Prime VideoIn the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the wizards are called by the Elves the name “Istari.” Though they appear as humans, the wizards of Middle-earth are, in fact, spirits from the Maiar of Valinor given humanoid form. In the Third Age, in which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place, we only knew about three wizards: Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast. But there are other wizards lurking around in Tolkien’s pages. Since his introduction in The Rings of Power Season 2, many fans have assumed that the Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds) of Rhûn was an earlier version of Saruman, in the same way that the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) is an earlier version of Gandalf. But in The Rings of Power Season 3, Episode 3, the identity of this Dark Wizard has been revealed. And it’s a much deeper cut than Saruman. Spoilers ahead.The Dark Wizard is Pallando, one of the Blue WizardsPrime VideoIn Episode 3, Khamûl the Easterling (Zubin Varla ) returns to Rhûn as a Nazgnagôl, a Ring-servant of Sauron. The Dark Wizard had sent him to Sauron to get a ring, but what happened instead is that Khamûl has returned to basically steal the disciples of the Dark Wizard and make them join Sauron’s side. In essence, Khamûl is cutting out the middle man because his ring of power beats the Dark Wizard’s staff.Gandalf (Daniel Weyman) and Tom Bombadil ( Rory Kinnear) are there, undercover, and witness this entire power shift. Later, Gandalf’s solution to this problem is that if the Dark Wizard is destroyed, Khamûl won’t be able to use those disciples for Sauron. Tom dismisses this and tells Gandalf to follow his rabbit, which leads Gandalf to The Secret Fire.The fire tells Gandalf the truth of the original wizards sent to Middle-earth: “There were five servants sent to save Middle-earth. You are but one.” And then, The Secret Fire says outright: “He [The Dark Wizard] was once called Pallando, one of two wizards sent to protect these lands, but he wanted more. So he betrayed and murdered his partner...an act so evil it laid all of Rhûn to waste.” So, the Dark Wizard is not Saruman, but instead, Pallando. But who is Pallando?Pallando is one of two mysterious blue wizardsRmv/ShutterstockThe name “Pallando” comes from The Unfinished Tales published in 1980. This specifically comes from a section called: Part Four, chapter II: "The Istari.” The other blue wizard was named Alatar, who, in The Rings of Power, is now implied to have been slain by Pallando. (It’s also worth noting that sometimes these wizards are called Morinehtar and Rómestámo.)Tolkien generally implied that both blue wizards were not successful in their task of helping the free people of Middle-earth rise up against Sauron. However, as fans have noted, the impact that the blue wizards had on the history of the Second Age seems to be a mixed bag. In a sense, The Rings of Power seems to be consolidating two possible viewpoints: First, that the blue wizards failed, because Pallando turned to evil. Or, second, that the blue wizards did fail, but that Gandalf brought Pallando around to the side of good again. The Secret Fire tells Gandalf his task is to save Pallando, a task that The Rings of Power has created within its own lore. Does this foreshadow the fact that Gandalf is unable to save Saruman in the Third Age? Maybe. And whether we will end up seeing that other Dark Wizard in The Rings of Power remains to be seen.The Rings of Power streams on Prime Video.