Gandalf, formerly known as The Stranger, is one of the main characters of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He is a mysterious individual who arrived in Middle-earth via meteorite and was found by two young Harfoots: Nori Brandyfoot and her best friend, Poppy Proudfellow. Gandalf is portrayed by Daniel Weyman, first appearing in the episode "A Shadow of the Past".
Official Description[]
An enigmatic figure of unknown origins who struggles to remember his own identity. He wields mysterious powers that may prove dangerous to those around him.
Biography[]
Arrival on Middle-earth[]
The Stranger arrives on Middle-earth as a blazing comet, impacting in the wilds of Rhovanion near a community of Harfoots. He is found in the middle of a large, flaming impact crater.[2]
Nori Brandyfoot and her friend Poppy Proudfellow transported the Stranger in a wheelbarrow to safety for the night. Nori returned in the morning to find the Stranger had awakened. He was startled by her and used his power over the wind which scared her. She shouted that she was the girl from last night who helped him, and he recognized her eyes. They made a deal to not harm each other, with him mimicking her gestures and words as he could not communicate openly with her. She introduced herself as Nori and he mistakenly repeated it as his name, so she gave up on introductions. She asked him a myriad of questions that he couldn't answer. He instead frantically drew lines in the dirt that she couldn't decipher. He briefly met Poppy when she came to tell Nori of an incident with her father.[3]
Nori and Poppy found the Stranger that evening using firefly lanterns. Nori was emotional as she felt she couldn't help him even though she wanted too very badly. He communicated with the fireflies to make them form a constellation. Nori realized he wanted their help in finding those stars, and had an idea of where to look.[3]
Nori stole pages from Sadoc's Star-book and delivered them to the Stranger. He ventured to the Harfoot camp to read the pages over a fire, but the pages went up in flames. He panicked and when he couldn't put it out, he tripped and fell into the camp, where the community celebrated the Harvest Festival. He scared the Harfoots until he called out for Nori. He watched from a distance as she was reprimanded for befriending him.[4]
Nori and the other Harfoots began their migration to the Grove. However, the Brandyfoot's struggled to keep up because of Largo's injury. The Stranger emerged from behind the cart and Nori realized he was the answer to their problem - they would help each other.[4]
The Stranger's support throughout the journey was immense, though the rest of the Harfoots weren't convinced that allowing the Stranger to stay was the right decision. Nori continued to teach him phrases and good from bad. He worried he was peril, but she insisted he was good which was impactful for him. The Harfoots were attacked by a wolf pack, but the Stranger rescued them when he channeled his power over wind to knock the wolves away. He injured his arm and retreated to a puddle where he soaked his arm. Nori found him and heard him mutter in a foreign language, which caused the water and his arm to freezing a healing art. She tried to free him and became frozen herself. He accidentally knocked her away which scared her. He went to check on her, but she ran away from him.[5]
The tribe soon arrived at The Grove but were devastated to see it in ruins as a result of a nearby volcanic eruption. Sadoc turned to the Stranger for help, in hopes he could use his power to restore the Grove to its once plentiful ways. The Stranger tried, but ultimately broke an apple tree branch that nearly harmed Dilly. As a result, the Harfoots asked the Stranger to leave, sending him toward Greenwood to find other big folk. Nori gifted him an apple for his journey. In the morning, the Harfoots awakened to a bountiful harvest, the Stranger's magic having worked to give them a harvest like no other. The Mystics arrived in search of the Stranger, and tracked his magic to the Grove. Nori intercepted them in an attempt to lead them astray from the Stranger's path, but they lashed out at the tribe and burned their crops. Nori refused to let her friend be put in danger, so she, Sadoc, Goldie, and Poppy followed their ally.[6]
The Stranger was found by the Mystics who convinced him that he was the Dark Lord Sauron who had returned to enslave all living things in Middle-earth. They pledged their loyalties to him as Sauron's followers. They implanted visions of him harming Nori in an attempt to sway him from the good he found with the Harfoots. They hoped his true memories would return and he would gain more control of his powers, while could lead them to greatness. They insisted he knew of where to go as it was inside him all along, and he showed them the star map from Sadoc's book. They confirmed the constellations were the Hermit's Hat and existed far to the East where the stars were strange, the Rhûn. It was in Rhûn that he was meant to learn to control his powers and enslave every being. He lashed out against them as he didn't want to be the peril, but he was overpowered. Nori and the Harfoots arrived and, as a fight ensued between the groups, Nori had to convince a broken and rather distraught Stranger that he was good and could make his own fate. He took up the Mystics staff and used it to banish them back to the shadows from which they came. As they vanished, they remarked he was "the other one, the Istar". The Stranger merely remarked that he was "good".[1]
Once returned to the Grove, the Stranger and Nori shared a moment on the cliffs as he decided to pursue the journey to Rhûn. He hoped to discover more about himself. Nori asked what "Istar" meant, and he translated it to "wise one" or "wizard". She had enough adventure as any Harfoot could hope for, and planned to return to her people. Largo had another idea and gave her a sack to carry with her on her new life. Goldie knew the Stranger needed Nori and that her daughter was part of something bigger now, belonging out there and not wandering with them. Nori joined the Stranger on top of the hill, where they both realized they had no clue of which way to go. The Stranger chose on a direction because the air smelled sweeter in that direction. He reminded her that, when in doubt, to always follow her nose. Together they started off on their new adventure together as the Harfoots headed in the opposite direction.[1]
Travelling East[]
The Stranger and Nori continued to travel into the east, although their journey was not an easy one. He was troubled by dreams, of an ever-changing branch under the stars he sought out, along with glimpses of an elderly man and a powerful dust storm. During the day, the heat grew as they walked, and the pair soon ran out of food. It also appeared that they were lost, going around in circles, although the Stranger believed that there was a evil on the land confusing their path. Nori convinced the Stranger to use his power on a tree in an attempt to make fruit grow, but he lost control and the tree exploded. Nevertheless, the explosion unearthed a large number of insects, enough for the pair to eat for the next few days. Nori attempted to get the Stranger to talk about the dreams he was having, believing that they might be the key to what they were searching for. The Stranger recounted some of it, but not all, believing somethings were not meant to be uttered. They talked of Nori missing home, and the Stranger admitted that he too missed his home. Despite not remembering it, he had glimpses of it and felt a longing for it. As they talked, they soon realised that they were being followed.[7]
Setting a trap, the Stranger and Nori captured their pursuer, finding out that it was Poppy Proudfellow. She had consulted Sadoc's old book and found that Harfoots had wandered the same way a long time ago and had left a warning: "Not to forget the words to the song, or you’ll just go round in circles." Realizing that the walkin' song was the clue to stop them from getting lost, the Stranger and his companions headed east and crossed into the lands of Rhûn.[7]
Personality and Traits[]
The Stranger suffered from a lack of memory, so he had to try to find his role from the bits he could piece together.[1] Desperate to remember, he took to scratching star signs on stones and the ground. The Stranger was initially very fearful, panicked by any people showing up. He also regretted when his powers killed fireflies by making them form a map.[3] Despite his fears, he had a strong sense that he should help others, working to move the Brandyfoot cart since it was his fault they were put at the back.[4] He was a cautious fellow and wanted to make sure that he did not harm the innocent. He feared and regretted when he accidently hurt animals when he was still trying to remember what to do, but clung to the understanding that he needed to do what was right and act well. When Hobbits were endangered, he was quick to fight for them.[5] The Stranger loved nature and was appaled to see the grove blasted with Orodruin's ejection. He agreed to use his powers to fix the trees, but when his miscast (and the delayed result of the growth) made the Harfoots mad, he accepted his exile from their group. He was sad to go and deeply touched that Nori gave him some food.[6]
Powers and Abilities[]
The Stranger, being a wizard, had a wide range of magical powers.[1] After he landed in Middle-earth in his meteor, when Nori poked him, he woke up for a moment, chanting and harnessing the warmthless fire of his impact site into a greater blaze and making rocks and wood around himself float; then he gasped, absorbed the flame and made his eyes glow, and then it rushed out. The Stranger promptly passed out and released the power, letting the objects fall. The next day, he heard whispers when he looked at his handywork, a starmap carved in stone, which intensified when he used his powers on reflex. Then, when Nori surprised him, he screamed, calling a wind so powerful it bent and nearly snapped several trees and filling their meeting place with shadows. He may have shattered a rope and then broken a Harrfoot's foot without even meaning to as he scribed a starmap in the dirt and his chant of Mana Úrë, also making more of the whispers that haunted him. He could excite fireflies in a lantern with his mind, making the go wild and break out, thereupon, he spoke to them and had some form a map of a constellation, but the strain of being commanded killed the critters.[3] He was physically quite strong, ripping up a blanket and dragging a cart as part of a journey,[4] including helping the Brandyfoots pull their cart of a bog at Grey Marsh.[5] When a pack of Wargs attacked his friends, he grabbed one and threw it. After this, he made wind blast, throwing them end over end away, driving them off. However, he bruised his arm while casting the spell. To heal, he placed his forearm in a pool of water and went into a trance, chanting a spell that made ice flow from the water an form on his arm. Then he withdrew his arm from the ice pool, healed. However, Nori had place her hand on his arm, so she was knocked a few feet back when the spell ended.[5] Allegedly he could talk to a tree. At the grove, he tried to use his powers to repair the natural ruin from a volcano stone burning the trees. While he was able to make a tree bloom with new life and shake off the ash, he lost control and make a branch fall off, nearly crushing two Hobbits. Only a single flower grew from the tree that afternoon. The next day, however, his magic had taken root and helped the trees yield a grand bounty.[6]
Equipment[]
The Stranger wore a crude robe formed from a blanket.[3] He briefly used the Dweller's magic staff before destroying it.[1]