The Rings of Power’s return to the Second Age of Middle-earth does not totally cut off its connection to The Lord of the Rings. Of course, characters like Sauron and Galadriel are all there andaccounted for (which is not surprising considering how long they live), but The Rings of Power season 2 might see the arrival of a significant character from Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s film trilogy.
A 20-second teaser released on social media (which you can see for yourself below) briefly shows Ciaran Hinds’ unnamed wizard character, complete with some familiar markings on his beard that have sparked an intriguing fan theory.
“Saruman?” one tweeted, echoing the thoughts of many who reached a similar conclusion. The wizard, most famously played in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy by Sir Christopher Lee, is the leader of the Istari, who is later corrupted by his overuse of the palantir.
Others, though, point to Tolkien lore – namely, Saruman didn’t ‘turn’ evil until the Third Age – as a reason why Hinds’ role could actually be one of two Blue Wizards. As we know from Tolkien’s works, the pair set about disrupting Sauron’s grasp for power in the east of Middle-earth while Gandalf and Saruman remained in the west.
In any event, the new character will undoubtedly have a significant impact on Middle-earth’s history and lore as well as The Rings of Power season 2.
When the show returns in August, there might be more than one wizard knocking around when you combine that with Daniel Weyman’s Stranger wandering Middle-earth.
“Of all the characters we’ve seen so far, I think we know him best,” Weyman told Collider, perhaps hinting at the long-running theory that the Stranger is Gandalf. “Do we need his name at this point? I don’t know.”
