Last week's season finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power revealed Sauron's true identity, and while it seemed to confirm that the mysterious Stranger was indeed Gandalf, the showrunners recently cast some doubt on the theory by suggesting that he might actually be one of the other Istari.
Even so, the Meteor Man's final line - "when in doubt, Elanor Brandyfoot, always follow your nose” - is almost word-for-word what Gandalf says to Merry when they're making their through Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring, so unless it's a major misdirect, we're betting our last bag of Longbottom Leaf that he will turn out to be Mithrandir.
One thing we do know for certain: he is one of the five Wizards, and actor Daniel Weyman has now revealed another clue to The Stranger's true nature and origin that many fans seemed to miss.
“I don’t know whether people have noticed, but the costume changes slightly over the course of the season,” Weyman tells TV Line. “The fact that [the robes] were surrounding The Stranger meant that they subtly changed and altered themselves,” he shares. “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.”
We certainly didn't notice this, but we'll be keeping an eye out on the inevitable re-watch!
The Stranger (or should we now refer to him as The Wizard?) and Nori appeared to be setting off for the land of Rhûn when they left the Harfoot tribe, so there's a decent chance we will learn more about the character early on in the second season.
Do you think The "Meteor Man" is Gandalf, or is Saruman a more likely possibility? Drop us a comment down below.