@movie_nazi said:

If this is about the original rings of power then this should be taking place in the second age. In Episode 2 they are introducing, which I can only deduce is the first of the Istari (wizards), with the dude falling from the sky. The Wizards do not make an appearance until the third age making this about a couple of thousands years too early?

That is what I remember too.

One possible explanation for this discrepancy is posted below.

I expect this series about the Second Age to have many more changes to cannon that will affect the history and lore of Tolkien Mythology. As Amazon now owns part of the IP, they and their writers reserve the right to make any changes that fit their narrative.

Excerpt from Is THE RINGS OF POWER’s Stranger a Character We’ve Met Before?:

Is The Rings of Powers‘ Stranger a Wizard?

By the start of the Third Age, the Valar had separated Aman from the physical world. So wizards came to Middle-earth from the sky. (Repeat: from the sky.) The Valar sent them to assure the world the Valar had not forsaken Middle-earth nor its people in their renewed fight against the returning Sauron. One wizard above all aided Middle-earth in defeating Sauron for good before returning to reclaim his place in Aman.

The confused old man Nori miraculously found in a field of fire where the comet crashed—millennia before wizards arrived during an entirely different age—possesses many of the same powers wizards had.

What are the Stranger’s Powers on The Rings of Power?

The paranoid, strange, easy to anger Stranger arrived nearly naked and acting erratically. He survived his crash but doesn’t remember how to fully communicate. Yet he’s still incredibly powerful. He’s unquestionably far more skilled than any race of Middle-earth. He can move things with his mind. And his scream, which turned the world dark, doesn’t just shake everything around him. That terrifying, inhuman roar seems capable of destruction.

He’s also impervious to fire. The flames from his comet didn’t harm him. No surprise then he can pull flames into himself and snuff them out without injury. He also took Nori and Poppy’s fireflies and controlled them to form stars in the sky. Unfortunately that also killed all the fireflies, which is one ability that should frighten everyone on Middle-earth. The Stranger can suck the life from livings things, though he did not take joy in killing the fireflies. Either that was unintended or a sacrifice required to use his magic. But because he’s not fully in control of himself or his abilities, he is paranoid and scared.

So is the Stranger a wizard? He has more in common with the Istari than any creature ever born on Middle-earth. And Poppy realized he’s no man or elf, but “something else.”

What Is the Stranger Trying to Tell Nori?

Like Nori, we don’t yet know what the Stranger is trying to communicate. What did those drawings on the rock mean? (They looked like runes.) What about the lines in the dirt? Are they a map? Also, what word was he repeating and why? And what was the significance of the constellation he highlighted with fireflies? We don’t know yet, either. But if nothing else, the Stranger clearly finds meaning in the sky where he came from.

But we can do something Nori can’t – we can also find meaning in both his size and appearance. Nori’s “giant” friend wears a tattered grey robe, has a long grey beard, and long grey hair. This powerful being sent by the Valar—who came from the sky, is impervious to fire, and has powers of a wizard—really loves the color grey.

And there’s only one figure in all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth that fits that description – Gandalf the Grey.

Is The Rings of Powers‘ the Stranger Actually Gandalf?

Tolkien’s unofficial notes for his fantasy world say that the two Blue Wizards (of the five) sent during the Third Age (Alatar and Pallando) had previously come to Middle-earth during the Second Age. So it’s possible wizards first came to Middle-earth long before anyone realized. Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales also says wizards “had need to learn much anew by slow experience” when they came to Middle-earth. The Maiar’s transformation into a physical body and trip seem to leave them confused initially.

We also know Gandalf—whose name among the Maiar is Olórin—occasionally walked among the Elves in disguise. So if he ever came to Middle-earth previously they might not have even known the shapeshifter’s real identity and purpose.

Gandalf, like the Stranger, also had a special relationship with fire. It could not injure him and he could create it from nothing to light torches with magic. Ultimately he also bore Narya, the Elvish ring of fire. Gandalf, who wrote on Bilbo’s door in runes, also talked to bugs. And when the One Ring tempted him, the world turned dark as he screamed at Bilbo and Frodo. Just as the Stranger did when Nori frightened him.

The otherworldly voices the Stranger heard also sounded a lot like the voice of Sauron Frodo heard when he put on the One Ring. And like Gandalf, Sauron is one of the Maiar.

But the connections between the two go even further. Gandalf the Grey died in The Fellowship of the Ring. His Maiar spirit did not depart Middle-earth for long. Ilúvatar sent a naked Olórin back to fight Sauron. Despite now being another entity entirely (but with the same spirit), the wizard let his former companions call him Gandalf again, only this time he was Gandalf the White. However, at first he did not even remember the name Gandalf. It took a few days for Olórin to piece everything together in his mind.

And what did he do when he first returned naked to the world? “There I lay staring upward” from a mountaintop he said, “While the stars wheeled over, and each day was as long as a life-age of the earth.” Like the Stranger, Gandalf looked to the stars for guidance. That might be because both had the same mission on Middle-earth.

Of course, it doesn't have to be Gandalf. It could be one of the other four Istari. Or even one of the many other Maiar. I don't think it's a Valar, that's too high up.

Amazon had PLENTY of room to make up their own narratives about the second age without bringing in things that clearly go against the original lore. So yeah, I guess they can go with "Well," this isn't a REAL wizard, this is a proto-wizard so there! NYAH! 😝" . But seriously why even bring that in? Tolkien had no wizards or wizard like beings in the second age so just leave it at that. I think this is the kinda stuff that gets the hard core fan base all pissy. Tolkien left a lot about the second age completely blank. You got plenty to work with people.

Yes. Next are probably the kings and queens of Númenor. And there aren't any female Nazgûl, but I won't be surprised if there will be at least one. A Witch-Queen of Angmar instead of a Witch-King? They won't dare.

@wonder2wonder said:

Yes. Next are probably the kings and queens of Númenor. And there aren't any female Nazgûl, but I won't be surprised if there will be at least one. A Witch-Queen of Angmar instead of a Witch-King? They won't dare.

Na. Women are only portrayed as the ultimate perfection of goodness and if they do something evil well gosh darn it they had it coming! 😜