The Lord of the Rings: The Ring of Power It’s over, and the season finale was packed with big and exciting events. One of the more noteworthy reveals that many fans have seen is the true identity of The Stranger.
If you haven’t finished the series yet, you may want to skip this section.
By the end of the episode, the Stranger ends up adopting the name Gandalf, as his Stoll friends start calling him “The Great Elf.” So, yes, The Stranger is indeed the Gandalf we all know.
Some fans weren’t happy about this because JRR TolkienAccording to sources, Gandalf did not come to Middle-earth until the Third Age to aid in the fight against Sauron.
Ring of Power is set in the Second Age, which is technically before Gandalf was “supposed” to appear. However, one expert on The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien explains that the change isn’t a big deal.
Dr. Corey Olsen, Tolkien Professor/President of Signum University, explained in a discussion shared by The Rings of Power X account:
“The first thing to be clear about is that there is actually no such thing as a canon in Tolkien. Tolkien’s ideas were constantly evolving.”
“In the text of The Lord of the Rings, we learn that Gandalf and the other wizards arrived around the year 1000 of the Third Age, and in his later years he had been thinking that maybe Gandalf would arrive earlier, and maybe some into the Second Age The wizards took part in the War for the Ring of Power.
After a rocky start, I ended up loving Ring of Power Season 2, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story continues in Season 3.
