View source for Palantír

{{Short description|Fictional magical artefact}}
{{For|the American data company|Palantir Technologies}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox fictional artifact
|name            = Palantír
|source          = [[The Lord of the Rings]] 
|first           = [[The Fellowship of the Ring]]
|first_type      = Novel
|date            = 1954
|creator         = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
|genre           = [[Fantasy]]
|type            = [[Crystal ball]]
|uses            = [[Scrying]]<br/>[[Telepathy|Telepathic communication]]
|traits          = Indestructible sphere of dark crystal
}}

A '''palantír''' ({{IPA|qya|paˈlanˌtiːr|}}; in-universe {{plural form|'''palantíri'''}}) is one of several indestructible [[crystal ball]]s from [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[high fantasy|epic-fantasy]] novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The word comes from [[Quenya]] {{lang|qya|palan}} 'far', and {{lang|qya|tir}} 'watch over'.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1987}} ''[[The Lost Road and Other Writings]]'', part 3, "[[The Etymologies (Tolkien)|Etymologies]]" s.v. PAL, TIR. Tar-Palantir was the name of the 24th ruler of [[Númenor]], so named for being 'far-sighted'.</ref> The stones were used for communication and to see events in other parts of [[Arda (Middle-earth)|Arda]], or in the past.

The palantíri were made by the [[Elves in Middle-earth|Elves]] of [[Valinor]] in the [[First Age]], as told in ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. By the time of ''The Lord of the Rings'' at the end of the [[Third Age]], a few palantírs remained in use. They are used in some climactic scenes by major characters: [[Sauron]], [[Saruman]], [[Denethor]] the [[Steward of Gondor]], and two members of the [[Company of the Ring]]: [[Aragorn]] and [[Peregrin Took|Pippin]].

A major theme of palantír usage is that while the stones show real objects or events, those using the stones had to "possess great strength of will and of mind" to direct the stone's gaze to its full capability.<ref name="Of the Rings of Power" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}} ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"</ref> The stones were an unreliable guide to action, since what was not shown could be more important than what was selectively presented. A risk lay in the fact that users with sufficient power could choose what to show and what to conceal to other stones: in ''The Lord of the Rings'', a palantír has fallen into the Enemy's hands, making the usefulness of all other existing stones questionable. 

Commentators such as the Tolkien scholar [[Paul H. Kocher|Paul Kocher]] note the hand of [[Divine providence|providence]] in their usage, while [[Joseph Pearce]] compares Sauron's use of the stones to broadcast wartime [[propaganda]]. [[Tom Shippey]] suggests that the message is that "speculation", looking into any sort of magic mirror (Latin: ''speculum'') or stone to see the future, rather than trusting in providence, leads to error.

== Fictional artifact ==

=== Origins ===

In Tolkien's fantasy ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the palantírs were made by the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] of [[Valinor]] in the Uttermost West, by the [[Noldor]], apparently by [[Fëanor]] himself from ''silima'', "that which shines". The number that he made is not stated, but there were at least eight of them. Seven of the stones given to Amandil of [[Númenor]] during the [[Second Age]] were saved by his son [[Elendil]]; he took them with him to [[Middle-earth]], while at least the Master-stone remained behind.{{sfn|Fisher|2013|pp=501–502}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dunsire |first=Brin |title=The Specula of Middle-earth |journal=[[Mallorn (journal)|Mallorn]] |issue=13 |year=1979 |pages=16–20 |url=https://journals.tolkiensociety.org/mallorn/article/download/302/286}}</ref>

Four were taken to [[Gondor]], while three stayed in Arnor. Originally, the stones of Arnor were at Elostirion in the Tower Hills, [[Amon Sul]] (Weathertop), and Annuminas: the Elostirion stone, Elendil's own, looked only Westwards from Middle-earth across the ocean to the Master-stone at the Tower of Avallonë upon [[Eressëa]], an island off Valinor. The stones of Gondor were in [[Orthanc]], [[Minas Tirith]], [[Osgiliath]], and [[Minas Ithil]].{{sfn|Fisher|2013|pp=501–502}}

By the time of ''The Lord of the Rings'', the stone of Orthanc was in the hands of the wizard [[Saruman]], while the stone of Minas Ithil (by then [[Minas Morgul]], the city of the [[Nazgûl]]) had been taken by the dark lord [[Sauron]]. That of Minas Tirith remained in the hands of the Steward of Gondor, [[Denethor]]. The stone of Osgiliath had been lost in the Anduin when the city was sacked.{{sfn|Fisher|2013|pp=501–502}}<ref name="UT palantírs" group=T/>  Gandalf names two of these as the {{Visible anchor|Orthanc-stone}} and the {{Visible anchor|Ithil-stone}}.<ref name="TT Palantír" group=T />

=== Characteristics ===

{{further|Divination in The Lord of the Rings}}

A single palantír enabled its user to see places far off, or events in the past.<ref name="UT palantírs" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980}} ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', part 4, 3. "The palantíri"</ref><ref name="Of the Rings of Power" group=T/> A person could look into a palantír to communicate with anyone looking into another palantír. They could then see "visions of the things in the mind" of the person looking into the other stone.<ref name="UT palantírs" group=T/>

The stones were made of a dark crystal, indestructible by any normal means, except perhaps the fire of [[Orodruin]]. They ranged in size from a diameter of about a foot (30 cm) to much larger stones that could not be lifted by one person. The Stone of Osgiliath had power over other stones including the ability to eavesdrop. The minor stones required the user to move around them, thereby changing the viewpoint of its vision, whereas the major stones could be turned on their axis.<ref name="UT palantírs" group=T/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ The critic [[Tom Shippey]]'s analysis of uses of palantírs, with consistently unpredictable effects{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}}
|-
! Viewer !! Image !! Presenter !! Incorrect assumption !! Actually !! Result, deceived
|-
| The Dark Lord [[Sauron]] ||[[Pippin Took|Pippin]], a [[hobbit]] || Pippin, foolishly || Pippin is "the [[halfling]]", and has the [[One Ring]]; [[Saruman]] has captured it || Another halfling, [[Frodo]], has the Ring || Sends [[Nazgûl]] to [[Orthanc (Middle-earth)|Orthanc]], does not watch [[Ithilien]]
|-
| The [[Steward of Gondor]] [[Denethor]] || Sauron's armed might, fleet of [[Corsairs of Umbar]] approaching Gondor|| Sauron, selectively || Fleet is the enemy; victory in battle impossible || Aragorn has captured the fleet || Commits suicide<ref name="Shippey 2016"/>
|-
| Sauron || [[Elendil]]'s heir ([[Aragorn]]) with [[Narsil|Elendil's sword]] || Aragorn, boldly|| Aragorn now has the Ring, will soon attack [[Mordor]] || The Ring is on its way to Mordor || Attacks Gondor prematurely; fails to guard [[Cirith Ungol]] or to watch Mordor
|}

== Analysis ==

[[File:John William Waterhouse - The Crystal Ball.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|left|[[Tom Shippey]] suggests that the palantírs' deception says one should trust in [[Divine providence|providence]], not [[crystal ball]]s.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}} [[The Crystal Ball (painting)|Painting]] by [[John William Waterhouse|J.W. Waterhouse]], 1902]]

A wielder of great power such as [[Sauron]] could dominate a weaker user through the stone, which was the experience of [[Pippin Took]] and Saruman. Even one as powerful as Sauron could not make the palantírs "lie", or create false images; the most he could do was to selectively display truthful images to create a false impression in the viewer's mind. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', three such uses of the stones are described, and in each case, a true image is shown, but the viewer draws a false conclusion from the facts. This applies to Sauron when he sees Pippin in Saruman's stone and assumes that Pippin has the [[One Ring]], and that Saruman has therefore captured it.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}}<ref name="TT Palantír" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}} ''[[The Two Towers]]'', book 3, ch. 11 "The Palantír"</ref> Denethor, too, is deceived through his use of a palantír, this time by Sauron, who drives Denethor to suicide by truthfully showing him the Black Fleet approaching Gondor, without telling him that the ships are crewed by [[Aragorn]]'s troops, coming to Gondor's rescue.{{sfn|Kocher|1974|p=63}}<ref name="Shippey 2016">{{cite journal |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=The Curious Case of Denethor and the Palantír, Once More |journal=[[Mallorn (journal)|Mallorn]] |issue=57 |year=2016 |pages=6–9 |url=https://journals.tolkiensociety.org/mallorn/article/download/34/29 }}</ref> Shippey suggests that this consistent pattern is Tolkien's way of telling the reader that one should not "speculate" – the word meaning both to try to double-guess the future, and to look into a mirror ([[Latin]]: ''speculum'' 'glass or mirror') or [[crystal ball]] – but should trust in one's [[Luck and fate in Middle-earth|luck]] and make one's own mind up, [[Northern courage in Middle-earth|courageously facing one's duty]] in each situation.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}} 

[[File:Transmitlies.jpeg|thumb|[[Joseph Pearce]] compared [[Sauron]]'s use of Palantírs to spread despair to wartime use of radio for [[propaganda]].<ref name="Pearce2014"/> Screenshot from [[Frank Capra]]'s wartime ''[[Why We Fight]]'']]

The [[English literature]] scholar [[Paul H. Kocher|Paul Kocher]] similarly noted the hand of providence: [[Wormtongue]]'s throwing of the stone providentially leads to Pippin's foolish look into the stone, which deceives Sauron; and it allows Aragorn to claim the stone and use it to deceive Sauron further. This leads him to assume that Aragorn has the One Ring. That in turn provokes Sauron into a whole series of what turn out to be disastrous actions: a premature attack on Minas Tirith; a rushed exit of the army of [[Nazgûl#Minas_Morgul|Minas Morgul]], thus letting the hobbits through the pass of [[Cirith Ungol]] with the One Ring, and so on until the quest to destroy the ring succeeds against all odds.{{sfn|Kocher|1974|pp=45-46, 69-70, 135-136}}

The Tolkien scholar [[Jane Chance]] writes that Saruman's sin, in [[Christianity|Christian]] terms, is to seek Godlike knowledge by gazing in a short-sighted way into the Orthanc palantír in the hope of rivalling Sauron. She quotes Tolkien's description in ''[[The Two Towers]]'', which states that Saruman explored "all those arts and subtle devices, for which he forsook his former wisdom".{{sfn|Chance|1980|p=25}} She explains that he is in this way giving up actual wisdom for "mere knowledge", imagining the arts were his own but in fact coming from Sauron. This prideful self-aggrandisement leads to his fall.{{sfn|Chance|1980|p=25}} She notes that it is ironic in this context that palantír means "far-sighted".{{sfn|Chance|1980|p=25}}

[[Joseph Pearce]] compares Sauron's use of the seeing stones to "broadcast propaganda and sow the seeds of despair among his enemies" with the communications technologies used to spread [[propaganda]] in the [[Second World War]] and then the [[Cold War]], when Tolkien was writing.<ref name="Pearce2014">{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |title=Catholic Literary Giants: A Field Guide to the Catholic Literary Landscape |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foNHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT316 |year=2014 |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |isbn=978-1-68149-074-8 |page=316}}</ref>

== In film ==

[[File:Saruman_uses_the_Palantir.jpg|thumb|upright|In [[Peter Jackson]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers|The Two Towers]]'', [[Saruman]] uses the [[Orthanc]] Palantír, the camera giving an overview as shown, and then zooming in, like a Palantír itself, providing the viewer with an omniscient picture of the whole of Middle-earth.<ref name="Harl 2007"/>]]

A palantír appears in the film director [[Peter Jackson]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' films. The Tolkien critic Allison Harl compares Jackson to Saruman, and his camera to a palantír, writing that "Jackson chooses to look through the perilous lens, putting his camera to use to exert control over the [original Tolkien] text."<ref name="Harl 2007">{{cite journal |last=Harl |first=Allison |title=The Monstrosity of the Gaze: Critical Problems with a Film Adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" |journal=[[Mythlore]] |date=2007 |volume=25 |issue=3/4 (Spring/Summer 2007) |pages=61–69 |jstor=26814608 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol25/iss3/7/}}</ref> Harl cites Laura Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema"<ref>{{cite book |last=Mulvey |first=Laura |editor-last=Leitch |editor-first=Vincent B. |chapter=Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema |title=The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism |date=2001 |pages=57–68 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |url=https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf}}</ref> which describes "scopophilia", the [[Voyeurism|voyeuristic]] pleasure of looking, based on [[Sigmund Freud]]'s writings on sexuality. Harl gives as an example the sequence in ''The Two Towers'' where Jackson's camera "like the Evil Eye of Sauron" travels towards Saruman's tower, Isengard and "zooms into the dangerous palantír<!--her emphasis-->", in her opinion giving the cinema viewer "an omniscient and privileged perspective" consisting of a Sauron-like power to observe the whole of Middle-earth. The sequence ends fittingly, in her opinion, with [[Mordor]] and the [[Eye of Sauron]], bringing the viewer, like Saruman, to meet the Enemy's gaze.<ref name="Harl 2007"/> As a consequence of Jackson's exclusion of [[The Scouring of the Shire]], [[Saruman]] is killed by [[Gríma Wormtongue|Wormtongue]] much earlier (at the beginning of the extended edition of ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]''), while Gandalf acquires the Orthanc palantír after [[Peregrin Took|Pippin]] retrieves it from Saruman's corpse, instead of having Wormtongue throw it from a window of the tower.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}} <!--In scene 60 of ROTK, -->Further, Sauron uses the Palantír to show Aragorn a dying [[Arwen]], (a scene from the future) in the hope of weakening his resolve.<ref name="Croft 2011">{{cite book |last=Croft |first=Janet Brennan |author-link=Janet Brennan Croft |chapter=Jackson's Aragorn and the American Superhero |editor1-last=Bogstad |editor1-first=Janice M. |editor2-last=Kaveny |editor2-first=Philip E. |title=[[Picturing Tolkien]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNjKrXRP0G8C&pg=PA219 |year=2011 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |isbn=978-0-7864-8473-7 |pages=219–220}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Alatyr (mythology)]]
* [[Remote viewing]]

== References ==

=== Primary ===

{{reflist|group=T|28em}}

=== Secondary ===
{{reflist|28em}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Fisher |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Fisher |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=palantírs |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia|J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1135880347}}
* {{cite book |last=Kocher |first=Paul |author-link=Paul H. Kocher |title=Master of Middle-earth: The Achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien |title-link=Master of Middle-earth |date=1974 |orig-year=1972 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0140038774}}
* {{cite book |last=Chance |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Chance |title=Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England' |title-link=Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England' |date=1980 |orig-year=1979 |publisher=[[Papermac]] |isbn=978-0333290347}}
* {{ME-ref|ROAD}}
* {{ME-ref|TT}}
* {{ME-ref|Silm}} <!--1977-->
* {{ME-ref|UT}}   <!--1980-->
* {{ME-ref|LR}}   <!--1987-->

{{The Lord of the Rings}}

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[[Category:Middle-earth objects]]
[[Category:Fictional balls]]
[[Category:Magic items]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1954]]
[[Category:Fiction about communication]]
[[de:Gegenstände in Tolkiens Welt#Die palantírs]]
[[pl:Lista artefaktów Śródziemia#Palantíry]]