The Stranger of Udûn? - New Info and the Identity of Meteor Man

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I finally watched the interview. I can't say that I'm fully convinced, but it is as good a theory as any other, and better than most!

[Eldy]

Yeah, I'm not certain of this, but it makes far more sense than the Gandalf theory. And my fondness for Sauron!Stranger is less because I think the idea is compelling than because I really don't want him to be "Adar," so...

Balrog Believer Gang Assemble!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Fellowship of the Fans had video a few days ago in which he speculates on The Stranger's identity, including the possibility that he is Durin's Bane. He didn't seem too impressed with the possibility. Which to me is a vote in favor!

[Stranger Wings]

Yeah, I'm not certain of this, but it makes far more sense than the Gandalf theory. And my fondness for Sauron!Stranger is less because I think the idea is compelling than because I really don't want him to be "Adar," so...

Balrog Believer Gang Assemble!

Veritas Valaraukar!

[Stranger Wings]

Daniel Weyman slips again? From a recent interview with Fandom:

“It’s fantastic that so many people out there have such ownership of this material, that they understand the nuances and the finer detail that they’re able to extrapolate what we’ve given them and turn it into really well-rounded arguments as to why a character might be such and such person or such and such a being.”

Why say such and such a being, hm?

https://gamingwiki.cyou/read-https-www. ... er-details

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think your theory has taken a big hit with the new clip.

"Even stone cannot hide the mark of one whose very hand is flame unquenched."

The Stranger is Sauron.

[Stranger Wings]

I think your theory has taken a big hit with the new clip.

"Even stone cannot hide the mark of one whose very hand is flame unquenched."

The Stranger is Sauron.

Maybe! But I still think this would be far too obvious. My guess is that The Stranger is a misdirect (and he'll end up being the balrog or a Blue Wiazard), while someone more subtle will turn out to be Sauron.

Also, if the mark was made by Sauron recently, what's Sauron doing as a flaming meteor with amnesia? What's caused him to suddenly lose his memory, and go from a sorcerer performing dark arts in an evil tower, to hurtling across the sky naked?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Who the hell knows? I sure don't.

Going to watch the clip now. And then the interview with Clarke.

[Stranger Wings]

Who the hell knows? I sure don't.

Going to watch the clip now. And then the interview with Clarke.

Your delayed response has me worried that there's an epic novella of a rant a' brewing about Sauron's presence in Middle Earth not yet having been discovered at this point in the Second Age (whatever point we're at...).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Nah. I loved pretty much everything about the clip, particularly how obviously personal it is for Galadriel. If there is one thing that I am most impressed with in the hints of the storyline that we have seen, it is that they are using Finrod's death as a motivating factor.

[Stranger Wings]

Nah. I loved pretty much everything about the clip, particularly how obviously personal it is for Galadriel. If there is one thing that I am most impressed with in the hints of the storyline that we have seen, it is that they are using Finrod's death as a motivating factor.

Phew! And yeah. I honestly still can't believe that the name Finrod is being used in a TV show. If I travel back in time and tell my young self that Finrod is in a TV show, he will laugh at me.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

FB_IMG_1660506305839.jpg (23.55 KiB) Viewed 1159 times

[Stranger Wings]

FB_IMG_1660506305839.jpg

No wings. Yet…

[Dave_LF]

I mean it wouldn't be the first time, right?
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(I suppose this has all been gone over ad nauseam on that other board, huh?)

[Dave_LF]

(I originally posted this in the soundtrack thread, but moved it here after my one-sided musings led to the realization that this is where it belongs)

I kind of LIKE the idea of the Stranger turning out to be Durin's bane--it's would be surprising, different, and interesting--but I admit it's also a priori unlikely for basically the same reasons. And having listened to the soundtrack a few times through now, I think the fact that the uplifting Wise One opens with the Stranger's theme shifted into a major key provides a not-so-subtle clue that he is actually some sort of good wizard. Maybe one of the Istari we all know and love arriving too early, or maybe some sort of fanfic second-age equivalent (who says each age didn't get its own contingent?). There's plenty of uncertainty, but that's where I'd place my bet today.

[Alatar]

Has anyone considered that it might be Olórin?

[Dave_LF]

I haven't followed the news very closely, but I did read that someone asked the production that question at one point, and the answer was to remember that Gandalf isn't the only being in that class (or something to that effect).

Edit: StangerWings referred to that exchange earlier:

4: He is likely (IMO) not an Istari, as the showrunners have to adhere to the big events described in canon, and the wizards are not supposed to have arrived until the Third Age (though there’s some ambiguity about the timing of the arrival of the Blue Wizards - in one version Tolkien has them appear in Middle Earth in the Second Age - so there’s a tiny chance it could be one of them…). But he’s almost certainly a Maiar, as the showrunners have noted - when asked if he was Gandalf - that there are others of Gandalf’s “class” out there. Maiar, essentially. (NOTE: I think the blue wizard theory is the most compelling competing theory).

[Dave_LF]

Argh; but then "The Stranger" is back and sounding sinister again in both True Creation Requires Sacrifice and Where the Shadows Lie (I misidentified this theme until today, which is why I'm only realizing this now. It has a waltzy/dreamy quality the first time we hear it, but has turned downright creepy by the beginning of Where the Shadows Lie). So maybe he's in fact Sauron, and maybe the "Wise One" is the wise old hobbit who says no to what he was offering...

[Eldy]

After watching the first two episodes, I think the Stranger is almost certainly not Sauron. Possibly an Istar, but the Balrog theory remains attractive.

[Dave_LF]

Ironically, the hints that he’s Sauron are so unsubtle that it would be almost insulting if they turned out to be true.

I did note that he appeared to come flying out of Valinor at the exact moment that the curtain opened to admit the ship of heroes.