Agree. At first was afraid it was basically a galadriel series but good to see it's more ensemble.
Curious who the stranger will turn out to be.
Who is the meteor Stranger? Here’s what the Tolkien lore says
www.polygon.com
I agree it's probably not gandalf and almost surely not sauran. I don't think there is a chance in hell it's Tom bombadil because iirc he was present since the beginning of time. I do think it's definitely an istari so I think it will be interesting how he is used in the series.
Definitely watching the next episode
Would agree with you.
First episode was a bit slow, but I definitely enjoyed the second one more. Particularly the portions that focused on the dwarves and what was happening with the orcs reappearing among the men. Hopefully the show will continue to get stronger over the rest of thseason.
As to the stranger, I’d assume that the odds of him being Tom Bombadil have got to be almost nonexistent. As you mentioned, while he was one of the most enigmatic of Tolkien’s characters, many assumed he was present from the beginning. So I definitely agree with you on this as well.
My guess is that the Stranger has to be one of the Maiar (I think the producers may have hinted at this too, iirc). I doubt he’s Gandalf, because Gandalf was hesitant to go to Middle-Earth when he was sent during the Third Age. I don’t see that being the case unless maybe Gandalf had been to Middle-Earth before and didn’t want to go back again, but I don’t recall Tolkien ever mentioning that.
It’s trickier as to whether the Stranger is Sauron because it’s hard to tell if the writers are dropping clues or red herrings. For example, Galadriel mentioned there was magic in the fortress they found that prevented their torches from giving off heat. When Nori finds the Stranger, the fire around the impact crater also doesn’t give off heat.
Nor does the Stranger’s body give off heat. We know that Sauron’s hand gave off so much heat that it burned Gil-Galad to death during the battle at the end of the second age, but Nori touched his hand without any issue. So maybe he’s not Sauron, or maybe he is and was using magic to block him from giving off heat.
Also, when Sauron allowed the Numenoreans to capture him in the Second Age, he was known to them as “the wizard.” So you could argue that Sauron in that form was the first Gandalf-type character to have ever existed in Middle-Earth and maybe the writers are playing up on that. He also told the elves he was a messenger from the Valar when he appeared in fair form to them. His entrance via a flaming meteor from the west would support his story to the elves.
So back to my point, he could be Sauron or it could simply be that the writers are dropping some dubious hints to keep us guessing. It’s tough to say right now.