Popverse's top stories of the day

• How a second Donald Trump U.S. Presidency might impact the movie, tv, and comics industries
• 40 years after its debut, Dragon Ball is a pop culture force like few others
• Sisterhood of Dune ending explained: Understanding the book that Dune: Prophecy was based on

The second season of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is centered on the rise of Charlie Vickers' Sauron, but to misquote the Rock: "the hierarchy of power in the LotR universe is about to change." Why, because my favorite TV villain Ciarán Hinds is coming in as a key antagonist for August 29's season 2.

Following the announcement of Ciarán Hinds' casting in Rings of Power back in March 2023, fans in the LotR hoped he would play one of the two Blue Wizards in Tolkien's books - Alatar and Pallando - who assisted in the first war against Sauron. They are two of the five major Wizards of LotR (known as the Istari), alongwise Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast.

But as it turns out, he's a bit darker than that.

Amazon's Prime Video has revealed that Hinds' character is called 'Dark Wizard' (assumedly a placeholder for a later reveal), with PR describing him as "a dark and powerful wizard, whose origins and intentions are shrouded in secrecy, and who has a legion of magic-wielding acolytes who obey his every command — among them the three travelers who sought out the Stranger at the end of Season 1… on the Dark Wizard’s orders."

The aforementioned Stranger is confirmed to be one of the five Istari, but without confirming which - with some presuming Gandalf but as yet it's not been confirmed.

So who could Ciarán Hinds be in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power?

Could Ciarán Hinds be Saruman in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power?

When you think Dark Wizard, you think of Saruman - specifically Christopher Lee's Saruman from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. But in the movies (and the books), Saruman was famously the White Wizard until he revealed he had allied with Sauron centuries after the events of Rings of Power. While it seems possible Rings of Power could reveal that Hinds-as-Saruman has secretly been a Dark Wizard all this time (and Hinds with a beard does look remarkably like Christopher Lee's Saruman), it would leave fans of the original books rather torn.

Could Ciarán Hinds be Morgoth in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power?

While Morgoth is not a 'Wizard' in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings lore, he is something much, much bigger. Morgoth is one of the Valar - the gods of Middle-Earth, written in many ways to be similar to Satan in Judeo-Christian lore (in both that he's the biggest big bad, and that he once was one of the good guys). In Tolkien's writings Morgoth has gone by many names - and while none are 'The Dark Wizard, all are pretty dark: Lord of the Dark, the Dark Power of the North, the Black Hand, the Great Enemy, the Dark King, the Dark Power.

There's one problem - in Tolkien's writing and in Rings of Power season 1, Morgoth was exiled - although Galadriel believes he's still out there prowling around. In the books he doesn't return, but if he Hinds is Morgoth then you can cue up the Oscar Isaac Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker meme "Somehow, Palpatine Morgoth returned."

What The Dark Wizard and the Stranger's mysterious identities mean for Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power?

WIth there now being two ominous wizards with very-clear mysteries to their identities in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, season 2 will be about teasing (and we hope revealing) who they are - whether as some of the Five Istari Wizards - Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, Alatar, and Pallando - or some other wizards outside the five J.R.R. Tolkien created. 

Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power returns August 29 with season 2, which goes through October 3.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.