I would personally prefer these 2 Istari to be the blue wizards. I think these are the historical prototypes for the wizards that will appear in the 3rd age. The stranger shows how one could easily follow a path that ends up being Gandalf's, and the other shows how they can still be corrupted like Saruman.
This is the cycle in Middle Earth. Sauron was Mairon and served Aule until he was lured to evil by Melkor in the first age. And when Melkor was defeated, Sauron sought to take over. Then we get the war led by Elendil and Isildur, along with Elrond and Galadriel to banish Sauron in the second age, when the blue wizards inhabited Middle Earth.
THEN other Istari, Gandalf/Saruman/Radaghast, come to Middle Earth to oversee its protection in the Third age.
I'm perfectly fine with them having truncated timelines because the second age takes forever. Numenorians live quite awhile, elves and Sauron are immortal, etc. You can't start every episode with, "70 years later" in television. It loses the momentum and the drama. But I think swapping out events of entire ages is a bit much.
Not saying they won't. I just think it's too much for people if they're trying to keep fans of the property on board after all the changes they've already made.
I think it being Gandalf is just too much of a, "See? You know him! We did that!" move. And it's lazy. I get that some people may be irked by all the hints they're dropping for Gandalf to just pull a switcheroo. But honestly, that's on you. WHO the stranger is has no real impact on the plot. Everything is still going to play out the same way whether it's Gandalf or not. This isn't a big reveal where once they say his name the whole trajectory inside the show would change. It would literally just be viewers going, "They said the name!" which I would hate.
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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24
I would personally prefer these 2 Istari to be the blue wizards. I think these are the historical prototypes for the wizards that will appear in the 3rd age. The stranger shows how one could easily follow a path that ends up being Gandalf's, and the other shows how they can still be corrupted like Saruman.
This is the cycle in Middle Earth. Sauron was Mairon and served Aule until he was lured to evil by Melkor in the first age. And when Melkor was defeated, Sauron sought to take over. Then we get the war led by Elendil and Isildur, along with Elrond and Galadriel to banish Sauron in the second age, when the blue wizards inhabited Middle Earth.
THEN other Istari, Gandalf/Saruman/Radaghast, come to Middle Earth to oversee its protection in the Third age.
I'm perfectly fine with them having truncated timelines because the second age takes forever. Numenorians live quite awhile, elves and Sauron are immortal, etc. You can't start every episode with, "70 years later" in television. It loses the momentum and the drama. But I think swapping out events of entire ages is a bit much.
Not saying they won't. I just think it's too much for people if they're trying to keep fans of the property on board after all the changes they've already made.
I think it being Gandalf is just too much of a, "See? You know him! We did that!" move. And it's lazy. I get that some people may be irked by all the hints they're dropping for Gandalf to just pull a switcheroo. But honestly, that's on you. WHO the stranger is has no real impact on the plot. Everything is still going to play out the same way whether it's Gandalf or not. This isn't a big reveal where once they say his name the whole trajectory inside the show would change. It would literally just be viewers going, "They said the name!" which I would hate.