power finale approaches, it’s unclear how many mysteries will be solved and how many will remain for Season 2, but with things coming to a head in The Stranger’s journey, the finale could finally include a big identity reveal that everyone’s been waiting for.