**Spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale, now streaming on Prime Video.**
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 ends with our heroes on the ropes. The incredible elf city of Eregion has been destroyed and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) has been tortured to death by Sauron (Charlie Vickers). The Dark Lord is left possession of both the nine Rings of Power for mortal men as well as Adar’s (Sam Hazeldine) orc army of Mordor. Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) and his cruel supporters have supplanted the Faithful in Númenor, forcing Elendil (Lloyd Owen) into exile in Middle-earth. The dwarf city of Khazad-dûm is only saved from total destruction by the balrog thanks to Durin III’s (Peter Mullan) self-sacrifice. Even the sweet little harfoots and their new friends, the storrs, find themselves forced to move on — and potentially out of the show entirely? — after the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8 on Prime Video.
Nevertheless, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale also leaves Tolkien fans with a few glimmers of hope for the future. The refugees of Eregion find themselves settling in the place destined to become Rivendell. There, High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and their friends dedicate themselves to fighting back against the darkness. In the eastern lands of Rhûn, the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) has finally assumed the name of Gandalf along with the mission to stand up to Sauron and Ciarán Hinds’s mysterious “Dark Wizard.” And while Elendil knows that he’s going to reunite with his youngest son Anárion in Middle-earth, he still has no idea that his other son, Isildur (Maxim Baldry), is alive and well and fighting the good fight in Pelargir.
All of which is to that that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale has left us wanting more. We want more epic battles, more nods to Tolkien lore, and more hints about which of the Istari Ciarán Hinds’s Dark Wizard is supposed to be!!! (Am I the only one wondering if he’s not simply a Blue Wizard, but an early version of Saruman??)
From that Gandalf reveal to how exactly Elrond managed to save Galadriel, here’s everything you need to know about the ending of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8…
For years, Prime Video’s Rings of Power has played coy on which mythical Tolkien character David Weyman’s “Stranger” is supposed to be. Early teasers for the first season seemed to suggest he was none other than Sauron, but it’s become more and more clear as time went on that he was probably a version of Gandalf who popped up in the Second Age for some reason.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale finally confirmed that the Stranger is Gandalf. He adopts his name from the nickname the storrs give him of “Grand elf.” Not only that, but Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) makes it clear his purpose is to not only face down and fight Sauron but the nefarious Dark Wizard who has been ruling over Rhûn.
So who is the Dark Wizard? We know that he considers himself not only one of the Istari, but that he also wants to “befriend” Gandalf as a means to use his power. He also has been ruling Rhûn via a mystery cult.
In Tolkien’s lore, there were five Istari: Blue Wizards Alatar and Palandar, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown, and, of course, Gandalf the Grey. Because Radagast mostly stayed out of major conflicts in Middle-earth, preferring to care for animals and plants, it’s highly unlikely Hinds is playing him. In fact, I feel confident there is no way this Dark Wizard is Radagast.
That said, the Blue Wizards and Saruman arrived in Middle-earth first, ahead of Gandalf, and did indeed wind up in Rhûn. The Blue Wizards fall out of record and are supposed to maybe be responsible for starting the mystery cults in the East. So it seems likely that Hinds’s Dark Wizard is supposed to be Alatar or Palandar. However, I can’t help but shake this nagging feeling that the Dark Wizard might be a version of Saruman whom Gandalf will win back to the light in the Amazon series…only for him to turn later in the Third Age. (Is that a crazy theory? Sure. The Dark Wizard is probably just a Blue Wizard gone bad.)
Galadriel almost dies in the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 finale, thanks to Sauron stabbing her with Morgoth’s crown. The evil in the object contains poison that ought to kill her outright. However, Elrond finds her ring, Nenya, and decides to wear it to help heal her.
Yes, Elrond, the guy who has been steadfastly skeptical of the rings of power all season wears one of them in the Season 2 finale.
“I think what he’s thinking in that moment, when he’s about to put it on, it’s like, ‘Well, here I go. I’m in the game.’ You know?” Robert Aramayo told Decider last week. “And what does that mean? Am I in his game now? Is this exactly what he wants? Am I now encircled in his power in this way that I’m not going to be able to control? I think he’s aware that Sauron is aware.”
Nevertheless, Aramayo was also struck by how Elrond’s decision to don Nenya also has repercussions for the future of Tolkien’s work.
“When he puts the ring on, it’s out of a sense of desperation. He has to do it. But it’s also interesting to think about Elrond, his ability that develops and is kindled, his healing.” Aramayo said. “We know he becomes one of the greatest healers of all time. I don’t think he knows that yet but that’s definitely interesting to think about.”
Probably! Even though Amazon hasn’t officially ordered a third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that Season 3 is already in pre-production. When Decider spoke to series stars Charlie Vickers and Robert Aramayo last week, they seemed to expect a return to Middle-earth. Aramayo expressed that he would “love to explore [Elrond’s] relationship with Celebrian,” while Vickers said that Sauron “needs to go on a journey when he goes to Numenor.”