As soon as the Mystics realize the Stranger isn't Sauron, they label him an "Istar." With this label, and several other hints throughout the episode and the season, The Rings of Power has all but confirmed that the Stranger is everyone's favorite wizard: Gandalf the Grey.
Who Are The Rings of Power's White Cloak Characters? The three figures who first appeared at the site of the Stranger's meteorite crash are known as The Ascetic (Kali Kopae), The Nomad (Edith Poor), and The Dweller (Bridie Sisson), the group's apparent leader.
But while the race of men can be both skin-changers and sorcerers of dark magic, it is possible the White Cloaks are also members of the Maiar like Sauron and Middle-earth's wizards. Those spirit servants of the Valar are incredibly powerful, and one was Sauron's loyal vampire servant during the First Age.
The White-Cloaked Mystics Were Priestesses of Melkor
When the witches appeared in The Rings of Power's trailer, some fans thought one of them could be Sauron in disguise. However, Amazon quickly clarified their identities: the three witches became known as Mystics.
Sauron and Gandalf were both Maiar: a supernatural race that serve the Valar, and many Maiar assumed different forms. Gandalf is one of five Wizards, a group of Maiar originally sent to Middle-earth by the Valar to aid the resistance against Sauron, and were given the appearance of old men.
Halbrand is the form of a Human that he has taken in order to trick people, in the series. It's well documented in the Silmarillion that Sauron can take on pretty much any form he likes, and he seems to generally default to 'fair' form. So looking like Charlie Vickers isn't really a problem.
Spoiler alert: Isildur is not dead. Isildur is the man who eventually cuts the ring from the hand of Sauron. But he's too power-hungry to throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom as Elrond instructs him. His is a tragic story, though he turns out to be the ancestor to Aragorn.
If you love J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, then you know that all of the events of the story would be impossible without the half-Elf Elrond. Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell, lived in Middle-earth from the First Age to the beginning of the Fourth Age.
If this wizard is Gandalf, the fact that he was saved by and fought alongside a harfoot when he first arrived in Middle-earth could explain why Gandalf is so fond of hobbits, descendants of the harfoots, and often travels to the Shire to visit them.
6 Gandalf. As previously stated, Gandalf is a Maia and is therefore superior to Elves regarding power. Still, this isn't to say that an elf couldn't develop enough skill and power to defeat a Maia. As a bearer of one of the Three Elven Rings (Nenya), Galadriel would have an edge against Maiar like Saruman and Radagast.
Saruman's real intention was to allow Sauron to build up his strength, so that the Ring would reveal itself and he could claim it first. Concealing his contempt, Saruman persuaded Radagast to teach him how to tame birds and beasts; these he used as spies for his own purposes, unbeknownst to the Brown Wizard.
Tolkien once described Gandalf as an angel incarnate; later, both he and other scholars have likened Gandalf to the Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise.
Why The Stranger Is Gandalf. Immediately after arriving in Middle-earth, fans were quick to label the Stranger as a Second Age version of beloved Gandalf the Grey. Other than being tall with a large beard and wearing a tattered robe, there are quite a few indications that the Stranger is Gandalf.
While The Rings of Power season 1 includes no overt clues to suggest a direct link between Harfoot characters and the Fellowship Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, several subtle details indicate that Nori Brandyfoot could potentially be an ancient relative of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
Isildur was Aragorn's remote ancestor. He died at the beginning of the Third Age (TA), in TA 2. Aragorn was born 2929 years later, on March 1, TA 2931. His father was Arathorn II, Chieftain of the Dunedain.
After he was attacked by the orcs, they transported his lifeless body to Mordor at Sauron's behest. Sauron revived Isildur with one of the nine rings, and then tortured him until his spirit was broken and he became a Nazgûl.
Isildur used a broken sword to cut the Ruling Ring off Sauron's hand. Sauron was fatally wounded by Gil-galad and Elendil as Sauron killed them. Gandalf took the job of blocking the Balrog - and he was barely able to defeat the Balrog (in fact, he died in the process). A few reasons.
As for whether Halbrand actually loved or romantically desired Galadriel is to be determined. Sauron is an expert manipulator and likely sees Galadriel and her power as an asset. In line with the old adage, "Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer," he'd rather have her on his side than against him.
"So I think in his pitch to Galadriel, it cannot mean that he loves her or that there's any kind of romantic relationship. There should be no ambiguity around the fact that Sauron is evil — he's terrible, and he's using Galadriel to enhance his power."
Saving Galadriel at sea was likely a method of gaining her trust, since Sauron would need an Elf's friendship to enter their realm. Whether he targeted Galadriel specifically because he could exploit her bloody-minded rage and broken heart is unclear.
Morgoth is the more powerful of the two. Morgoth was the mightiest of the Valar, a group whose weakest member would outpace Sauron. However, there are some circumstances and eras in which Sauron would win the day. Morgoth was born far beyond Sauron but lost and surrendered much of his power.
In a one-on-one battle, Galadriel would likely lose to Sauron. Even though she's an Elf, both powerful and intelligent, Sauron is Maiar. Odds are, Sauron didn't fear a physical defeat — only a fellow Maia ring-bearer could physically oppose him and win, after all — but Galadriel is threatening in other ways.
