The Rings of Power fans are hoping for another obscure Lord of the Rings character to appear: "The door is open for another mysterious fan-favorite"

Rory Kinnear as Tom Bombadil in The Rings of Power season 2
(Image credit: Prime Video)

After Tom Bombadil, a rather obscure Tolkien character who was absent from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, became a significant character in The Rings of Power, fans are hoping another strange figure will make an appearance.

This specific character, however, might be obscure to the point where we'd call them a deep-cut. "Since they've brought in Bombadil," one fan wrote. "The door is open for another mysterious fan favorite to appear." The mysterious fan-favorite in question is known to fans as The Thinking Fox, a character that appears for no more than a paragraph in the book The Fellowship of the Ring. When Frodo, Sam, and Pippin are asleep in a fir-wood tree on the first night of their journey, a fox happens upon them and is quite confused. 

"'Hobbits,' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it." You can read the page itself here. It's important to note that this specific fox never appears again, and that his rather brief and odd appearance has become something of a meme with the LoTR fandom.

"The thinking fox will obviously bring the Stranger his staff," someone wrote.

"Whenever they get to the inevitable part of the show where Halflings are approaching what will be the Shire, just have a fox there to see them coming," another commented.

"YES!!! this is my all-time favorite character in LOTR. Could there be a great-great... great grandparent of our guy?" wrote another.

The Rings of Power season 2 is currently streaming on Prime Video, and you can check out our Rings of Power season 2 release schedule for the finale's exact release time. You can also see our Rings of Power season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on all eight episodes. 

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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