The Blue Wizards?

[Alatar]

Pure speculation?

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/r ... er-gandalf

<snip> in an interview with Vanity Fair, Rings of Power showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were asked if the Amazon series will break Tolkien canon by bringing Saruman, Gandalf, or Radagast to Middle-earth before the Third Age. McKay’s response was interesting, as he said those three Wizards are “not the only beings … in that class” and teased “the mystery and the journey of it is all of the fun.”

[Alatar]

Bombadil is another option maybe?

[elengil]

If going from a purely speculative place, Melian was not the only Maia (if I am remembering correctly) who liked skipping around Middle-earth... but then it does have to be something from their allowable sources, so I am very much in agreement that it may be one of the Blue Wizards for the same reason it'll have hobbits - people will want these things because people will want this to feel like Lord of the Rings.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Bombadil is another option maybe?

I would be shocked to my core to see them include Bombadil.

I'm sure that he was either referring to the Blue Wizards (or rather, the unnamed missing two wizards in LOTR, since they are never called Blue there, I don't think) or to Sauron in that comment. I'm still guessing that it is Sauron.

[Eldy]

The Blue Wizards are of course the first thing to come to mind, though with everything Tolkien wrote about them, including their association with the color blue (which he might have changed his mind about), off limits, ROP would effectively have to come up with their own version of the other two wizards. As elengil mentions, the Valaquenta is clear that most of the Maiar were unknown to the Eldar, in part because so many were kicking around in Middle-earth (often in forms invisible to Elves and Men, IIRC). Not that the Valaquenta is available either, but that factoid is vague enough they could probably make use of it anyway.

EDIT: Simul with Voronwë. It would make sense if this is a nod to Sauron (Meteor Man?), yeah.

[Alatar]

I suspect that them being Blue Wizards would fall under the same sort of fudge as the ring of Barahir in LotR. Rather than invent something wrong, let them use something right. I wonder whether that approach will inform a lot of the production.

[Alatar]

I just realised that you made Jude and I the two blue Istari...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I suspect that them being Blue Wizards would fall under the same sort of fudge as the ring of Barahir in LotR. Rather than invent something wrong, let them use something right. I wonder whether that approach will inform a lot of the production.

I certainly hope so! And I think that there is a reasonable likelihood that it will.

I just realised that you made Jude and I the two blue Istari...

[Galin]

(or rather, the unnamed missing two wizards in LOTR, since they are never called Blue there, I don't think)

That's correct. And as far as I'm aware (as of today), these two wizards are only ever called "blue/sea blue" in one text written in 1954 -- before JRRT wrote (in 1958, letter 211) that he doesn't know their colours and doubts they had distinctive colours.

In later-than-this-letter texts (which granted, isn't a heap of references in any case), these wizards are referred to as the "other two" for example -- or at least aren't given any specific colours. Given the White, Grey, Brown of other Istari, perhaps Tolkien meant (1958) that he doubts these guys had distinctive colours in the sense that any colour associations would not be known to Western scribes?

Or something else?

I believe Jackson used "Blue Wizards" in a Hobbit film. I'm not sure why I added that, but there it is.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And here it is:

Bilbo: Are there any?
Gandalf: What?
Bilbo: Other wizards?
Gandalf: There are five us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White. Then there are the two blue wizards. Do you know, I’ve quite forgotten their names.
Bilbo: And who is the fifth?
Gandalf: Well, that would be Radagast, The Brown.
Bilbo: Is he a great wizard or is he…more like you?

[Inanna]