No major fantasy saga begins in a vacuum. Star Wars is basically a chopped-and-screwed remix of Dune, and most medieval fantasy realms owe something to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. But The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power just proved that inspiration is a two-way street. As the Prime Video prequel is only loosely based on Tolkien’s works, it can’t entirely lean on the source material. Its characters may belong to Middle-earth, but their misadventures are beginning to savor strongly of other fantasy media, especially in The Rings of Power’s second season.
Take the Stranger (Daniel Weyman), a wayward wizard who is most likely a younger version of Gandalf the Gray. The Stranger has been on a quest to discover his past and unlock his latent powers since he fell from the sky in Season 1, and The Rings of Power has been withholding the truth of his identity to frustrating effect. The introduction of a new mentor in Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) seemed destined to fast-track the Stranger’s development, but the pair haven’t done much together just yet. And the latest episode of The Rings of Power only doubles down on its most frustrating habit, focusing less on the Stranger and more on a trope from another familiar franchise.
Spoilers ahead for The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 6.
The Stranger is Luke Skywalker
As the Stranger wanders the lands of Rhûn, he’s plagued with dreams of possible futures. Said visions have informed his search for a staff that will act as a conduit for his unwieldy powers, but they’ve also foretold of danger and despair for the Stranger’s closest allies. One dream reveals Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Cavenaugh) crying out in pain, along with flashes of Sauron’s iconic flaming eye. As Nori and the Stranger have been separated since Episode 3, he’s understandably determined to find her before she can face any more harm.
Unfortunately, with training just beginning, it doesn’t seem like Tom Bombadil is ready to let the Stranger back into the world. In Episode 6, Tom leads the Stranger to a field full of dried-up trees, encouraging him to seek out a wand within. Naturally, the Stranger scoffs at first: this is the kind of search that could take days, maybe even weeks. And with Nori and her friend Poppy (Megan Richards) presumably in peril, there’s no time to sort through thousands of branches in the hopes of finding the staff of his dreams.
Tom, however, insists that the Stranger now has to make a crucial choice: does he cut his training short to save his friends, or commit fully to the path of self-discovery? This should sound familiar to any Star Wars fan, as it’s the exact dilemma that Luke Skywalker faces in The Empire Strikes Back. Tom Bombadil is essentially Yoda, encouraging the Stranger to forsake his emotional attachments so that he can evolve. It’s a major departure from any established Tolkien lore — and it could change the way we look at this character entirely.
Clairvoyance in Middle-earth
Clairvoyance is a great way to introduce tension to a story, and it’s proven especially effective in other Tolkien adaptations. In Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was pretty common for characters to experience visions of possible futures and even communicate telepathically. Elves like Arwen, Elrond, and Galadriel have the gift of foresight, and Arwen especially uses that talent to determine her role in the War for the Ring. But that’s all a direct reflection of Tolkien’s source material. The Rings of Power, on the other hand, is introducing a new character with a familiar skill set while flouting canon.
The Stranger’s clairvoyance is an anomaly — especially if he is Gandalf. In the books, Gandalf was never able to peer into the future, so these visions introduce a wrinkle to the Stranger’s origin story. This could mean that he is actually a different character altogether, but it could be another attempt to throw audiences off until the big reveal. Either way, The Rings of Power is taking an interesting (if risky) approach to its established story; hopefully it all pays off in a fulfilling way.
