There is little doubt that people can't get over the shocking reveal about The Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season finale. After all, Episode 8 started with a fake-out of the Meteor Man's identity before we got that unexpected confirmation right before Alloyed concluded. However, Daniel Weyman says viewers who were paying attention right from the start should have seen the clues early on in the series.
The Stranger made a fiery debut in the premiere episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, crashing into Middle-Earth through a meteor. Early on, it was confirmed that he is a powerful being and there were speculations that he might be Sauron or Saruman or even Radagast. Although the season finale opened with the Mystics finally finding the man and calling him Lord Sauron, they later realized that he was "the Other" or the Istar. By the end of the episode, The Stranger repeats Gandalf's memorable line from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
But did the series actually confirm that The Stranger is one of the Istari? Daniel Weyman told TV Line that there was a subtle clue by the second and third episodes.
“I don’t know whether people have noticed, but the costume changes slightly over the course of the season,” Weyman said. “The fact that [the robes] were surrounding The Stranger meant that they subtly changed and altered themselves.”
“It’s like they all got pulled in, and so it goes from being a very big, wild costume to being more of a costume of an Istari,” he continued.
Looking back at how the robes appeared, The Stranger certainly looked a lot like a young Gandalf by the third episode. With that in mind, it's important to keep an eye on all the details in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2.
All episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 are now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Related: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Star Teases Theo's Future in Season 2
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!