The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has come to an end and the season finale was packed full of big and exciting events. One of the more notable reveals is one that a lot of fans saw coming, and it is the true identity of The Stranger.

If you haven’t finished watching the series yet, you might want to skip this.

Towards the end of the episode, The Stranger ends up taking on the name Gandalf, after his Stoor friends took to calling him “grand elf.” So yes, The Stranger has indeed been Gandalf like we all knew.

Some fans aren’t happy with this because in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s source material, Gandalf didn’t come to Middle-earth until the Third Age to assist in the struggle against Sauron.

The Rings of Power is set during the Second Age, which is long before Gandalf is technically ‘“supposed” to show up. But, an expert on The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien explained that this change isn’t really a big deal.

Dr. Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor/President at Signum University, explained in a discussion shared by The Rings of Power X account:

“First thing to specify is that there’s no such thing, really, as canon in Tolkien. Tolkien’s ideas were ever evolving.”

“In the text of The Lord of the Rings, we’re told that Gandalf with the other Wizards arrived at around year 1000 of the Third Age, and in his later years, he was playing with the idea of maybe Gandalf coming sooner, maybe some of the Wizards coming in the Second Age and taking part in the wars of the Rings of Power.”

After a rough start, I ended up enjoying The Rings of Power Season 2, and I’m I’m looking forward to seeing how the story will continue in Season 3.