Just who is the Dark Wizard?

(Image credit: Amazon Studios)

While The Rings of Power season 2 has wrapped up on Prime Video, a new fan theory has us reassessing the latest batch of episodes.

One of the major questions in the season has revolved around the Dark Wizard, played by Ciarán Hinds. While the season 2 finale seemed to confirm the mysterious character is none other than Saruman, the showrunners debunked that particular theory very quickly, leaving us to more speculation.

Now, a new theory suggests that the Dark Wizard is another major character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s works: the Witch-king. He’s one of the Ringwraiths, AKA one of the nine mortal men gifted a ring by Sauron.

“The Witch-king was originally introduced in the story as the Wizard King during the development of The Council of Elrond chapter and was later said by Gandalf to be not only the captain of the Black Riders but a former member of his own order before ‘evil took him,'” points out one fan on Reddit, quoting from Tolkien Gateway. In the show, the Dark Wizard does indeed say he’s one of five – surely one of five Istar.

“I would like this sooo much more than any other character becoming the Witch King. I don’t feel like they’ve built anyone up enough to be considered ‘great kings of men,’ let alone nine of them – kind of an issue with the condensed timeline. But this would totally work for me. Better than him being Saruman as well,” says one fan.

Not everyone is convinced, though. “Hinds’ character seems to be one of the lost Blue Wizards whom Tolkien initially characterized as losing their way and ‘starting cults in the East.’ He’s not necessarily evil, but due to his lack of empathy, in contrast to GrandElf, he treats the Easterlings as people to be controlled using fear and sorcery (his use of acolytes),” theorizes another fan.

This isn’t the first time fans have speculated the Dark Wizard is the Witch-king, either. We’ll just have to wait and see to find out if the theories prove true. For now, you can check out everything we know about a potential The Rings of Power season 3, or our The Rings of Power season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on the most recent episodes.