This post contains major spoilers from The Rings of Power season three‘s first four episodes and the identity of The Rings of Power‘s Dark Wizard, played by Ciarán Hinds. If you want to avoid them until you watch, you can check out our pre-season coverage instead or our spoiler-free review.
Table of Contents: Jump To:
- Who Is Ciarán Hinds’ Dark Wizard in The Rings of Power?
- Who Are The Blue Wizards of Middle-earth, Alatar and Pallando?
- What Happened to The Blue Wizards in Tolkien’s Lore?
- Pallando Kills His Fellow Blue Wizard Alatar in The Rings of Power
- Does Pallando Turn Evil in The Lord of the Rings Lore?
- What Is Pallando/The Dark Wizard’s Connection to Gandalf in The Rings of Power?
- Will Gandalf Succeed in Saving the Dark Wizard and Bringing Back Pallando’s Goodness?
- More About Tolkien’s Lore in The Rings of Power
Who Is Ciarán Hinds’ Dark Wizard in The Rings of Power?
The Rings of Power season three revealed that Ciarán Hinds’ Dark Wizard is Pallando the Blue, a Blue Wizard from J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore.
Just as all signs pointed to the Stranger being Gandalf from the moment he arrived in Middle-earth, everything we learned about The Rings of Power‘s Dark Wizard in season two pointed to him being Saruman. Everything that is, except for the showrunners themselves. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said it would be “nearly impossible” for Ciarán Hinds’ character to be the infamous White Wizard from The Lord of the Rings. Turns out the guys making the show knew what they were talking about. In The Rings of Power season three, episode three, we learned Hinds is playing Pallando. He’s one of Tolkien’s failed Blue Wizards of the Second Age.
Who Are The Blue Wizards of Middle-earth, Alatar and Pallando?
As with much of Tolkien’s Middle-earth lore, Tolkien wrote many conflicting accounts of the Blue Wizards. The two mysterious figures were always Istari, or wizards, like Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast. All were Maiar (demigods) sent by Eru Ilúvatar (god) to help fight against the darkness of Sauron. The Blue Wizards earned their moniker for the sea-blue robes they wore. In the Unfinished Tales, Tolkien named the two Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando. The latter being is the Blue Wizard who we now know as the Dark Wizard in The Rings of Power.
Tolkien frequently changed the story of the Blue Wizards and refused to ever give any concrete information about them. But the show is staying true to what the famed author believed about his tragic figures: that they ultimately failed in their mission to save Middle-earth… Although it is possible they played some role in weakening Sauron.
What Happened to The Blue Wizards in Tolkien’s Lore?
Tolkien thought the Blue Wizards “went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south.” That would certainly cover Rhûn in the east. The Dark Wizard ruled there for many generations until Sauron began giving kings of men their Rings of Power. Tolkien also said the Blue Wizards, who were “missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were,” almost certainly did not accomplish their mission. “What success they had I do not know,” Tolkien wrote, “But I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.”
Tolkien also went back and forth on whether the Blue Wizards came to Middle-earth in the Second or Third Age. The Rings of Power takes these muddled visions from Tolkien’s lore and expands them into a definitive story for the Blue Wizards.
Pallando Kills His Fellow Blue Wizard Alatar in The Rings of Power
Through his conversation with Eru Ilúvatar in The Rings of Power season three, Gandalf learns that Pallando killed his fellow Blue Wizard, Alatar. Alatar and Pallando were sent to protect the lands of Rhûn. However, Pallando was greedy and wanted more power, so he betrayed and murdered Alatar. This act was so evil that it laid all of Rhûn to waste, destroying its once green and lush lands. Falling into shadow, The Rings of Power‘s Pallando turned into the Dark Wizard, was deified by the Gaudrim he cursed, and became a force of shadow. The Rings of Power also officially confirms that the Blue Wizards came to Middle-earth in the Second Age.
Does Pallando Turn Evil in The Lord of the Rings Lore?
Pallando never kills Alatar in The Lord of the Rings‘ lore. That is an invention of The Rings of Power‘s story. However, this origin story for the Dark Wizard does fulfill Tolkien’s brief that the Blue Wizards failed in their mission to protect Middle-earth, as Saruman will one day do, and began long-lasting secret cults of magic.
This take on Tolkien’s lore also explains why the Dark Wizard seemed so much like Saruman in The Rings of Power season two. Pallando’s story on Prime Video’s show, rooted in Tolkien’s writings, mirrors Saruman’s fall… As does Gandalf’s new journey with the Istari.
What Is Pallando/The Dark Wizard’s Connection to Gandalf in The Rings of Power?
Aside from being fellow wizards, The Rings of Power season three now directly connects Gandalf’s fate with the Dark Wizard’s. Eru Ilúvatar gives the Istari a direct mission when speaking to Gandalf as the Secret Fire. He did not send Gandalf to Middle-earth to stop Pallando. He sent Mithrandir to Middle-earth to save Pallando. Eru Ilúvatar notes that it is only by saving The Dark Wizard and bringing Pallando back to the forefront that Gandalf can hope to prevent the armies of Rhûn from joining Sauron. It is only by bringing out the good in Pallando and working alongside him that Gandalf can hope to save Middle-earth in The Rings of Power. As always, working together in the face of darkness remains a crucial part of Tolkien’s lore.
Will Gandalf Succeed in Saving the Dark Wizard and Bringing Back Pallando’s Goodness?
In the Third Age, Gandalf will not save Saruman from darkness. Will The Rings of Power show he had more success with Pallando in the Second? Or, just as the Dark Wizard’s fall from the light mirrors Saruman’s, will Gandalf also fail to save the Blue Wizard? Is that why so little is known of their fates? The battle for the soul of Middle-earth is only going to get more perilous when Sauron forges the One Ring. It will corrupt Saruman one day. But, even if it seems likely, that doesn’t mean Pallando is doomed to the same fate.
In The Peoples of Middle-earth, Tolkien offered an alternate vision of the Blue Wizards that suggested the possibility they had a little bit more success in the fight against Sauron, leaving the door open a crack for The Dark Wizard to do some good as Pallando. Tolkien writes, “Their task was to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion … and after his first fall to search out his hiding (in which they failed) and to cause [?dissension and disarray] among the dark East … They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East … who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have … outnumbered the West.”
For now, Pallando seems to believe that the power of Sauron’s rings will save Rhûn and restore it from the destruction he himself brought over it with his darkness. We know that is a plan that will never work. But we’ll have to see if Gandalf can convince the Dark Wizard that his path will only yield more destruction.
More About Tolkien’s Lore in The Rings of Power
If you’d like to learn more about this Middle-earth adventure, you can pick up The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth and read more about Tolkien’s vision of the time when the show takes place. You can also enjoy the Unfinished Tales Of Númenor And Middle-Earth.
The Rings of Power season three is now airing on Prime Video.
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