The Rings of Power Rewrites Gandalf’s Mission in One Scene

By the end of season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Gandalf (Daniel Weyman) had chosen his name and wizard staff and found a mentor in the enigmatic Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear).

Season 3 picks up five years later. Gandalf has spent that time vexing the Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds) and his forces in Rhûn. He sees the Dark Wizard as a dangerous foe, but their relationship is more complicated. Both have a place in J.R.R. Tolkien’s cosmology.

This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of season 3 of The Rings of Power.

What are wizards in The Lord of the Rings?

Tolkien’s wizards are more than old men who wield magic. They are Maiar, primordial spirits who serve the Valar, the divine beings who helped Eru Ilúvatar create the world. Sauron is a fallen Maia who served the rebel Vala Morgoth.

The five Istari are Maiar sent to Middle-earth in the form of old Men to stop Sauron. They became known as wizards, and their members include Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast.

Those are the only three wizards named in The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales mentions two more who were sent to the East: Pallando and Alatar.

Season 3, episode 3 reveals that the Dark Wizard is Pallando. He wanted more than to serve the Valar, so he killed Alatar, an act so evil that it turned Rhûn into a desert. Pallando appears to regret his actions. He is trying to regrow the Tears of the Valar lilies that once covered Rhûn and hopes to make the land green again using one of Sauron’s rings.

“There’s a moment in the third episode, when Gandalf has infiltrated the Dark Wizard’s temple, and he sees Pallando sitting on the throne looking very forlorn,” series co-creator Patrick McKay told Polygon in a recent video interview. “That one shot, and that one moment from Ciarán Hinds, will lend a realism and a depth to that character that we as an audience were craving. Gandalf notices it, and I think the audience will notice it, too. Even in a story with all this magic and all this wonder, one good actor giving one good performance in one shot can speak volumes.”

What is the Secret Fire?

The Dark Wizard’s servants fear Gandalf, who they say draws his power from the Secret Fire itself. Gandalf believes defeating the Dark Wizard is key to saving Middle-earth because it would keep the armies of Rhûn from joining Sauron.

Tom doubts that Gandalf is meant to defeat him. Exasperated, Gandalf leaves Tom’s hut to catch a rabbit for stew. He then has a vision of the Secret Fire speaking to him, a moment McKay said was inspired by Moses and the Burning Bush.

The Secret Fire is the power Eru Ilúvatar used to create the world, a force that burns within all sentient beings. Eru is Tolkien’s name for God, while the Secret Fire represents the Holy Spirit. When Gandalf faces the Balrog, a fallen Maia serving Morgoth, in Khazad-dûm in The Fellowship of the Ring, he shouts, “I am a servant of the Secret Fire.”

The Fire addresses Gandalf as Olórin, the name he was given as a Maia before coming to Middle-earth and adopting the name Gandalf. It also calls him Mithrandir, his name among the Elves, which means the Grey Pilgrim. The Secret Fire explains that Gandalf is meant to redeem the Dark Wizard, not defeat him, because only together can they save Middle-earth.

Pallando needs the help. He hoped to obtain one of the nine rings for mortal men by sending emissaries to Sauron to accept his alliance with Rhûn. Sauron instead killed the most loyal of the Dark Wizard’s servants and encouraged the others to fight among themselves for a ring.

Khamûl the Easterling (Zubin Varla) won, and putting on a ring freed him from the Dark Wizard’s flesh-warping curse. He returned to Rhûn as a Nazgnagôl, challenged the Dark Wizard for his throne and ordered him to march his armies to Mordor. The Dark Wizard has effectively already been defeated, but if Gandalf can persuade him to see the light, they might be able to keep Sauron from growing even stronger.

Related: Rings of Power season 3 makes a major change to a Lord of the Rings villain

Source: Polygon