• Homepage
• Massachusetts
• When the Stranger’s identity is revealed in The Rings of Power, a Tolkien professor insists that The Lord of the Rings canon does not exist

Massachusetts

When the Stranger’s identity is revealed in The Rings of Power, a Tolkien professor insists that The Lord of the Rings canon does not exist

Idris Bevan Posted on October 4, 2024

Perhaps to no surprise, the stranger is Gandalf, the Lord of the Rings’ most famous wizard. But how is it that Gandalf is roaming Middle-earth in the Second Age (the time in which The Rings of Power is set) even though, according to The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf and the other wizards only arrived in Middle-earth as a part? from their anti-Sauron support mission in the Third Age?

In a story-focused interview published by Prime Video, Dr. Corey Olsen, also known as “The Tolkien Professor,” on this most vociferous debate. According to Dr. According to Olsen, there is no Tolkien canon, and that is because Tolkien himself continued to reconsider his world building even after his books were published.

“The first thing that needs to be made clear is that there is actually no canon in Tolkien,” emphasized Dr. Olsen. “Tolkien’s ideas were constantly evolving.”

Dr. Olsen went on to say that Tolkien considered adjusting Middle-earth’s timeline after the fact and “playing around” with the idea of ​​Gandalf and his fellow Istari arriving in the Second Age and thus taking part in the Wars of the Rings of Power. So it’s this suggestion that the showrunners are leaning on when it comes to Gandalf’s appearance in the series – if Tolkien had been thinking about his most important wizard in the Second Age, perhaps it would be perfectly fine to imagine a Middle-earth story with that consideration to introduce.

Here is Dr. Olsen:

“In the text of The Lord of the Rings we are told that Gandalf arrived with the other wizards around the year 1000 of the Third Age. And in his later years he toyed with the idea that perhaps Gandalf would come sooner, perhaps some of the wizards would come in the Second Age and take part in the wars of the Rings of Power.”

Of course, Gandalf’s appearance in the Second Age is not the only departure from the text that The Rings of Power made. In order to condense hundreds, if not thousands, of years of history into a multi-season TV show, Amazon created brand new characters and moved key events around to fit the new timeline. Fans have been discussing these changes since Season 1 debuted on Prime Video in 2022, with some being better received than others.

Check out IGN’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 finale recap to find out what we thought of the big ending. We then explain in our feature the end of the second season and how it introduces the third season. Gandalf’s involvement in the impending war with Sauron seems like a sure thing.

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].