The Rings of Power: Who is The Stranger?

Spoilers follow for The Rings of Power! There are a few mysteries that have lingered throughout the first season of Amazon Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power but perhaps the biggest is who on Middle-earth is The Stranger? The character made his debut in explosive fashion in the first episode of the series and has been present ever since, but who he is really and where he comes from remains to be seen. We have a few educated guesses about the identity of The Stranger/Meteor Man which you can find below, and watch the series for yourself when you sign up for an Amazom Prime subscription here.

Who is the Meteor Man in Rings of Power?

The first episode of The Rings of Power concludes with a shooting star making its way across Middle-earth, and most of our lead characters watching it as it trails across the sky. In the end the meteorite lands in Rhovanion, The Wilderlands East of the Anduin (a location that many fans will know for being where Mirkwood and The Lonely Mountain from The Hobbit are located), and is discovered by Nori the Harfoot. His presence 

What powers does The Stranger have?

Episode two reveals a few abilities of The Stranger. He lets out a grand shout and shakes the trees at one point, causing large shadows to cascade around the around; and later is shown to pick fireflies out of the air and place them into the sky as stars after whispering to them. These magical powers definitely confirm how strong The Stranger really is, but his larger confusion about who he is and what he's doing  In a later episode The Stranger uses his powers to, conjuring a giant gust of wind, to push away some evil wolves in the forest. While recovering from the attack and using so much energy at once he also freezes his hand in a puddle, creating ice.

What is The Stranger saying in The Rings of Power?

The Stranger does speak in the second episode, offering up just a few words. "Mana" and "úre," two Elvish words, are his first lines, which seemingly translate to "What is heat?" in the Quenya language (shout out to Tolkein Gateway for helping here). As fans will recall, Nori's proclamation that the meteorite's crash site isn't hot sets this up directly. 

Is The Stranger evil?

When he arrives on the scene and crashes into the ground, his naked body is found stuck in a crater, one that appears to resemble the Eye of Sauron. This seems like a misdirect about his identity however as the series only refers to him as "The Stranger" (played by Daniel Weyman), but the evidence that he's evil is ever-present. The Rings of Power also plants another tease for The Stranger perhaps being no good as Nori comments that the fire around the crater isn't hot, calling back to the scene in the opening of episode 1 where Galadriel says the location they're in is so evil that their torches give off no heat. 

Yet another evil clue is when he begins to draw in the dirt, seemingly writing out what looks like hte same symbol for Sauron that the series revealed in its debut episode. Again, this all seems like misdirection. Though speculation is rampant that The Stranger is Annatar, one of Sauron's assumed names, that hasn't been confirmed as of yet.

Who are the people looking for The Stranger?

Recently three mysterious figures appeared where The Stranger landed and are clearly looking for him. Their identity is unknown, and in fact the don't even have character names just yet. It's theorized by some that they could be from Rhûn, the far eastern part of the world that was heavily influenced by Sauron in the Tolkien mythology. Who they are and what they want with The Stranger is unclear, except...

So Who is The Stranger, really?

Our best guess at this time is that The Stranger is actually a wizard not unlike Gandalf the Grey, and might actually BE Gandalf. In Tolkein's mythology Wizards are not just humans that know and practice magic, but actually spirits called Maiar, sent by The Valar (essentially the gods of Middle-earth) to assist people in times of need. The arrival of The Stranger at the time that the Rings of Power will be forged seems as good as time as any for a Maiar to appear. Tolkein lore on The Second Age of Middle-earth, when Amazon's TV series is set, isn't as densely packed as what we know about The Third Age (when The Lord of the Rings takes place) but we do know that at least two Maiar are around at the time, known only as The Blue Wizards. The Stranger could very well be one othem.

That's our official guess, The Stranger is a Wizard/Maiar that has come to Middle-earth to help the people there as the Rings of Power are forged. Who do you think The Stranger is? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!