A quick Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power detail hints at a dark truth about the Stranger

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Could the Stranger be a villain after all?

The Stranger in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
(Image credit: Amazon Studios)

A minor The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power detail could be hinting that the Stranger is more sinister than he appears. Spoilers ahead for the new Prime Video show! 

At the end of episode 1, the Stranger crash lands on Middle-earth in a meteor, resulting in a huge crater of fire. The Harfoot Nori finds him, and in episode 2, she accidentally falls right onto that fire. Rather than suffering a horrible injury, though, Nori discovers that the fire doesn't burn. 

That might seem the product of magical goings-on, but it could be a lot more sinister than that. As a fan on Twitter points out, cold fire is often a bad omen in Middle-earth: "Nori says the ground isn't hot when she touches it on fire where Meteor Man landed. In the previous episode Galadriel said that fortress was so evil the flames of their torches give off no heat and Gandalf tells Frodo the ring is "quite cool" after throwing it in fire. MM looking SUS."

In episode 1, Galadriel, on the hunt for the great evil that killed her brother, discovers a fortress in the mountains. When one of her companions says his hands have lost all feeling, since he can't feel his burning torch anymore, Galadriel says the fortress is actually so evil that their torches don't give off heat. Then, in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf retrieves the One Ring from the fire in Frodo's home. When the Hobbit seems reluctant to take hold of it, Gandalf assures him that it's "quite cool." Since the Stranger's fire carries no heat, it certainly seems that there's evil afoot...

The Stranger is so far cloaked in mystery, though we have some ideas on who he might be – check out our theories through the link. We won't have long to find out whether this enigmatic newcomer is a villain or not, too, since Prime Video drops a new episode of the fantasy show weekly. Check out our The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power release schedule to find out exactly when the next episode drops in your time zone. 

In the meantime, see our roundup of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video for everything else the streamer has to offer. 

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.