The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power finally opened season 2’s biggest mystery box, revealing the Stranger as Gandalf, creating a surprisingly Tolkienian origin story for Gandalf’s name. The Rings of Power season 1 ending revealed original character Halbrand as Sauron and, symmetrically, the season 2 finale revealed original character the Stranger as Gandalf. The Dark Wizard now takes up the mantle of primary mystery box going into season 3 – he is inevitably a big Tolkien character. But it will be hard to beat Gandalf’s big reveal.
As the number one most-watched show on Amazon Prime Video in the week of its final episode, as well as the weeks of its first four, The Rings of Power season 2 is proving the pull of classic Tolkien characters. The Stranger and Nori had a joyfully innocent storyline but finding out, beyond any doubt, that the Stranger is actually literature’s greatest Wizard changes everything. Being in the cinematic presence of Gandalf again triggers a flood of nostalgia, so the show’s attention to detail is a treat, with Gandalf’s naming a great example.
In The Rings Of Power, Gandalf’s Name Comes From The Stoors’ “Grand-Elf”
The Stoors Indirectly Named Gandalf
The Rings of Power’s Stoors inadvertently gave Gandalf his name. The Stoors were calling the Stranger “Grand-Elf“ in the absence of having a name for him. Nori explained in the season 2 finale that this was because they assumed he was an Elf, not having encountered many people like him. This is a fabrication of showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, not a facet of Tolkien’s lore. In a rare spine-tingling moment, the Stranger repeating the Stoors’ nickname for him out loud was the nail in the coffin of the mystery box of his identity.
The Gandalf of The Rings of Power can credit the Stoors with unlocking a vital part of his identity – his name.
Bursting at the seams, the mystery box finally flew open at the end of the episode when the Stranger sat down at Tom Bombadil’s house and said he had worked out that his name was Gandalf. Perhaps he decided this, based on the Stoors’ nickname, or perhaps the Stoors’ wording triggered a foresight showing what others would call him in another language in a distant place and time. Canonically, “Gandalf” was Mannish. Either way, the Gandalf of The Rings of Power can credit the Stoors with unlocking a vital part of his identity – his name.
In The Lord Of The Rings, Gandalf’s Name Comes From “Wand-Elf”
Gandalf’s Name Is Old Norse
Although unique Stoor characters like Gundabel and Merrimac didn’t exist or name Gandalf in Tolkien’s lore, The Rings of Power’s Gandalf origin story has a Tolkienian resonance. While linked to the phrase “Grand-Elf” in the show, the name Gandalf is linked to the Old Norse phrase “Wand-Elf“ etymologically. This similarity is noted and points to a genuine love and deep knowledge of Tolkien’s work on the showrunners’ parts. Plagued by more compromise than arguably any other show on TV, Rings of Power rarely touched the greatness of its source material, but did here.
Seeing Gandalf finally blossom at the end of season 2 was a payoff worth waiting two years for, feeling nothing short of momentous. Peter Jackson also gave the world moments like that in his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s the feeling that Tolkien fans watch adaptations hoping for. It wasn’t the first time that Rings of Power accessed its potential, and it won’t be the last. Tolkien lifted Gandalf’s name directly from Old Norse myth – Gandálfr from the Völuspá, to be precise. Meaning Elf of the wand, Gandálfr’s presence is felt in Rings of Power’s sensitive Wizard.
The Rings Of Power’s Origin For Gandalf’s Name Is Actually More Poignant
Gandalf Owes More To Hobbits Than Anyone Realized
The Rings of Power’s backstory around Gandalf’s name locks Gandalf’s character even further in with the Hobbits, solidifying and cementing their powerful allegiance. Norse and Christian myth, imagery, and iconography inspired much of Tolkien’s legendarium, but the show took Tolkien’s creation and ran with it, built on it, and emerged with a mini-arc that expressed Tolkien’s story while resonating with a modern audience in a TV format. This is how the original material should feel.
The show’s Harfoots and Stoors are pre-Hobbit races, described by high fantasy visionary J.R.R. Tolkien in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings. There was one other pre-Hobbit race, the Fallohides, which has not yet made an appearance in the show. Since Tolkien didn’t describe any individual pre-Hobbit characters, all the show’s pre-Hobbits are original characters. With Gandalf’s reveal, these original characters are starting to feel much more relevant to Tolkien’s Second Age story, as they now explain Gandalf’s love of Hobbits.
The combination of these Tolkien characters with original characters creates a rich fanfiction of epic, lustrous proportions. And in no world is that a bad thing.
The prequel show delights in showing earlier versions of main characters like Gandalf. The combination of these Tolkien characters with original characters creates a rich fanfiction of epic, lustrous proportions. And in no world is that a bad thing. John Milton’s Paradise Lost is Bible fanfiction, at the end of the day. Anyone who feels cheated by being sold an adaptation should interrogate the value of distinguishing the two. Gandalf’s naming proves that original content – required for all adaptations and fanfictions – can be both respectful and innovative in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
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