Popverse's top stories of the day

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Watch: Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
• Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power features some characters that fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth know well - Galadriel, Elrond, and Sauron being among them. But there two characters in the show's second season that we only might know, and both of them just happen to be wizards - The Stranger and the Dark Wizard, to be specific. Now, when you use the phrase "two wizards in Lord of the Rings," most fans' minds jump to a possible, if obvious, answer to their identities. But is that obvious answer the correct one? 

Let's put on our pointy thinking caps and discuss.

Is the Stranger actually Gandalf, and is the Dark Wizard actually Saruman?

There are a whole bunch of reasons to believe that Daniel Weyman's The Stranger is actually an amnesiac Gandalf; his appearance, love of halflings, and obvious wizard power among them. Perhaps most convincing of all is the fact that The Stranger is referred to as Olórin in the first season, which is a name for Gandalf. Ciarán Hinds's Dark Wizard, on the other hand, is harder to make the case for as being Saruman, as the character was certainly not evil at the time of Rings of Power. Besides bearing a certain likeness to him, there's not much that ties this Dark Wizard to Saruman.

But the thing is, a likeness to a known character is something that Rings of Power has played on before. Think of the character of Halbrand in the first season, how Aragorn-esque he appeared when we first encountered the "lost king of the Southlands." We know now, however, that that was just a diversion - and we can't help but wonder if the similarities to Gandalf and Saruman that the wizards exude is just another wool thrown over our eyes.

Still, if they aren't the future White Wizards, who could these characters be? Well, J.R.R. Tolkien might've already told us.

Who are the Blue Wizards in Lord of the Rings?

In Tolkien's Unfinished Tales and The Simarillion, which are books set in Middle-Earth that occasionally expand upon the events of Lord of the Rings, the seminal fantasy author makes mention of a pair of mysterious "Blue Wizards" that come from Valinor just like Gandalf, Saruman, and Radaghast. The author gives very little explanation as to what role the wizards play in the history of Middle-Earth, in fact, he was known to have rewritten their histories at least two times.

What we know for sure of the Blue Wizards is that they were called Alatar and Pallando, which translate to "Darkness Slayer" and "East-Helper" respectively (more on that in a sec). We also know that whatever mission the Valar gave them upon sending them to Middle-Earth is one that they failed, seeing as Gandalf is considered the only faithful Istari (wizard) by the end of The Lord of the Rings. But perhaps the most important thing we know about the Blue Wizards, for our purposes at least, is where their mostly-unwritten adventures take place. 

That is, the eastern province of Rhûn, where both the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are spending season 2.

Are the Blue Wizards in Rings of Power?

With that in mind, we think it's at least very possible that the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are, in fact, the Blue Wizards of Tolkien's legendarium. From a creator's perspective, this would leave the characters unbound by what's already been established about Gandalf and Saruman, and with Rhûn largely unexplored in Tokien's works, there would be plenty of new stuff to add to Amazon's little corner of Middle-Earth, without breaking any canon. In fact, Tolkien's canon says that Gandalf and Saruman weren't even in Middle-Earth in the Second Age (when Rings of Power is set), but that the Blue Wizards were.

If this theory is true, it admittedly predicts a dark future for both Weyman's and Hinds's character. As we mentioned before, Gandalf is the only Istari to actually succeed in his mission to Middle-Earth, meaning that these potentially Blue Wizards would fail in keeping with continuity. What that failure could be, whether death or corruption toward evil, is yet to be seen.

But we sure know it won't be good.

For more Rings of Power explainers, keep your palantir pointed toward Popverse.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.