Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Rings of Power season 2.

We spent all of The Rings of Power season 1 speculating about the true identity of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:the Stranger, whiꦏch has been revealed at last. Now, it's time to shift our attention to a new ♔figure: the Dark Wizard. 

Game of Thrones actor Ciarán Hinds is playing the new character, who, even by the end of the seasꦫon, is still shrouded in mystery. One hint certainly seems to suggest he's an iconic Lord of the Rings character, though🦂 the showrunners have since debunked the theory (more on that below). 

We first meet the character in season 2 episode 2 – and while not much is revealed about him, he seems to be very powerful. There are p𝔉lenty of candidates for just who he might be, and, below, we get into all the theories so far, as well as an exclusive tease from the showrunners. 

Who is the Dark Wizard in The Rings of Power season 2? 

Even by the end of the show, very little is known about who exactly the new character is – but we do know that he is very interested in the Stranger. In 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Rings of Power season 2 episode 2, he quizzes his messengers about who this Istar is, and it doesn’t see𓆉m like his inter𒐪est is entirely innocent. 

Then, in 澳洲幸🎀运5开奖号码历史查询:The Ring🎃s of Power season 2, episode 8, the Dark Wizard and the Stranger meet at last, with the Dark Wizard ♍calling the Stranger "old friend." 

The character’s official description reads, “It turns out, the mysterious being known as the Stranger is not the onꦐly wizard who has come to Middle-earth….for in the mysterious lands of Rhûn, another wizard awaits h🧔im. A dark and powerful wizard, whose origins and intentions are shrouded in secrecy, and who has a legion of magic-wielding acolytes who obey his every command — among them the three travelers who sought out the Stranger at the end of Season 1…on the Dark Wizard’s orders.”

While we have nothing official, that do♍esn’t mean the theories haven’t ℱbegun. Here are some of the main candidates so far. 

Blue Wizard

Probably the m𒈔ost likely candidate is that he's one of the Blue Wizards. Two of the main candidates for who he might be are Morinehtar and Romestamo. In Tolkien’s books, they were sent to the far East and South of Middle-earth to try and counter Sauron’s rise. There’s a fair amount of discrepancies between Tolkien’s earlier and later writings about who these figures really were, but one of the most intriguing tidbits comes from his ‘Last Writings’, The Peoples of Middওle-earth. 

In this, he suggests the 🦹Blue Wizards traveled to Middle-earth long before Gandalf, Saruman and Rada🐻gast, arriving in the Second Age. "Their task was to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion," Tolkien wrote – could one of these two wizards actually be the Dark Wizard? Time will tell. 

Saruman

When you hear dark wizard and Lord of the Rings, your mind will likely immediately go to Saruman. The Istar was sent to Middle-earth𓄧 in the Third Age to help defeat Sauron, before betraying his fellow wizards and aligning himself with the Dark Lord. There are some physical characteristics that seem very similar between the Dark Wizard and Saruman, and he’s clearly extremely powerful. 

However, there is one big thing working against him: the fact that he seems to a꧑lready be an evil figure, which wouldn’t fit with Saruman’s path. In Tolkien’s books, ꦑwhen Saruman turns to Sauron in the Third Age, it’s seen as a huge betrayal. It wouldn’t make sense then if the character had already turned to evil many years prior.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询𒁃:The showrunners are also debunking the idea. "I'll say something on the record. Given the history of Middle-earth, it would be highly, highly, highly i🎃mprobable that this could be Saruman," Patrick McKay told , with J.D. Payne chiming in, "If not impossible."

But, we're not entirely convinced – the Dark Wizard does call the Stranger, AKA Gandalf, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"old friend" after all...

Radagast 

It seems possible then that this new figure may be one of the remaining members of the wizard council: Radagast. In Tolkien’s w🐓ritings, Radagast was brought to Middle-earth in the Third Age to try and stop Sauron, but could he have arrived much earlier on another mission? The show has played with timelines a fair bit so far, so it seems possible. However, most of the evidence at this stage is just that this is another powerful wizard, so it seems we’ll need to wait and see. 

The Witch-king

The💟 Witch-king of Angmar is quite a mysterious figure in Tolkien's writings, and his identity is never revealed. What we do know about him, though, is that he's Lord of the Nazgûl and Sauron's right hand man. He could aﷺlso, possibly, be the Dark Wizard.

"I've seen some theories saying that Ciarán Hinds' character is not actually an Istar, but a human sorcerer pretending to be immortal, and it just struck me  – could this be our future Witch King?" 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:one fan speculates on . 

What have The Rings of Power showrunners teased?

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Speaking to GamesRadar+ at the s൩ea𓆏son 2 junket, The Rings of Power showrunners were playing their cards close to their chests about who Hinds is really playing. J.D. Payne tells us: "You need to watch the show and check it out, but we know that he's out in Rhûn, and there are strange things in Rhûn,🐲 many of which he may have set in motion…” Very intriguing indeed…

For more, check out our guide to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best shows on Amazon Prime Video, as well as our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Rings of Power season 2 review and what we know about 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Rings of Power season 3 so far.