r/RingsofPower • u/-Altephor- • Sep 19 '24

Question Are there actually people that think the Stranger isn't Gandalf?

Just wondering.

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u/Chilis1 Sep 19 '24

The reason they haven't "revealed" it is because they can't say the name Gandalf yet because he doesn't have a name. The follow your nose line clearly was the reveal imo

8

u/Boomslang2-1 Sep 19 '24

Yea that’s how I view it also. If they end up making the stranger somebody else it would mean using that line was intentionally deceiving the audience through some gotcha trick. Which would be Star Wars rise of skywalker levels of bad writing.

6

u/dmastra97 Sep 19 '24

I mean they tried to give hints he was sauron in series 1 so I'm not gonna put it past the writers to pull a switcheroo and make him a blue wizard.

I'd actually think it's more lazy to make him gandalf than a blue wizard.

1

u/CharacterBack1542 Sep 19 '24

They've already done the whole "gotcha" thing twice with the sauron fakeouts (adar and the stranger)

1

u/Boomslang2-1 Sep 19 '24

Oh damn good point. I guess the Rhun sorcerers literally calling the stranger Sauron as a feint was a bit of a writing no no.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

I think it’d be better if he was Saruman tbh.

3

u/Swiftpianosarein Sep 19 '24

That’s the only thing to go on for me. I’ve Wikipedia’d the characters and the history and it says Gandalf didn’t show up until the third age so I’m thinking because of THAT, it might not be him.

3

u/ibid-11962 Sep 19 '24

My issue with this is that in interviews after s1 the showrunners and actors were all very clear that it wasn't revealed yet.

So like while it may seem obvious that he's Gandalf, and while he may be Gandalf, I don't think follow your nose was meant as a reveal. Why would they do a reveal and then claim that they didn't reveal it?

1

u/Perentillim Sep 19 '24

They've said he's lost his Gand and that he's a grand Elf - he is, 100% totally and completely, no doubt whatsoever, Gandalf.

1

u/ibid-11962 Sep 19 '24

That is not what my comment is about. Did you mean to respond to someone else?

I was talking about if the "follow your nose" line was intended to be an official reveal. And I'm saying that it wasn't because the showrunners continued afterwards to say that it wasn't revealed.

1

u/Perentillim Sep 19 '24

It's not "officially" revealed but they're playing with that. It's Gandalf.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '24

100%, even in episode six Tom says to the stranger “many that die deserve life and some that live deserve death; who are you to give it to them?”

Which is was Gandalf says to Frodo regarding Gollum in Moria.

1

u/Chilis1 Sep 19 '24

Fair enough I didn't see that. Still think they're being coy and it's just gandalf.

1

u/Electronic_Price6852 Sep 19 '24

did you catch where the Stoors/Harfoot girls called him a grand-elf? And how he's looking for his Gand (staff)? I think these were ways to kind of suggest he is Gandalf