The Stranger is an Istar: We all missed that wizard clue in The Rings of Power

Daniel Weyman also didn’t know for a long time that his character – the alien aka the meteorite man – was a wizard, but only found out shortly before the finale of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was filmed. “I knew he could harness the power of nature, so he had to be some kind of Maia.” [göttliches Wesen] to be. But I didn’t know exactly how it would end,” explains Weyman in an interview with the American industry magazine TVLine.

Many in the audience must have somehow thought of the magicianAfter all, there are some clear indications. On the other hand, one or the other may have overlooked a rather subtle hint to the stranger’s true identity. As Weyman also explained to TVLine, there is also an important clue hidden in the stranger’s wardrobe: “I don’t know if people have noticed, but the costume changes a bit over the season,” Weyman says.

And it’s true: In Episode 2, the Stranger initially appears to be wearing some sort of holey, coarse-mesh blanket that isn’t quite a piece of clothing. And in episode 8, it’s turned into a kind of robe, still chunky, but with a belt, real sleeves and so on:

But that is not because the stranger (or one of the harfeet) has made a cloak from the blanketbut because of its magical nature: According to Weyman, those responsible for “The Rings of Power” had the idea that the substance near the wizard would, in a sense, heal itself. “[Die Robe] envelops the stranger, so it slowly changed and transformed of its own accord. Almost like being pulled in, making this very large, wild costume more of an Istari costume.

“Istari” is the plural for wizards in the Elven language Quenya coined by JRR Tolkien, the singular (i.e. meaning “a wizard”) is Istar – and this word is also used in “The Rings of Power”, only from the Mystics, then later Nori (Markella Kavenagh).

The stranger’s clothing has also provided a clue to his identity as a magician, but the much trickier question remains which of the five known Istari he is. The finale of “The Rings of Power” alludes to Gandalf in an almost exaggerated way, but there’s another possibility:

And also In this context, it is also unclear where the stranger’s robes came from. Is that a recycled harfoot blanket? Or did it grow out of the loincloth the stranger was wearing overnight when he crashed into the meteorite? And if so, will he possibly grow a hat in Season 2? We’ll have to wait for the new episodes…