Prime Video’s Lord Of The Rings TV show’s most mysterious character got some screen time last night.
Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings TV show is here, and, based on its two episode premiere, it’s swinging for the fences. After two solid hours, we got to meet a whole fleet of characters both new and familiar to Middle-earth. There were Elves, Harfoots, Dwarves, sea monsters, flashbacks to time immemorial–you name it. There was also, unsurprisingly, the explosive introduction of a character known only as The Stranger.
Now The Stranger’s existence isn’t a surprise–he’s been teased in promotional material since the show’s promotional cycle started. Guesses about his identity and existence have been swirling for months. And we shouldn’t expect to get any solid answers any time soon–actor Daniel Wayman told GameSpot directly that “we don’t know what his intentions are going to be and we don’t know how that’s going to impact the world around him.” So, yeah, that’s about as mysterious as a person can get.
However, we did get to spend a significant amount of time with him over the course of the first two episodes, which has helped shed enough light to start getting some theories brewing in our heads. Some of these are, admittedly, stretches, while others are beginning to feel much more likely. We can continue to refer back to Tolkien’s texts as we start to conjure up ideas, but we must also remember that Rings of Power–while clearly following the blueprint of the Second Age, is making some major adjustments and changes along the way, so it’s critical we don’t take anything for granted.
No idea, at this point, is totally off the table. But, with any luck, we’ll start getting more concrete ideas as the show progresses with new episodes each week.
