Who is the Dark Wizard in Rings of Power? New villain unveiled!

[@Branfaol1]

In the Amazon, the Blue could have failed one betraying the other. The Remaining dark wizard being a survivor.

[@chestfullosixes5808]

I am under the impression that this dark wizard is Khamul the Easterling as he was a powerful sorcerer and King prior to receiving one of the rings... He was known for dark sorcery.

[@dustin9289]

I like the idea of the duality of the two blue wizards, but I would also be annoyed at how they've very clearly set up the Stranger to be Gandalf--not a blue wizard. Maybe the other blue wizard is in another realm, like to the south (which is still east).

[@MaesterEamon]

The Gandalf stuff could just be misdirection, which they've already been using to excess elsewhere. At the very least I hope they never reveal it and let people just think what they want.

[@BobbyT9913]

It's going to be Saruman which really undermines the LOTR and hobbit movies.

[@MaesterEamon]

Yeah I have a bad feeling this will be correct. Instead of Saruman being turned to evil we'll just get a 'Saruman was already evil 4000 years ago and we all somehow forgot' retcon that makes 0 sense.

[@Shadowman820]

It should also be said that according to Tolkien Saruman did in fact first travel to the east of Middle Earth as well and only later returned to the West , that is canon in Tolkien's writing .

[@TheTimelessVault]

Great video, keep up the good work 👍

[@Watermelon_Man92]

I was initially thinking it was the Witch King of Angmar, but it looks like it's Saruman. Saruman's dark origins were never fully understood so it's acceptable, but I think Christopher Lee would have been irritated.

[@MaesterEamon]

He didn't have 'dark origins' though, he turned to to evil through study of Ring-Lore and exposure to the Palantir.

[@GeorgeMasterclass]

There are alot of things left unsaid in the Silmarilion. Such as the fate of the blue wizards. Who are deemed a lost cause. Its a wise choice making them vilains.

[@MaesterEamon]

Yeah, I think the show is doing much better with filling in the blanks around these 'things left unsaid' than it is when working with the main storyline.

[@pedropomponet7654]

If they didn't called the dark wizard a ishtari it could very easily fit in the lore of one of the weaker maiar that served melkor and survived the last battle incarnating in a weaker human body . If i remember correctly it was said that other maiar that weren't turned into balrogs or aren't sauron were present in melkor court , so it would still fit in the lore , since we dont know much about the lore of the forging of the rinfs era

[@majscrap2629]

Since Sauron, Gandalf, Radagast et al. Are Miar, then yes, they knew each other. Sauron always brought crappy side dishes to the Aniur pot luck pic nics. Used to piss off Sauruman something fierce.

[@abudia6403]

A movie of this duo would be great but it should be as accurate as possible to Tolkien's writings.

[@MaesterEamon]

The Blue Wizards? The thing is Tolkien wrote barely anything about them so it would've been the perfect opportunity for the RIngs of Power writers to have free reign with storytelling without treading dog shit all over the carpet of Tolkien's work.

[@Timo-nc2nw]

Actually they got additional rights to different characters. Including all five istari. They have rights to use blue Wizards

[@MaesterEamon]

do you have a source for this? I did notice that they seemed to be referencing characters / names this season that weren't within the scope of LotR + appendices.

[@emiltiwaz1022]

Ciaran Hinds was very cast as the dark wizard. Perfect for the role. He looks almost like Christopher Lee as Saruman. On the other hand, Tom Bombadil was very poorly cast. Casting a 40+ actor was a very disappointing choice. There are a lot of senior actors who would fit the role perfectly. Brian Blessed would be my first choice. But if he's "too old" at 87, younger actors like Derek Jacobi, Danny De Vito, James Cosmo, or Brendan Gleeson would have been perfect.

[@DouglasBull-i6w]

Rop is qlan abomination and im not anal over things being absokute to canon.But they completly destroyed it.only istaris was galdalf saromon birdcrap hair and tge two blues

[@raulchagas5061]

It is Alatar!

[@Alex-qj8si]

What do you think the roar was? Dragon maybe?

[@MaesterEamon]

which roar?

[@beng1lh00ly]

I think he is saruman

[@WonderingDisneyParks]

2 nd blue wizard daaaaas evil one! 1st or 2nd is the stranger. Read the books!

[@AdvancedBot-ht1bc]

Hes not istari, hes witch king of angmar.

[@MaesterEamon]

They literally said he is Istar.

[@j.s.2767]

he might be the witch king

[@martijnvankatwijk6846]

witch king . I think he is the witch king .it is not a real wizard like Gandalf seen to that he needs stuff like blood to cast a spell. Not out of his own its more likely its a man know to dark magic . With could be when he gets a ring from Sauron could be the Witch king i really hope so

[@MaesterEamon]

I think it could've been a nice plot idea if they hadn't explicitly stated that he was an Istar. It would be like someone saying there's a dragon under Moria and then revealing it as a Balrog later.

[@jackconway7918]

Can’t be the witch king is from numenor and two others of the Nazgûl’s also

[@blake714]

The Stranger is 100% Gandalf. they have been developing that to the point its known who he is without actually saying it. The Dark Wizard could very well be a blue wizard gone bad but he is giving Saruman vibes. while it would be wrong for it to be a bad Saruman at this point in time, i feel that is the route they are going

[@MaesterEamon]

they were developing him being Sauron in the first season to the point that they literally called him Sauron. They use misdirection at every opportunity to try to create interest. I think they want to create the idea that he is Gandalf for those who want to think it without totally committing to it (also because they can't legally refer to Blue Wizards).

[@blake714]

@@MaesterEamon they didnt develop him to be Sauron at all. it was the mistake of the cultist to think it was him. everything points to Gandalf

[@MaesterEamon]

There were a number of mentions in the lead up eg. linking 'the return of Sauron' to the meteor. The evidence for Gandalf is...recycling a line from the movie, and using the word 'gand' (it means wand). The evidence against is everything Tolkien ever wrote. Not saying Amazon won't just choose to disregard everything Tolkien ever wrote, but there are many reasons it would be a bad idea.

[@blake714]

@@MaesterEamon they are doing fan service and you know it. this dude is Gandalf and im willing to bet just because of his character design alone and again, fan service, the Dark wizard will be Saruman. how they play that out with him going bad so early and then somehow being "good" till the lead up of the events of LOTR will be interesting but yeah. i think i can safely bet Saruman and Gandalf are the 2 Istari in here.

[@MaesterEamon]

would call that more 'I have heard the name Gandalf before'-service than fan service.

[@TheJosep70]

I'm pretty sure he'll be revealed as Merlin, this is RoP after all.

[@MaesterEamon]

Preferable to him being Saruman or a ringwraith tbh

[@Quentof]

Maybe he is a young version of Saruman or maybe one of the blue wizards

[@MaesterEamon]

Saruman wouldn't make much sense, since this guy is already publicly evil, and Saruman goes on to be selected to lead the White Council against Sauron, and is still 'good' up until his betrayal in Lord of the Rings. But lots of stuff in the show doesn't make much sense, so anything's possible I guess 😅

[@echo-1487]

I think it's not one of the 5 Istari we know, but rather a sole Maiar that were first sent to Middle-Earth prior to the Istari and after they're failure Valar sent Maiar from those who were truly loyal to their cause and chose the Istari - Olorin, Kurunir, Allatar, Pallando, Aiwendil

[@Quentof]

@@echo-1487 Wow that explains a lot

[@MaesterEamon]

@@echo-1487 they literally called him an Istar though. Maiar and Istari are not the same thing and there were only 5 Istari. Not to say that Amazon can't just trash the lore of course, but I don't think they want to do it that blatantly.

[@poppletop8331]

@@MaesterEamon Please can you explain why in the books Gandalf is Maiar and Istari? Was he Maiar when he was with the Valar, then Istari when he arrived in Middle Earth? Thanks in advance.

[@atupelejuma8044]

Dark wizard is salomman the white stranger is gandolf the grey

[@saga3826]

Who cares? This show is pure shit!

[@chestfullosixes5808]

Better than nothing... obviously not a Bombadil FAN...

[@sauriel2014]

@chestfullosixes5808 that ain't Bombadil at all. Amazon wrecked his character and he straight up copied Treebeard telling the trees to go back to sleep word for word. This is a creatively dead show and any video speculating about lore is coping just like the acolyte fans did before that show failed. Lore was not in their minds making this show. Clearly they missed the clip of Peter jackson saying "we didnt want to put our agenda in lotr." Because this trash is littered with DEI nonsense and their own views. What's nuts? Middle earth had diversity already. When you force it where there wasn't to tick a box it's painfully obvious. The show lost half of its viewers from the first season and it's only going to go downhill from here. Mark my words: there won't be a season 3 after this gets done losing money.

[@sauriel2014]

@@harryjones5478 We care that it fails, that's what we care about. This is an insult to tolkien's legacy, just like the acolyte was an insult to star wars. Guess what? People didn't watch the Acolyte, and it failed. But what they did do was comment on videos like this to help drown out the few shills that liked it. (If you like Rings of power you've either never watched Jackson's LOTR or you have but you don't know anything about Tolkien beyond those three movies.) I'm not sure how ROP made a second season, its first season did not do well, and from what I understand season 2 has even few people viewing it. I fully expect there to be no season 3. The only thing ROP will be remembered for is a cautionary tale on how NOT to handle a beloved IP, this will go down as the most expensive flop in TV history.

[@sauriel2014]

I got three words for you to answer this: No one cares.

[@MaesterEamon]

yet here you are 🤡

[@sauriel2014]

@MaesterEamon this video appeared in my suggestions for some reason and i dont miss a chance to crap on ROP. I care about the entertainment coming from watching the KZbin videos bashing it and shilling for it as the ratings plummet. I'm here to see it fail, that's what I care about. You thinking there's some deep lore behind the Amazon show is funny to me. It smacks of the acolyte fans who were all speculating about lore before that show failed so badly for disrespecting the lore and got canceled. I'm shocked season 2 got made. There won't be a season 3

[@MaesterEamon]

there is deep lore behind the Amazon show though, they paid $250 million for it. It's just a matter of whether they actually choose to use it.

[@sauriel2014]

@MaesterEamon oh yes there is! My goodness I love the second age. I know all about it...rings of power is utterly wasting it. I was excited about ROP when it was announced until I saw that it was Amazon doing it.

[@mohamadalzaghari2338]

Its the Necromancer, who is himself later revealed to be Sauron.

[@D-Thang_]

Sauron is in Eregion...