By The second season of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” closed out this past week and revealed the identity of one key wizard character – the Stranger (Daniel Weyman).
At the same time, the second season introduced a ‘Dark Wizard’ played by acting veteran Ciarán Hinds whose true identity remains under wraps.
The series makes it clear this sorcerer is one of the five Istar which includes Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast and the two Blue Wizards Alatar or Pallando with the latter two little discussed in Tolkien lore.
The character did reveal he knew The Stranger and thought of him as an ‘old friend’. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, speaking with Vanity Fair, have debunked the possibility of him being Saruman and want people to be quite clear it makes no sense if it were him:
McKay: “I’ll say something on the record. Given the history of Middle-earth, it would be highly, highly, highly improbable that this could be Saruman.”
Payne: “If not impossible.”
McKay further elaborated in a separate interview with THR, saying:
“We know that in the history of Middle-earth, some wizards become corrupted. So there is precedent for this, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same guy. As you say, it wouldn’t actually make sense for it to be Saruman.”
That makes it being one of the blue wizards quite possible, with the revelation not expected to take place until next year. The full second season of “Rings of Power” is now out on Amazon.
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