The series premiere of Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power concludes with the arrival of a mysterious character, who is seen crashing to Middle Earth in a meteor. Played by Daniel Weyman, the bearded "Stranger" is befriended by Harfoot Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) in the second episode, but is unable to communicate verbally, leaving his origins unclear.
There's been a lot of speculation relating to The Stranger, with most seemingly under the assumption that he's either Sauron or one of the five Wizards. The former is highly unlikely since we know the Dark Lord is already on Middle Earth when the meteor hits (also, we will soon meet "Annatar" played by Bridie Sisson), and while he probably will turn out to be a Wizard (Saruman would be our bet), we have another theory!
What if he's actually a Balrog?
Yes, the same terrifying creature that pulled Gandalf to his "death" in The Fellowship of the Ring. How would that even be possible? Well, the Balrogs, or Valaraukar, were originally Maiar spirits (much like those who would eventually become the five Wizards) who were corrupted by Morgoth and transformed into his fiery demonic servants. Sauron didn't actually create any (him being a Maiar himself), but this show has already demonstrated a willingness to deviate from the source material, so it wouldn't be that big a stretch.
Here's what The Rings of Power EP Lindsey Weber had to say about The Stranger during an interview with Deadline.
“The idea that this sort of miraculous event would occur in the Harfoots’ backyard was one of the sort of foundational ideas from the showrunners when I joined the project. And what I can say about this character is that he is a bit of an onion with many layers to peel – and I think it will be a fun journey for fans to peel as the season goes.”
Not much to go on, but it sounds like there will be some surprises in store. Here's what we do know about the enigmatic Meteor Man: For one, he appears to be giant in stature - far taller than an average human. He also arrives in flames, and while he hasn't been openly aggressive to his Harfoot companions, definitely seems to possess some kind of dark power that could easily be harnessed by Sauron.
It's a pretty far-fetched theory, for sure, but we thought we'd throw it out there to see what you guys made of it! What do you think? Could The Stranger turn out to be a Balrog? Drop us a comment down below.